Prime Video’s Subedaar Cast And Character Guide

Anil Kapoor goes full John Wick on the bad guys in director Suresh Triveni’s action-thriller “Subedaar.” Prime Video’s latest offering is a pulpy neo-Western set in a North Indian town, where the forever-young actor has a lot of fun beating down bad people. In this article, we are going to take a look at who is playing what in “Subedaar,” starting with our titular character.

Anil Kapoor as Arjun Maurya

Anil Kapoor plays retired subedar (basically a soldier in the military, ranked in the middle) Arjun Maurya, who returns to his hometown after his wife dies in an accident. Arjun has a strained relationship with his college-going daughter, Shyama, and throughout the film, he attempts to mend fences with her. While that remains an integral part of the story, the main deal is Arjun teaching a lesson to the local sand mafia, mainly this uncouth, trashy youth, Prince. Kapoor plays the role with a mix of grit, grump, and rage, and he is expectedly fantastic. The man doesn’t seem to age, and he can forever play the leading man, provided he gets appropriate roles like this one. As far as Kapoor’s career goes, the man is a Bollywood stalwart who doesn’t need any introduction. In a career spanning over forty years, he has done many memorable works like “Ram Lakhan,” “Judaai,” “Mr. India,” “Lamhe,” and very recently, “Animal.” Kapoor has also played a key role in Danny Boyle’s Academy Award-winning “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Radhika Madan as Shyama

Radhika Madan, one of the most promising young Indian actors, plays the part of Arjun’s college-going daughter, Shyama. Even though Shyama clearly seems to be a younger version of her father, she is mad at him because he didn’t pick up her call when her mother (and Arjun’s wife) Sudha had an accident. He was obviously occupied with his duties, but Shyama’s anger is justified, which Arjun acknowledges. While Arjun remains busy with Prince and the sand mafia group, Shyama fights the regular pieces of crap abusive boys of her college, specifically four boys—Ranbir, Ranveer, Kaushal, and Rajpal (you can’t help but notice the Bollywood connection there), who in return make her life hell. Shyama’s solo arc complements that of her father and elevates the narrative. Madan, who has films like “Pataakha”—her debut—and “Sarfira” to her credit, has done a solid job.

Saurabh Shukla as Prabhakar

The always dependable Saurabh Shukla plays Arjun’s friend and confidant, Prabhakar, who initially tries his best to contain Arjun in fear of escalation into chaos that might hurt his own family. Eventually, though, Prabhakar himself joins hands with his (former) soldier friend, upon realizing he can only fight fire with fire. Shukla has been doing roles like this since forever, and his performance here is as good as it needs to be. If you want to check out the actor’s other work, you should see the “Jolly LLB” films, “Raid,” and “Satya.”

Aditya Rawal as Prince

If Kapoor’s Subedaar is the ice, then Aditya Rawal’s Prince is the fire. There’s no denying Kapoor is amazing, but Rawal’s spoiled brat pro max Prince is perhaps the “performance” of the movie. He is the brother of Babli Didi, who basically runs the mafia syndicate from jail. Prince has not a single good human quality, and you hate the character right from the first minute you see him. This is a difficult part to play, and I’ve got to say Rawal has delivered a scene-stealing act here, going toe-to-toe with a legend like Kapoor. Rawal has also appeared in movies like “Faraaz,” “Bamfaad,” and “Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai,” but “Subedaar” should be considered his breakout role.

Faisal Malik as Softy

In a role much different from everyone’s beloved Prahlad Cha from “Panchayat,” Faisal Malik excels as Softy, a former goon turned Babli Didi’s right-hand man. While Prince is busy with her antics, it is the level-headed Softy that actually helps Babli Didi run her operation. He is the one who hires Arjun as his bodyguard before everything goes to hell, thanks to Prince. While there’s no denying Softy is bad, he does try to balance things by containing Prince, who, at one point, takes it out on him. From that point, you actually feel a little bad for Softy, which has a lot to do with Malik’s restrained performance. Softy’s big moment in this movie comes right at the end, when he finally screams at Babli Didi, which shocks her to the core. Apart from “Subedaar” and, of course, “Panchayat,” Malik has appeared in films like “Thamma” and the now iconic “Gangs of Wasseypur.”

Mona Singh as Babli Didi

Riding on her success from the very recent “Kohraa 2,” Mona Singh takes on the role of Babli Didi here. Her character is confined behind bars for the entire runtime of the film, and she doesn’t have much to do other than get frustrated with her ill-mannered brother’s antics; that said, Singh still manages to shine. There’s a scene where she even tries to flirt with Kapoor’s title character, which is straight-up uncomfortable and proves how brilliant Singh is as an actor. Other than Kapoor, Singh is possibly the biggest name in the ensemble, who made her name in “Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin” all those years ago, before establishing herself as the queen of OTT— “Kaalapani,” “Yeh Meri Family,” and “Kohraa” are profound examples of that. Singh’s short but effective performance certainly adds value to “Subedaar.”

Miscellaneous characters

Apart from the main characters, “Subedaar” has a bunch of supporting characters, and all the actors playing those parts have done a good job. Khushboo plays Arjun’s wife, Sudha, who only appears in flashbacks, obviously. Snehalata Tagde plays Ranju Devi, a woman who, along with her son, gets abducted by Prince. Vikram Pratap plays the part of Ranveer, aka Shyama’s heckler. Last but not least, Nana Patekar makes an impactful cameo during the climax, playing a subedaar called Nana Waghmare, helping Kapoor’s lead character fight the goons.

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