How to Watch Bandar (2026) Online in 4K

Bandar (2026), released internationally as Monkey in a Cage, is a Hindi-language crime drama film directed by Anurag Kashyap, starring Bobby Deol and Sanya Malhotra. The film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and released theatrically in India on June 5, 2026. With InfinityTV's 150,000+ Movies & Series library, you can stream this acclaimed crime drama film in 4K as soon as it arrives on streaming.

If you want to watch Bandar, the 2026 crime drama film directed by Anurag Kashyap and starring Bobby Deol, you are in for one of the most formally rigorous films the acclaimed director has made in years. Released internationally as Monkey in a Cage, Bandar premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, before its theatrical release in India on June 5, 2026. Critics have called it Kashyap's strongest film in several years, with Bobby Deol delivering what many reviewers consider the finest performance of his career. This guide covers everything confirmed about the film and how to stream Bandar in 4K with InfinityTV.

What is Bandar about?

Bandar is a Hindi-language crime drama that explores the intersection of fame, accusation, and the justice system. The story follows Samar Mehra, an aging television personality whose best days are behind him, as his life is upended when a former partner accuses him of rape. The accusation leads to his arrest, and the film follows what happens to him inside the legal and prison systems — a process that Kashyap frames as a study in how institutional mechanisms process human beings as files rather than people.

The film is inspired by a real-life event, though the specific case it draws from has not been publicly confirmed by the production. It uses the accusation and its legal aftermath as the lens for examining how public perception, institutional power, and personal history interact — and how the individuals caught in that interaction are ground down regardless of outcome.

Why is Bandar considered Anurag Kashyap's strongest recent work?

Kashyap is one of Indian cinema's most critically respected directors, known for the Gangs of Wasseypur duology (2012), Dev.D (2009), Ugly (2013), and Manmarziyaan (2018). His best work is characterised by a willingness to inhabit morally uncomfortable territory without providing easy resolution — he refuses the cathartic endings that commercial Hindi cinema traditionally demands.

Bandar returns to that mode. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express, one of Indian film criticism's most respected voices, gave the film three stars and noted: "This is Anurag Kashyap's strongest film in a while." The film's structural focus on the experience of being processed by a system — not the innocence or guilt of the protagonist, but the system's indifference to that distinction — is exactly the kind of formal commitment that defines Kashyap at his best.

Bobby Deol's career-best performance

Bobby Deol has had an unusual career trajectory. He was a Bollywood star in the 1990s and early 2000s, then spent a period out of the commercial spotlight, before a highly publicised comeback with Animal (2023), where his role as a villain became one of that film's most discussed elements.

Bandar is a very different vehicle. Samar Mehra is not a villain built for theatrical impact — he is a flailing, diminished figure who has lost his grip on relevance and is then stripped further by a legal and public process that he is powerless to navigate. Multiple critics have described Deol's performance as the finest of his career, a reading of quiet collapse that requires exactly the kind of restraint his earlier commercial work rarely asked for.

The cast of Bandar

• Bobby Deol as Samar Mehra, the aging television star
• Sanya Malhotra (Dangal, Badhaai Ho) in a significant supporting role
• Sapna Pabbi as Gayatri, the former partner who makes the accusation
• Saba Azad in the ensemble
• Indrajith Sukumaran, the acclaimed Malayalam actor
• Raj B. Shetty, the Kannada actor known for Garuda Gamana Vrishaba Vahana
• Jitendra Joshi, known for his work in Sacred Games

The cast blends Hindi film stars with actors from regional industries, a Kashyap casting strategy that reflects his interest in finding the right performance for each role regardless of commercial profile.

The screenplay

The script was written by Sudip Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee. Sudip Sharma is one of the most respected screenwriters in contemporary Hindi cinema, known for NH10 (2015), Udta Punjab (2016), and the Badlapur script (2015). Abhishek Banerjee, who also appears as an actor in several major productions, has been building a screenwriting career alongside his performance work. Their collaboration with Kashyap on a story about institutional power and public judgment is a strong match of subject matter and sensibility.

The Toronto Film Festival premiere

Bandar premiered at TIFF 2025 — one of the world's most prestigious film festivals and a launching pad for international art-house and genre cinema. A TIFF premiere for an Indian-language film indicates the production's ambition for international critical attention, and the reviews that followed confirmed the film's quality beyond the domestic market. It is the kind of film that circulates through international festival circuits before arriving on streaming, building a global audience that extends well beyond Hindi-cinema regulars.

Where to watch Bandar

Bandar released theatrically in India on June 5, 2026. Given the streaming patterns of recent Kashyap films and Indian productions with TIFF pedigrees, it is likely to appear on Netflix or Prime Video for global streaming audiences within two to three months of its theatrical run.

With InfinityTV, you can access Netflix, Prime Video, and all other major streaming platforms in one app, with a library of 150,000+ Movies & Series spanning Indian and international cinema. When Bandar arrives on streaming, it is in the same place as everything else you want to watch — no need to check multiple apps.

How to watch Bandar in 4K on InfinityTV

1. Go to the InfinityTV plans page and choose your subscription.
2. Receive your login credentials immediately after payment.
3. Install IBO Player or TiviMate on your Fire TV Stick, Smart TV, Android box, or Apple TV.
4. Search for Bandar in the VOD library once it is available on streaming.
5. Stream in 4K for the full quality of Kashyap's cinematography.

InfinityTV offers 22,000+ live TV channels, 150,000+ Movies & Series, 99.9% uptime, and 24/7 WhatsApp support for any question. A free 24-hour trial is available.

Anurag Kashyap's filmography for new viewers

If Bandar is your entry point into Kashyap's work, the natural progression from here is:

Gangs of Wasseypur (Part 1 and Part 2, 2012) — the masterwork of Indian crime cinema that established Kashyap as one of the world's great directors working in the genre. An epic covering three generations of criminal families in the Dhanbad coal belt, it runs approximately five and a half hours across its two parts and rewards every minute.

Dev.D (2009) — a modern, irreverent adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Devdas, recasting the doomed romantic protagonist as a self-destructive modern Dilliwaala. A formally inventive film that shows how far Kashyap was willing to push genre convention even early in his career.

Ugly (2013) — a noir thriller that holds up as one of the bleakest and most formally controlled films in recent Indian cinema.

All are available through InfinityTV's 150,000+ Movies & Series library.

For more Indian cinema highlights, see our top movies to watch 2026 guide or our watch new movies 2026 roundup.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bandar (2026) about?

Bandar follows Samar Mehra (Bobby Deol), an aging television star, whose life is derailed when a former partner accuses him of rape. The film examines what happens to him inside the legal and prison systems — a study of institutional power, public perception, and the experience of being processed by a system indifferent to individual truth. Directed by Anurag Kashyap, released internationally as Monkey in a Cage.

Where did Bandar premiere?

Bandar had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, before its Indian theatrical release on June 5, 2026.

Is Bandar based on a real story?

The film is described by the production as inspired by a real-life event, though the specific case it references has not been publicly confirmed.

Where can I stream Bandar?

Bandar released theatrically in India on June 5, 2026, and is expected to arrive on a major streaming platform (Netflix or Prime Video) within weeks. With InfinityTV's 150,000+ Movies & Series library, you can stream it in 4K in one convenient app. See the film's IMDb page for the latest streaming information. View InfinityTV plans to get started.

Is Bandar suitable for all audiences?

Bandar is a mature crime drama dealing with themes of rape accusation, imprisonment, and institutional power. It is intended for adult audiences. It is not a violent action film — it operates as a slow-burn dramatic thriller focused on psychological and institutional pressure.