Aiyaary trailer: Neeraj Pandey’s return to patriotic thriller appears promising

Neeraj Pandey took a break from his nationalism-laden thrillers to make MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016). With Aiyaary, however, he returns to his favourite genre. And going by the trailer it seems the film stands a fair chance of being yet another winner from Pandey. 

The stills from the film released in the past few months showed lead actors Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee sharing a camaraderie. But the trailer makes you realize that their characters are at loggerheads.

Aiyaary tells the story of army officer Jai Bakshi who is given the task of audio surveillance. He has to secretly listen to people’s conversations to detect anything fishy. Here he learns of an arms deal where the taxpayers’ money would be used to buy weapons at four times the original price. 

But circumstances make the blame fall on Jai and he becomes a traitor in the eyes of the army. Now he is being hunted by his mentor and role model (Manoj Bajpayee), who is determined to finish him. 

The story is interesting and the film promises to be a taut thriller. The various foreign locations bring back memories of Pandey’s Baby (2015). The background score sounds loud, but it wouldn't be fair to judge that aspect from the trailer. 

The film also stars Kumud Mishra as the villain, South star Rakul Preet Singh and the filmmaker’s favourite Anupam Kher. Naseeruddin Shah returns in a Pandey film after the iconic A Wednesday (2008), which was also the latter’s sensational directorial debut.

The trailer also discloses the meaning of Aiyaary as the ability to disguise.

The film will be released on 26 January 2018, Republic Day when it will clash with Akshay Kumar's Pad Man. Watch the trailer here:

Click here to predict the film's box-office performance.