The story of film is set in ravines of river Chambal valley. It tells the tale of dacoits in 1975, who termed themselves Baaghis, the rebels. Lacchu gives information to Baaghis that a dowry of tons of gold and cash will be given to the bride by her father so DacoitMaan Singh alias 'Dadda' should raid. Special Task Force headed by Inspector Virendra Singh Gujjar attacks them during the loot in which Dadda gets killed. This leads to a split between gang. Lakhna wants to surrender to police while Vakil Singh wants to follow baaghi's dharm of rebellion. On run they meet Thakur's wife Indumati Tomar with a girl named Sonchiriya alias 'Lalli' whom Indumati's family head had raped. Indumati had killed him to save Sonchiriya and ran away to rescue her and take her to hospital. Indumati's whole family is chasing her to get her killed. She pleads Baaghis to help her take Sonchiriya to the hospital. Baaghis agree. Indumati's family arrives and tries to take away Khushi with them. While Vakil Singh agrees to let her go, Lakhna revolts and disagrees. In this melee, Indumati's own child fires a bullet on Vakil's brother and kills him by accident. Lakhna and team along with Indumati and Sonchiriya escape and Vakil Singh vows to chase them and kill. It is revealed that Maan Singh looted dowry house to save Lacchu's father from inspector Gujjar knowing very well that it was a trap to kill them. Gujjar had taken him hostage and promised to free only if Lacchu brings Baaghis to that village for the police to kill all Baaghis at once and get reward from the government. Midway to hospital, Lakhna tells Indumati a background story about a curse of killing innocent children inside a room by mistake led Baaghis' whole group being killed turn by turn. And that they need to find Sonchiriya to get rid of the curse. Baaghis meet Dacoit Phuilya and she joins Lakhna to save the bleeding girl and take them to Dholpur Hospital. They are joined again by Vakil Singh and gang in the task. Vakil says "to ward off the curse we need to save this girl from death, it is a chance to repent, this girl is "our Sonchiraiya, our saviour". Indumati's son wants to kill her mother but Lakhna confronts and tell the truth that his grandfather was his biological father and not his grandfather. Lakhna and Indumati makes to hospital. While the girl is being hospitalized, Lakhna who, being chased by Gujjar, was hiding behind the tree comes out to surrender as his task of saving Sonchiriya was finished. But by the curse, Lakhna is shot dead by Gujjar. In the aftermath, it is revealed that Vakil Singh has been killed by the police at the railway station, as his corpse is loaded in a tractor. Later, while traveling towards police station after killing Lakhna, Gujjar is shot and killed by one of his thakur constable whose uncle was earlier assaulted and insulted by him.
The film was released on 1 March 2019. Unlike Udta Punjab, Abhishek Chaubey has a smooth ride with Sonchiriya as CBFC retains most of the abuses. British Board of Film Classification has certified the film with runtime of 143 minutes and the film is set for release. The film was released on 1 March 2019 to 720 screens in India and 220 screens in overseas circuit, making it 940 screens worldwide. The leading actor Sushant Singh Rajput was disappointed that many theaters used unofficial dubbed version of the movie.
Reception
Critical response
As per Rotten Tomatoes, the film has scored 71% based on 7 reviews with average rating of 6.33/10. Raja Sen reviewing the film in Hindustan Times rated the film with three stars out of five. He liked the lead cast in role of bandits but feels that the slow pace kept the film from becoming a great film. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave it three and half stars out of five and praising the acting of the whole cast he says "Cast Live And Breathe Their Roles". Renuka Vyavahare writing for The Times of India gave three and half stars out of five and writes "Gripping, tense and unpredictable, despite being a slow-burn western, Chaubey’s period thriller makes for a riveting watch." Taran Adarsh giving three and half stars out of five feels that it is a very well-made film but caters to a niche audience. Anupama Chopra of Film Companion gives three stars out of five and summarize the review as "A Stunningly Shot, Masterfully Staged Fusion Of Caste, Violence And Jungle Law."
