Munna bhaiya, Bablu return: How Mirzapur The Movie is bringing back the dead, reveals Puneet Krishna

The confession reframes the entire trajectory of one of India’s most successful streaming properties. What audiences came to know as a nine-episode first season, followed by two more seasons and 29 total episodes on Amazon Prime Video, was, at its origin, a story that Puneet Krishna imagined on a cinema screen.

The reason it ended up as a series was partly circumstantial and partly the result of watching someone else get there first. “I remember Gangs of Wasseypur by Anurag Kashyap. In a way, it made me sad because I wanted to be the first guy to make something like that. The opportunity to be the first person to shoot something like that for the big screen was gone. But then the opportunity came in to make a streaming show, and I took it.”

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Now, with Mirzapur: The Movie confirmed for a theatrical release on September 4, the franchise is completing the journey its writer always believed it would make.

A Problem of Grammar

The move from streaming series to theatrical film is well-worn in Hollywood. In India, it remains largely uncharted. No major streaming property has attempted this transition at this scale, making Mirzapur: The Movie something of an experiment in format as much as storytelling.

Krishna is candid about the uncertainty involved. “It’s the first time this is happening. Everyone’s still figuring out how a show turns into a film in India. It’s a new format and everyone’s excited.” His solution to the challenge is to design the film so it functions whether you have watched all three seasons or none of them. “What we are trying to do with this film is that even if you have not watched the show, you will understand the relationship dynamics.” The scale, he notes, will shift to match the medium: “Of course, in Indian films, the canvas of action is much bigger, and there are songs. So that’s how director Gurmmeet Singh has designed it.”

Characters the audience watched die

The most striking thing about the cast list for Mirzapur: The Movie is not who is returning. It is who, by the internal logic of the show, should not be able to.

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Munna Tripathi, played by Divyenndu, was killed at the end of Season 2. His absence defined Season 3 as much as anything in it. Bablu Pandit, Guddu’s sharper, calmer younger brother, was killed in Season 1, where Vikrant Massey had played him. Sweety, played by Shriya Pilgaonkar, also died in Season 1. These were characters central to the emotional architecture of the show, and their deaths were among its most consequential moments. All of them are back in the film.

Krishna confirmed the full cast: “Munna, Guddu, Bablu are all there. Of course, there’s Kaleen Bhaiya and Rati Shankar, and so are all the female characters, including the characters who died in season one, Sweety. You will also see Golu and Dimpy.”

Vikrant Massey, however, will not be among the returning faces. He was approached to reprise Bablu Pandit but declined, reportedly unwilling to revisit a character who had been killed off unexpectedly in Season 1, contrary to what he had expected for the role. The two sides parted on good terms. Producers Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar turned to Jitendra Kumar to step into the role.

A real city, a fictional world

One detail from Krishna’s conversation that has received less attention than the casting news: the film was actually shot in Mirzapur. The real city. This is more meaningful than it might appear. While the series used locations across Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Azamgarh and Ghazipur among others, with the actual city of Mirzapur serving as one of several filming sites. He also noted that the people of Mirzapur are broadly pleased that their city has become nationally and internationally known, even though the story attached to it is entirely invented.

Season 4 and what Krishna does not know

With the film releasing in September 2026 and the franchise still generating significant commercial attention, the natural question is what comes next. Prime Video has confirmed that Season 4 is in development, with production set to begin after the film’s theatrical run.

On this, Krishna is clear-eyed about the limits of his involvement. “They are at the writing stage right now. And since the movie exists in the timeline of season one, they can continue with season four. But honestly, I don’t know much because I am only involved in the film. I also don’t know whether there is going to be another film after this.”