The Gondhal trailer is out, and India’s official entry for the 99th Academy Awards has just introduced itself to the world in a new way. With it comes a release plan as ambitious as the film itself: a worldwide theatrical release on 13 November 2026 in seven languages. For a Marathi psychological thriller rooted in a village folk ritual, that is an extraordinary leap, and the Gondhal trailer explains why the makers believe it can make it.
Image Credit: Davakhar Films — Official Trailer via YouTube
Watch the official Hindi trailer here:
The first thing the Gondhal trailer establishes is mood. Night has fallen over a village in Maharashtra, torches are burning, drums are beating, and a performer in a striking animal mask moves through a crowd that is singing and dancing through the night. It is beautiful and unsettling at the same time, and that tension never really leaves the trailer. This is not a film that wants to comfort its audience. It wants to hold them in suspense until dawn.
A worldwide release in seven languages
Gondhal will reach cinemas worldwide on 13 November 2026 in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English. The makers say the rollout will cover India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Dubai and Africa, and that it is the first Marathi film to receive a theatrical release on this scale across seven languages at once.
That decision makes sense only because of what has already happened to the film before its commercial release. An Oscar submission changes how a small film is seen, and a seven-language release is a bet that the Academy buzz will carry Gondhal to viewers who would not normally seek out a Marathi folk thriller. The Gondhal trailer is the first step in that bet.
The night the story turns on
At the heart of the film is the Gondhal ritual itself, a real folk tradition of Maharashtra in which performers sing, dance and tell stories through the night in honour of the deities. Director Santosh Davakhar has built his story around that single, long night, and the trailer never lets the audience forget it. The ritual is not a colourful background. It is the clock the story runs on, the cover under which secrets move, and the world the characters cannot escape until morning.
The trailer follows newlyweds Suman and Anandrao, played by Ishita Deshmukh and Yogesh Sohoni, as their marriage is pulled into a web of desire, duty and devotion. Around them, mysterious events begin to unsettle the celebrations, and the film’s central question slowly comes into focus: what happens when a sacred night becomes the stage for very human plans? The Gondhal trailer answers that question with images rather than explanations, showing the tension between the couple and the shadow falling across the ritual, but refusing to say who is deceiving whom.
That restraint is the trailer’s greatest strength. A psychological thriller lives or dies on what it withholds, and this one withholds a great deal. Viewers can sense that a plan is forming, that devotion and betrayal are getting tangled, and that someone will pay a price before dawn, but the trailer does not hand over the plot. It trusts the audience to lean in, and that trust is rare in an age of trailers that explain everything twice.
Who is in it, and who made it
Ishita Deshmukh leads the cast as Suman, the young bride at the centre of the storm, with Yogesh Sohoni as her husband Anandrao. Kishor Kadam, one of Marathi cinema’s most respected actors, and Nishad Bhoir are also part of the ensemble, alongside Suresh Vishwakarma, Madhavi Juvekar and Kailash Waghmare. It is a cast built on strong character actors rather than star names, which suits a film that depends on atmosphere and performance more than spectacle.
Behind the camera, Santosh Davakhar writes, directs and produces the film under his banner Davakhar Films, with Diksha Davakhar as co-producer. Amalendu Chaudhary handles cinematography, and the film famously opens with a 25-minute unbroken take, a technical gamble that the Gondhal trailer’s fluid, restless camerawork only hints at. The music is by the legendary Ilaiyaraaja, whose presence alone signals the scale of ambition here. Few composers carry that kind of weight, and his score gives the folk world of the film an emotional depth that the trailer uses to powerful effect.
Why the Oscar tag changes everything
The Gondhal trailer arrives carrying a backstory that most Indian films never get. On 18 September 2026, the Film Federation of India selected Gondhal as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, the Oscars 2027, choosing it from 33 submissions across the country. The selection put a Marathi-language psychological thriller ahead of a large field that included many Hindi entries, and it immediately changed the film’s trajectory.
The festival honours did not stop there. Davakhar had already won the Silver Peacock for Best Director at the 56th International Film Festival of India, where the jury praised the film’s fable-like quality. That combination, an Oscar submission plus a major festival directing prize, is why a film about a Maharashtra village ritual is now heading for screens in seven languages across several continents. The trailer is the film’s first big conversation with a general audience, and it carries all of that weight without ever boasting about it.
There is also a larger point here, one the director himself has made. Global perceptions of Indian cinema are often shaped by a narrow set of stories, and Gondhal offers something different: generations of culture, people and traditions coming together in a thriller that could only come from this particular place. The trailer makes that case visually, in firelight and folk music, before a single line of dialogue has to explain it.
What the Gondhal trailer keeps hidden
For all its atmosphere, the Gondhal trailer is careful about what it does not show. It does not explain the mystery at the centre of the night, it does not reveal how far Suman’s plan goes, and it does not tell the audience whose side they should be on. That ambiguity is deliberate, and it is what separates a good psychological thriller from a forgettable one. The film asks the audience to sit with uncertainty, to watch a marriage and a ritual unravel together, and to decide for themselves where sympathy should lie.
It is also worth noting what the trailer does not promise. There is no big action set piece, no star-driven punchline, no easy resolution offered in the final seconds. Instead, there is a mood that lingers: drums in the dark, a masked figure in the crowd, and a bride watching a celebration with eyes that seem to be planning something. If that image stays with you after the trailer ends, the film has already done half its job.
When and where to watch
Gondhal releases in cinemas worldwide on 13 November 2026. No OTT release date or streaming platform has been announced yet, so for now the big screen is the only way to watch it. Given the film’s visual world, the drums, the firelight, the single long night, that feels like the right first home for it anyway.
For Indian audiences, the timing matters too. Mid-November is a crowded window, with big films competing for the same screens, and a seven-language release is a statement of intent in that crowd. Whether the Oscar buzz translates into ticket sales will be one of the most interesting box office stories of the month, and the Gondhal trailer has given that story a strong opening chapter.
Frequently asked questions
When does Gondhal release?
Gondhal releases in cinemas worldwide on 13 November 2026.
In how many languages will Gondhal release?
The film will release in seven languages: Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English.
Who directs Gondhal?
Santosh Davakhar writes, directs and produces Gondhal under Davakhar Films.
Who stars in Gondhal?
Ishita Deshmukh plays Suman and Yogesh Sohoni plays Anandrao, with Kishor Kadam and Nishad Bhoir in key roles.
Is Gondhal really India’s Oscar entry?
Yes. Gondhal is India’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards (Oscars 2027).
Has an OTT release date been announced for Gondhal?
No. No OTT date or streaming platform has been announced yet.
If you like trailer news with a twist, the Donga Naa Koduku teaser post on this site, about a good-for-nothing hero whose heist plan goes hilariously wrong, is a very different kind of upcoming Telugu comedy to compare it with. Gondhal, though, is playing a longer game. It is not just asking for a weekend audience. It is asking the world to take a Maharashtra folk ritual seriously as cinema, and on the evidence of the Gondhal trailer, that ask is not unreasonable at all.
Pingback: Hatah Teaser: 7 Amazing Clues Before 6 November Release