Bloody Daddy was released on 9 June 2023 in JioCinema and received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.[4] At the 2023 Filmfare OTT Awards, Bloody Daddy received 7 nominations, including Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Kapoor).
Plot
Sumair Azad, an NCB officer, and his deputy Jagadish Prasad alias Jaggi in Gurgaon, busts a drug deal, which leads the drug lord Sikandar to kidnap Sumair's son Atharva in exchange for retrieving the bag of cocaine. With no other option left, Sumair agrees to retrieve the bag from the NCB headquarters and bring it to his club for the exchange. Sumair's act of hiding the bag in the men's toilet is noticed by his assistant Aditi Rawat, who suspects Sumair's involvement in drug smuggling. Aditi informs her superior Sameer Singh and begin to pursue Sumair, taking away the bag of cocaine from the toilet in the process.
After finding that the bag of cocaine has gone missing, Sumair decides to return a bag containing packets of flour to Sikandar, thinking that he and his cronies, including Hameed Shaikh, will not realise the difference. Unfortunately, Sikandar and Hameed soon find out that Sumair had cheated them and decide to kill him. Caught between Sikandar's gang along with Aditi and Sameer, Sumair confronts Aditi and tells her that he has been working undercover to expose Sameer and Jaggi's involvement in helping Sikandar to smuggling drugs. Sumair then rescues Atharva without Sikandar's knowledge and Sikandar is arrested by Aditi and Sameer.
While taking Sikandar to prison, Aditi finds out that Sumair placed Jaggi's mobile phone in her jacket. Aditi reads the messages on the phone and realizes that Sumair had been speaking the truth all along. Sameer tries to resist arrest and kills Sikandar in the process, but Sameer is eventually brought to justice. While talking with Aditi about exposing more drug dealers, Atharva finds drug packets in Sumair's car, revealing that Sumair is also involved in drug smuggling.
During the credits, Atharva keeps quiet about this and leaves for a short trip with Sumair.
The film digitally premiered on 9 June 2023 on JioCinema.[10]
Reception
Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Bloody Daddy doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s an absurdly funny, unpretentious action- crime thriller that's brutal and brave."[11] Anindita Mukherjee of India Today gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Even though Bloody Daddy doesn’t offer the audience elements that they’ve never seen before, the film definitely stands out in the sea of action thrillers. It’s high on thrill, action and full of Shahid Kapoor!"[12]
Titas Chowdhary of News18 gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "If you want to unwind after a tiringly long week and blow off steam, Bloody Daddy is the option. It is light, breezy, fun, fizzy and pleasing to the eyes. Our biggest complaint remains, a spectacle film of this scale and elaborate canvas deserved a theatrical release."[13]Bollywood Hungama gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Bloody Daddy works due to Shahid Kapoor’s performance, entertaining first half and some fine action and dramatic sequences, but suffers due to a weak and unimaginative second half."[14]
Aishwarya Vasudevan of OTTplay gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Bloody Daddy has all the elements of a blockbuster, and it almost hits the mark. But the storyline is what fumbles it, making it a long and stretchy film."[15] Vinamra Mathur of Firstpost gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Bloody Daddy tries to possess a certain amount of madness to keep the momentum going. It’s like that car whose driver is enjoying his rashness, taking all the bumpiness in between, and reaching the finishing line all battered and bloody."[16]
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Playing a variation on Farzi's defiantly amoral middle-class rebel, the lead actor assumes the persona of another anti-hero who plays the game by his own rules."[17] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Shahid Kapoor-starrer has all the ingredients of a pacey thriller but despite the occasional burst, it slumps back into a been-there-seen-this category."[18]
