Anil Kapoor in 2026: Subedaar, Alpha and King

Anil Kapoor has three films in 2026, spread across streaming, theatres and a Shah Rukh Khan action film. This profile covers each one, with sources, and a note on a film he is not in.

Subedaar

Subedaar premiered on Prime Video on March 5, 2026. Suresh Triveni directs, and Anil Kapoor plays Arjun Maurya, a former soldier, with Radhika Madan, Khushbu Sundar, Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Rawal and Mona Singh. The film runs 142 minutes and deals with the sand mafia.

Rotten Tomatoes lists 69 per cent from 13 reviews. The Indian Express gave it 2.5 out of 5, and so did OTT Play. The Hindu praised the tense build-up and criticised the formulaic second half. The Hollywood Reporter India called it a "Desi John Wick".

Alpha

Alpha opened on July 3. Shiv Rawail directs, and Alia Bhatt, Sharvari and Bobby Deol star alongside Anil Kapoor. It is part of the YRF Spy Universe. Koimoi's closing report puts the worldwide gross at about ₹99.07 crore and the India net at ₹59.29 crore, against a reported budget of ₹100 crore, with a Losing label.

King

King is due on December 24, 2026. Siddharth Anand directs Shah Rukh Khan, Suhana Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Rani Mukerji, Jaideep Ahlawat, Jackie Shroff and others, with Anil Kapoor in the cast. His role has not been described officially.

Welcome to the Jungle

Director Ahmed Khan told News18 that Anil Kapoor was not approached for Welcome to the Jungle, because the film is a different script from the earlier Welcome films. That film opened on June 26 with Akshay Kumar.

Animal Park

Animal Park is Ranbir Kapoor's project and not Anil Kapoor's. We mention it only because the two actors share a surname and the confusion is common in search results.

What the year shows

Anil Kapoor's three titles are a streaming thriller, a theatrical spy film and a large ensemble action film. Only one has a box office total. The reviews of Subedaar were mixed, the box office of Alpha was below its reported budget, and King has not yet opened.

The cover photograph

The cover photograph shows Anil Kapoor at the Eleanor Roosevelt Dedication Ceremony in 2012. It is an archive photograph.

The Subedaar reviews in a little more detail

The Hindu's reviewer praised the tense build-up before the film settles into a conventional second half. The Hollywood Reporter India's "Desi John Wick" line points to its genre: a lean revenge thriller built around one capable older man. OTT Play and the Indian Express both settled on 2.5 out of 5, which in their scales reads as a mixed verdict rather than a pan.

The film's setting, the sand mafia, gives it a rooted subject. The film was shot between October and December 2024, so it waited more than a year before reaching Prime Video.

What we do not know

We do not know the size of his role in King. We do not know Subedaar's viewership, which Prime Video does not publish in detail. And we do not know whether any further 2026 release is planned.

The bottom line

Anil Kapoor's 2026 is three films with three different outcomes. Subedaar split critics, Alpha earned about ₹99 crore worldwide and King is the film that will define the year's end.

Sources

*Cover photo: This photograph was taken with a Canon EOS 7D by U.S. Embassy New Delhi., Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anil_Kapoor_%28Eleanor_Roosevelt_Dedication_Ceremony,_2012%29_05.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anil_Kapoor_%28Eleanor_Roosevelt_Dedication_Ceremony,_2012%29_05.jpg)* (Public domain).*