Rifle Club: Aashiq Abu's film in Netflix's top 10 movies, and why it is not surprising

Aashiq Abu made a cracker of a comeback with Rifle Club as he literally went all guns blazing to deliver a movie that was sleek and stylish with splendid action. The Christmas release movie landed on OTT recently and instantly climbed up the list of the top 10 movies in India on Netflix. From the glittering ensemble cast to action-packed sequences, here are the reasons that helped Aashiq Abu’s outing with Anurag Kashyap and rapper Hanumankind claim a place in the top list of Netflix.

Rifle Club in Netflix's top 10 movies in India

Rifle Club released in theatres on December 19, 2024, and made its OTT premiere on Netflix in less than a month on January 16, 2025. Facing stiff competition from Unni Mukundan-starrer Marco, Aashiq Abu’s film was not able to garner as much attention as the violent actioner upon its release but was still lauded by critics and audiences. However, with its Netflix premiere, the Malayalam film was expected to reach out to a wider audience. And Rifle Club just did that! The movie raced to the top position soon after its OTT debut, and is on the second spot as of January 19, 2025, after Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx’s Back in Action snatched the top position from the Malayalam film.

Rifle Club plot

Rifle Club revolves around a bunch of quirky characters of the eponymous hunting club, situated in Wayanad in Western Ghats. A lover couple seeks refuge at their club after they make an enemy of a powerful arms dealer from Mangalore. The arms dealer follows the trail of the young couple to the club, where we get the ultimate showdown between the club members and his honchos.

Also read | Rifle Club movie review: Aashiq Abu’s all-star cast fires in this fun, crisp and riveting thriller 

Rifle Club cast and who plays what

Rifle Club has a clear villain in Anurag Kashyap as Dayanand Bare, who is out to wreak havoc after both his sons suffer tragic deaths. Big Dawgs-fame Hanumankind plays Bheera, one of the sons of Bare, who walks directly into the path of danger and suffers the consequences.

Though we do not have a ‘hero’ in the typical movie sense, among the two groups, viewers would probably side with the club members who more or less are a collective.

Dileesh Pothan plays secretary Avaran of the club, which has Vijayaraghavan as co-founder Kuzhiveli Lonappan. Suresh Krishna and Vishnu Agasthya are other key members of the club.

Vineeth Kumar plays the chocolate hero Shajahan, who comes to the club to learn hunting as part of method acting before his next film and sets the ball rolling.

Vani Viswanath, who is no stranger to action movies, also gets a ‘mass’ moment and we are delighted to see the senior actress in the role. Along with her, Darshana Rajendran, Unnimaya Prasad, Surabhi Lakshmi and Ponnamma Babu form the strong female contingent of the club.

‘Western movie’ set in our own Western Ghats

The majestic Western Ghats and the colonial-style club form the backdrop of much of the movie. With an arms dealer and hunting club members as its primary characters, we get an action-packed second half when shots are fired mercilessly. The movie, a clear hat-tip to the Western movies, is all about hunting or getting hunted. Director Aashiq Abu along with the terrific trio of writers Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Karunakaran, and Suhas, transport us to a world where guns do the talking. The fast-paced movie is further boosted by Rex Vijayan’s music and cinematography by Aashiq Abu himself.

Witty dialogues in Rifle Club

Though gunfighting takes precedence, the film is also kept alive by the witty dialogues and the banter between characters. Dileesh Pothan as secretary Avaran gets the bulk of the dialogues that hit the mark. His tete-a-tete with Anurag Kashyap’s Bare in the climax is both delightful and interesting.

The makers have also cleverly given Hindi filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap a mix of languages to speak in Rifle Club. He mostly communicates in English or Hindi, with a good sprinkling of Malayalam words that elevate his scenes effectively.

The clever and sauve filmmaking, combined with some stellar acting performances, makes Rifle Club a must-watch on Netflix. 

Also read | 4 must-watch Malayalam OTT, theatre releases this weekend - Rifle Club to Pravinkoodu Shappu