The first look of Riteish Deshmukh’s directorial Raja Shivaji, after being released in theatres last week, is now available online. The much-awaited period action-drama will arrive in theatres on May 1, 2026.

Also starring Riteish in the titular role, Raja Shivaji promises to be a glorious retelling of the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who rose against formidable powers to lay the foundation of Swarajya. By the looks of it, the film promises to be a high-octane entertainer, gruesome in its depiction of violence and opulent in its projection.

What makes the period action-drama more exciting is the presence of formidable stars like Vidya Balan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Amole Gupte, Bhagyashree, Jitendra Joshi, Sachin Khedekar, Mahesh Manjrekar, and Fardeen Khan. “For the land that forged warriors. For the faith that never wavered. For the dream of Swarajya that lived in every heart,” the caption reads.

Riteish has also co-penned the story and screenplay in association with Ajit Wadekar and Sandeep Patil. Ajay-Atul are composing music for the film. Additionally, the film has notable names in the technical crew like Santosh Sivan as the cinematographer, Remo D’Souza as the choreographer, and John Stewart Eduri as the background score composer. David Szatarski and Manohar Verma are the action directors, while production design is by Nikhil Kovale, Apurva Bhagat, and Shashank Tere.

Mounted as a multi-lingual project, and billed for simultaneous release in Marathi, Hindi and Telugu, Raja Shivaji is produced by Jyoti Deshpande & Genelia Deshmukh under Mumbai Film Company banner, and presented by Jio Studios. The makers released the teaser in Marathi and Hindi.

Upon its release, the big-scale actioner will battle at the box office against Ek Din, the Junaid Khan-Sai Pallavi starrer romance.