[3][4] A remake of the 2004 Tamil-Telugu bilingual film 7G Rainbow Colony by writer-director Selvaraghavan, it follows a contemporary love story between Astha Tripathi and Shiva More, played by debutants Sharmin Segal Mehta and Meezaan Jafri, who are from contrasting backgrounds and live in a Mumbai chawl.

During a local cricket match, Sawant, the Marathi fanatic politician in town, notices Shiva and recruits him into his party, so he and his friends are given the task of prohibiting migration from North India in order to protect Maharashtrian interests.

Some days later, Astha Tripathi, a young woman who has relocated from her palatial bungalow moves into the chawl with her family, comprising her mother Rajni, father Umashankar and brother Deepu.

News reaches both families, and Shiva survives, but upon recovery, he is shocked beyond words to find Astha dead, and his guilt of not having to spend the last moments peacefully with her gets the better of him and makes him mentally unstable.

[1][7] Sreeparna Sengupta of The Times of India gave the film 3.5/5 stars, praising the performance of debutants Meezaan and Sharmin Segal Mehta and their onscreen chemistry, termed it as a 'simmering love story' with 'romantic and intense moments'.

Concluding, Sengupta wrote, "Malaal is reminiscent of sweet romances when handwritten notes were actually a thing and it’s tender moments like these that sets the film apart.

"[10] Priyanka Sinha Jha of News18, terms the debut duo of Meezaan and Sharmin Segal 'charming in parts', but 'rough around the edges' and rates the film with 2.5/5 stars.

Concluding, she writes, "Malaal lacks the pathos it needed to soar to greater heights than the Tamil original (which is the source material for the film) to make Hindi cinema audiences sit up and take notice.

"[11] Writing for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee praised cinematographer Ragul Dharuman for 'depth of view', production designer Akriti Piplani for carving out spaces, Meezaan for screen presence and Sharmin Segal Mehta for meeting the 'demands of the character'.

He recommends, "Watch the film for its old-fashioned love story and realistic performances..."[13] Malaal had a total worldwide revenue of ₹25.0 million.

The music of the film is composed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Shreyas Puranik and Shail Hada and lyrics written by Prashant Ingole, Vimal Kashyap and A. M. Turaz.