'The royal hunt') is a 1976 Indian Hindi-language period action drama film directed by Mrinal Sen and produced by K. Rajeshwara Rao.

Based on Shikaar, an Odia short story by Bhagbati Charan Panigrahi,[1] it stars Mithun Chakraborty and Mamata Shankar, both making their cinematic debuts through the film.

It also won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie apart from being nominated for the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival in 1977.

The plot is set in the 1930s and the film is about a group of tribals who live in a small village in Odisha amidst wild animals like tigers and boars.

Apart from the problems faced by the tribals from the animals that ruin their crops, they also suffer at the hands of the greedy moneylenders and police informers.

[3] Set in the 1930s, during the apogee of the Indian independence movement,[4] the tale describes the lives of a tribal community who lead a tough life in a small odisha village.

Unable to find one, he happened to come across Mithun Chakraborty in one of his teaching sessions at the Film and Television Institute of India where the latter was a student.

[11] The performances of rest of the cast that includes Sadhu Meher, Samit Bhanja and Sajal Roy Chowdhury were well received.