Special 26 is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language period heist thriller film written and directed by Neeraj Pandey.

Based on the 1987 Opera House heist, the plot follows a team of criminals (Akshay Kumar and Anupam Kher), who pose as CBI officers and conduct raids, robbing politicians and businessmen of their black money.

The film also stars Jimmy Sheirgill, Kajal Aggarwal, Rajesh Sharma, Divya Dutta and Kishor Kadam.

He speaks to SI Ranveer Singh who agrees to send the required number of support officers.

Ajay, with accomplices P. K. Sharma, Joginder Khurana and Iqbal Ali, meet the supporting officers and conduct the raid.

Ranveer, with his senior officer, meets the mini prosecutor of the earlier raid, who reveals that he doesn't want the news to appear in the public domain because he wants to protect his image.

Meanwhile, the next raid planned by Ajay is conducted on a traders' business in Calcutta, with the raiders posing as officers from the Income Tax Department.

Furious and at the same time impressed by the cunning of Ajay and his gang, Khan starts laughing loudly and applauds the entire robbery plan and execution.

[9] Kajal Aggarwal plays a specially-written role of Ajay Singh's love interest as a school teacher.

Himesh Reshammiya, was roped in as the guest composer for the song "Gore Mukhde Pe Zulfen" which was written by Shabbir Ahmed, and the rest of them were penned by Irshad Kamil.

The music rights were acquired by T-Series and the album was released on 9 January 2013, at a promotional event held in PVR, Mumbai.

Akshay Kumar, with the rest of the cast of Special Chabbis, were scheduled to visit the crime spot of the incident that inspired the film.

[26] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the score of 4 out of 5, and said "Special Chabbis is an intelligently woven, slick and smart period thriller with its subject matter as its USP.

"[27] Anupama Chopra, writing for Hindustan Times, gave 3.5 stars out of 5, calling it one of the best films of the year and praising its attention to detail, its character building, the plot's steady but sure sense of immediacy and urgency, and the elaborate cat-and-mouse chase between the conmen and the police.

She criticises the unnecessary addition of the love angle in an otherwise gripping script, along with the unconvincing nature of its climax.

[5] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave it 4 out of 5 stars, and wrote, "Special 26 is an intelligently scripted, superbly acted, enthralling and believable heist film that is more than just that.

"[29] Resham Sengar of Zee News rated the film 4 out of 5, stating, "Very rarely would you come across a logically scripted and intelligently-directed drama thriller churned out from the good ol' Hindi cine factory these days.

"[31] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 3.5 out of 5, saying "Special Chabbis works on account of its meaty, realistic plot and nicely fleshed out characters.

"[28] Madhureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India gave the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars, while adding, "Special 26 doesn't stun you with a social message like Pandey's 'A Wednesday!

[32] Special 26 opened at 30% occupancy on Thursday morning but it improved steadily till the evening shows to 60% due to positive reviews.

[44] Special 26 was remade in Tamil titled Thaanaa Serndha Koottam (2018) starring Suriya and Keerthy Suresh in lead roles, and was directed by Vignesh Shivan.