<p>The underutilized and drought-tolerant barnyard millet (BM) crop represents enormous potential for the development of starch-based biodegradable packaging films, offering a sustianble alternatives to petroleum-based plastic materials. This work emphasizes the novelty of utilizing BM starch to develop flexible packaging film that addresses the growing demand for eco-friendly packaging solutions, underscores the need to mitigate adverse environmental impact, while retaining product quality in food packaging applications. The objective of this&#xa0;study was to extract BM starch by alkali steeping method and comprehensively assess its physiochemical, functional, thermal and morphological characteristics. Subsequently, the biodegradable film was prepared and analyzed for their functional and barrier properties. The results revealed that isolated BM starch contained a higher yield (62 %) with substantial amylose content (31%). Apart from this, functional properties exhibited the amount of water absorption capacity (203%) and oil absorption capacity (218%) with an adequate whiteness level. XRD analysis indicated BM starch showed an A-type diffractograms pattern exhibiting higher relative crystallinity (30.90%). FESEM analysis demonstrated microstructure of isolated starch particles are spherical, round and polygonal shapes with indentations on some granules. Additionally, the fabricated film possesses outstanding functional characteristics including solubility index and water vapour permeability in the range of (38.3% and 2.7g/Pa.s.m²) signifies its feasibility as a biodegradable packaging material to enhance overall food quality. These outcomes suggest that BM starch could provide valuable insights as a feasible material in the advancement of sustainable packaging solutions, thereby supporting greener industrial practices in the food sector and reducing dependence on fossil fuel-derived plastics.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>