Thugs of Hindostan

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh

Writer/Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya

Producer/s: Aditya Chopra

Plot:

Thugs Of Hindostan Movie Review Rating: 2/5 Stars (Two stars)

Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ronit Roy, Lloyd Owen

Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya

What’s Good: It’s a good looking film but as they say beauty doesn’t last forever, background score that keeps you awake at times when there’s a lot of nonsensical chaos happening on screen & every performance is good in parts

What’s Bad: Ever known a beautiful person who’s hollow from inside? Thugs Of Hindostan is one such person, there are a lot of things happening which try to intrigue you but the story is so done-to-death you just can’t connect with it

Loo Break: Definitely more than once! It’s like that used chewing gum whose all the sweetness is absorbed (By the films of 90s) and now it’s just out there because someone has packaged it nicely

Watch or Not?: If you can watch a movie just for its visuals and don’t care anything about what’s happening around that artwork only then you might sit through this

User Rating:

Set in 1795, Thugs Of Hindostan is the story revolving around a revenge of a daughter for British had killed her father. Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) – the daughter is a master-archer trained under Khudabaksh aka Azad (Amitabh Bachchan) and 11 years later, somehow they intersect their path with Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan). As Aamir himself said recently, Firangi is someone you adore but can’t be friends with him.

His jade colour coat is an indication that he’s a chameleon & you can’t tell when he’s lying. He gets hired by the Britishers’ head John Clive (Lloyd Owen) to capture Azad and his army of rebellions. Firangi demands a hefty amount of money and the release of his friend Chawani Prasad (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub). From now it’s all about the chameleon-like trait of Aamir and whether or not is he on the side of British.

Thugs Of Hindostan Review: Script Analysis

This movie had every ingredient of being a blockbuster apart from a good story. ‘Baap ki maut ka badla’ is so 90s but revenge thrillers could of this scale could work well if written well. There’s a scene in which Aamir Khan’s Firangi says, “Hume hamesha dhoke ki umeed rakhni chahiye” (We should always expect to get backstabbed) and that’s the hint of how they already had planned to fool us. “Dhoka dena swabhav hai Bollywood ka aur (as Indian audience) bharosa karna hamara.”

After Dhoom 3, Vijay Krishna Acharya does something similar – visually brilliant but technically a sinking ship. The whole Firangi being a backstabber is so overdone that after a point of time you know he’s not as bad as the makers are trying to show. Cinematic liberties are taken as grandly as its budget and it just gets annoying with every scene. An Eagle is used as an metaphor for Khudabaksh’s bravery and Aamir starts talking to him; it doesn’t stop here, the Eagle in the end delivers a locket to Amitabh. These weren’t spoilers, these were just hints why you can skip this movie.

Thugs Of Hindostan Review: Star Performance

Amitabh Bachchan seems a miscast at some places but nails some scenes. He’s restlessly active for the man at his age but for the amount of action he’s doing on screen, someone younger could’ve created a different impact. Not at all saying he was bad, he was indeed good but there were times when it was visible that he’s used as a gimmick.

Ghajini, 3 Idiots, PK, Dangal and even Secret Superstar – we’ve seen Aamir Khan in roles no one can replace him but here it’s just disheartening. Firangi in one such character he can act while he sleepwalks. Partly entertaining, this isn’t we expect from Aamir Khan who has outstanding body of work (excluding Dhoom 3).

Katrina Kaif, apart from couple of songs is just for an extended cameo. She adds nothing valuable to the story but is surely a treat for the eyes. Doing nothing, she just comes on screen and captures your attention. Fatima Sana Shaikh, again, has very few dialogues but she’s good. She has looked like an archer and is very smooth while performing the action sequences.

Ronit Roy in his cameo is just about okay and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub fails to impress because of poor writing. Lloyd Owen as John Clive is boring and not at all gives the villainous feels.

Thugs Of Hindostan Movie Review Quicker: The movie starts with introducing introducing all the main characters of the film – Amitabh Bachchan’s Khudabaksh Azad, Fatima Sana Shaikh’s Zafira and Aamir Khan’s Firangi Mallah. While writing the above line, Katrina Kaif was introduced as Suraiyya was introduced and I literally forgot everything, SHE IS HOT!

It starts in 1795, when all the major portions of India are captured by British but Raunakpur is free. Ronit Roy is its emperor & his daughter Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) is seen building a sculpture resembling their castle. An attack on Raunakpur takes us 11 years ahead and we get to meet Firangi Mallah – a true blue Thug. He’s corrupted at heart but isn’t brutal as others.

Amitabh Bachchan has no dialogue till the first hour but his entry scene is extremely good. The movie, without any doubt is a spectacular masterpiece but what it lacks is packing many punches. There are some amazing moments but there are times when you feel there’s nothing going on despite all the grandeur on-screen. The background music of the film is the major takeaway of the first half for me. It will go down as one of the best in the world cinema, not saying Hollywood every time nails it but this is way up to their league.

When the movie was announced it was said that it’s adapted from Philip Meadows Taylor’s novel Confessions Of A Thug. The 1839 novel was based on the Thuggee cult in British India. But, director Vijay Krishna Acharya disagreed with the same and said it’s not based on any book & is a fresh story altogether.

Also, Thugs Of Hindostan is the widest release every for a Bollywood film. It’s releasing on 5000 screens in India and 2000 screens overseas making it to 7000 screens worldwide. China release is in talks too and it’s being said that a January release is on cards.

All set to release today, the movie stars Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Sheikh. Directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, the film releases in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Stick to this space for full review.