Aamir Khan has been delivering such huge blockbusters from past 8 years that people have made it a must to watch his movie. He is also releasing them in regional languages. His biggest box-office bet ever, Thugs of Hindosthan released now. Let’s discuss what it is all about.
Plot : In 1795, Clive an English Governor decides to take over Raunakpur Kingdom and he decides to attack on the night time and pressures the King (Ronit Roy) to sign the declaration of acceptance of East India Company rule in their kingdom. He kills the prince but princess Zafira (Fathima Sana Sheikh) escapes with the help of clever commander of army, Khudha Bhaksh (Amitabh Bachchan).
They form a group of Navel Army to take over their Kingdom. They call it Azaad. A criminal conman, Firangi (Aamir Khan) is entrusted to find Aazaad by English officers. He joins the Army and wins the trust of the commander. What happens next? You can guess easily.
Performances : Aamir Khan as an actor proved himself time and again. But as a star, he lacks charisma. Once again, in a character that needs him to be charismatic, charmingly funny yet unreliable he couldn’t infuse enough energy for people to root for him. He is either too serious or too confused through the out film.
Amitabh Bachchan in 70’s and 80’s, even early 90’s walked through the role he got in this film. He oozed confidence and charisma throughout the film. Sadly, his character has no real moments for us to connect unless we know how bigger star he used to be and respect it.
Katrina Kaif seems to have cracked a deal to do some workout in the songs with the production house and appear few seconds on screen to flirt with hero as he needs someone. There is no proper character for her. Fathima Sana Sheikh got the best character but even she turned out to be one dimensional after a point and her acting is pathetic.
All others tried to do their duty for the money they got and they did so.
Technicalities : Riteish Soni as an editor could have edited out entire film had he was given a choice. One feels for him as he should have sit through even worse footage to make this cut.
Manush Nandan as a cinematographer tried to his best to deliver beautiful frames that are eye-pleasing. While few of his frames are over-crowded with lazy VFX, few just look bland due to the actors in it. Beauty needs a life but he couldn’t provide it.
Ajay – Atul couldn’t come up with songs that would really carry the movie on their shoulders. Few moments needed such songs but they just used big instruments to create noise than music.
Jon Stewart Eduri gave life to few scenes and he decided to give his best background score no matter what the scene is. Hence it works in bits and pieces. Art department too worked really well.
Vijay Krishna Acharya wrote and directed the film. Few filmmakers are extremely lucky as they can find stars who can trust them and big studios who are ready to pour money on their ideas. Vijay also was known as Victor seems to know the art of gaining trust of these big stars and studios. He made Tashan but again got Droom 3 with Aamir and now, got biggest stars in Indian Cinema to make Thugs of Hindosthan even though Dhoom 3 is also not revered all around. It is said to be a lucky hit for YRF and Aamir.
In this movie, his writing is so over the top and pathetic that he just felt like re-working some old 80’s movie story in Pirates world and sell it as a new movie. Nothing in the film work and even the cast look confused and jaded throughout. He again proved that Tashan is not one-off but Dhoom 3 is.
Analysis : You might have seen films that try to sell an idea, that is, Independence. They either tell people stuck in busy daily routines to move away and find World around or take us back to the Independence Movement. Laagan became a huge classic because of the kind of hero it projected and also the kind of heart it showed. Vijay Krishna Acharya’s first failure is to try and mix a premise like Pirates of the Caribbean with Indian Independence Movement.
POC demands you to keep your logical brain aside and enjoy the characters. It says have fun with popcorn and don’t get too invested. While the Indian Independence Movement is so thick subject that making fun around it won’t suit the greatness of it. Makers need to understand that Patriotism is not a selling point for every story. When the story base idea is highly flawed we shouldn’t even worry about the execution of the ideas. They are even worse. Save your time.
Rating : 1/5
