Bollywood’s biggest casting coup –the icon for the icons Amitabh Bachchan and the perfectionist Aamir Khan coming together for the biggest festival season of the country under Bollywood’s premier banner Yash Raj Films. THUGS OF HINDOSTAN seems to be the biggest loot and it is… read our review.
Writer director Vijay Krishna Acharya (DHOOM 3, TASHAN previous) tells a period based saga, it’s circa 1795, British company’s officer Clive (Lloyd Owen) by a wicked plan takes over the kingdom of Mirza (Ronit Roy), Mirza and his people are patriotic and desire freedom against the British Raj. The cruel and wicked Clive takes Mirza’s kingdom and kills Mirza, Mirza’s daughter princess Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) gets rescued by Khudabaksh urf Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan) a leader of rebel pirates who steal British ships and dream to win freedom back. Clive hires a wily thug Firangi (Aamir Khan) to nab Azaad and his gang and what happens next is everybody’s guess.
Writer director Vijay Krishna Acharya stamps, prints and cements the truth that neither the towering star power of Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan nor a big banner like Yash Raj can save an epic disaster like THUGS OF HINDOSTAN from sinking to death. An insult to the status of the above mentioned greats, plus a case of taking the audience for granted, Vijay Krishna Acharya is guilty of spoiling the diwali of the country in churning a colossal disappointment looking at the names and expectations involved.
Ironically, Vijay Krishna Acharya has delivered exactly what cynics had expected after watching the trailer. Such is the remarkable consistency of Vijay Krishna Acharya that in spite of having the greatest talents like Mr. Bachchan and Aamir Khan, the poor audience gets only the faintest traces of their spark. So formulaic, so cherry picked and so damn predictable is the script that there is not a single moment of surprise, a moment to blow a whistle or clap in this proposed mass entertainer. A complete mercenary exercise targeted to earn big hoopla cashing on star power and brand equity that Katrina Kaif is used only for two songs and she carries a hairdo and a wardrobe that comes from an era that is unknown even to the maker.
Authenticity, dialect, costumes ( Aamir jackets are made from denim material), mass appeal, expected confrontation between Big B and Aamir, patriotism, nothing absolutely nothing hits the core.
Still the generous audience who had made Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Yash Raj films stand high due to their undying love will still make THUGS OF HINDOSTAN earn money but this time with a cautious warning that audience cannot be taken for granted and a better understanding of quality when such big names are involved is the need of the hour.
THUGS OF HINDOSTAN is not PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN though it tries to be, it’s not Manoj Kumar’s KRANTI either though it wants to be, there is an eagle flying whenever Amitabh Bachchan appears on screen and of course it’s not COOLIE either (though the makers want to take all the burden aka share of the market in this festive season).
On the rare plus points, Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) has a role and she is good. Some action scenes are good but the effects are tacky. Not only the British, the whole movie looks like a caricature, a never ending circus. It’s boring to the hilt.
Aamir Khan seems to be in the wrong impression that he is having a blast, maybe for a certain section but overall it’s not the act which we expected from the perfectionist. ( did he really approved the script personally?).
The icon for the icons Amitabh Bachchan has a solid entry and much to the horror of the audience, he utters a dialogue after taking a lot of screen time ( the script has to be blamed).. in one scene Mr. Bachchan says to Aamir Khan, “ ab tu bolna bandh kar nahi toh mein pagal ho jaoonga”, taking this plea into consideration, we conclude the review of the year’s most anticipated movie having the most biggest stars with a heart as heavy as 100 sumo wrestlers.
Who cares for quality, expectations of the audience?, THUGS OF HINDOSTAN has ‘thugged’ ( stolen the audience of Hindustan of the massy, escapist entertainment they deserved in this festive season).
Unsolicited advice : it’s still your choice, whether you want to watch THUGS OF HINDOSTAN or not, but in future we as an audience should take the titles of film seriously, it might be a warning/ a caution)
