Thugs of Hindostan Movie Review: This Aamir, Amitabh film is not the Diwali gift we wished for

Thugs of Hindostan finally releases in the theatre after a lot of hullabaloo only to deliver a catastrophic movement of frames on the celluloid. Right from the word go, this Aamir Khan film has created a lot of anticipation among the Bollywood buffs who looked upon highly at his films. TOH would be a moment of reckoning for the cinephiles who felt drawn to the theatres merely by the labels of big star cast associated to the films. All this while, Aamir Khan has been one of the Khans who delivered a number of content-driven as well as Bollywood entertainer films, including Dangal, Secret Superstar, PK and many more. Thugs of Hindostan came out as a surprise to every fan of his.

Thugs of Hindostan Plot

The story was as predictable as we saw it in the trailer. Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) is the only child of a Rajasthan King, cradled and brought up by her caretaker Khudabaksh (Amitabh Bachchan). Zafira and Khudabaksh, who is also fondly known as Azad, build up an army to bring down the British rule in their region. Their army is infiltrated by Firangi (Aamir Khan) who knows only one thing; deceit. He joins the Azad army only to deliver Khudabaksh to the John Clive (Lloyd Owen), who has vouched to bring down any notion of freedom that inhabits the Indians.

Thugs of Hindostan Review

Thugs of Hindostan is, in short, is an exhilarating pain that goes on for three hours and you just wish for it to end. The trailer promised a high-octane story, with ladles of emotions and drama, but the film is nothing close to that. Right after 20 minutes of the film, the story starts being predictable and monotonous enough to put you to sleep. The same old story of mutiny that we heard from too many mouths in gamut of versions. Vijay Krishna Acharya, going by his previous direction venture, Dhoom 3 which also had Aamir Khan in the lead role, it seems like he’s in fond of taking cues from a number of Hollywood films. While the concept of twin magicians pulling off the escape act is adopted from The Prestige, Thugs of Hindostan indeed, has taken hints from Johnny Depp starrer Pirates of Caribbean.

Let’s talk about the brighter side first. The only thing that kept us from walking out of the theatres was Amitabh Bachchan and Fatima Sana Shaikh’s acting. The duo’s camaraderie as a goddaughter and caretaker was emotionally moving as well as gripping. They had their moments which were the only saving grace of this otherwise faltering concept. Aamir Khan’s character is relatable, who talks about survival, deceit and greed, but the concept, all in all, wasn’t new. We’ve seen that before, a drifter whose loyalty resides with no, finding his motivation in life. Here, Firangi’s motivation was his admiration for Zafira. The VFX are good, delectable, but the novelty was lacking in the whole way the narrative was carried out.

Katrina Kaif, let’s say, is the cameo or extended cameo in Thugs of Hindostan. She appears for only two songs, to flaunt her jaw-dropping moves and then vanishes into thin air. It was rather disappointing to see an actress who is capable of greater good is reduced to a mere dance number. We expected to see more of Ms Kaif in Thugs of Hindostan.

The cringe-worthy comic exchanges between Aamir Khan and Zeeshan Ayyub were dampening the already lost spirit of the entire film. They were not required, at least not during the last fifteen minutes of the movie.

There were many loopholes in the execution as well as logic. Zafira, Firangi and their entire Azad army enter the British premise and dance on an energetic Bollywood number, while John Clive waits for them to finish their jamboree and kill him. What were the makers thinking? East India Company was not fool enough to let a mutineer enter their premises at the first place. Things happened with such ease, that they were hardly relatable or doable.

Last year, Aamir Khan gave us such a wonderful Diwali gift with Secret Superstar, which was a soul-warming story of a mother-daughter duo. However, we cannot say such about Thugs of Hindostan. It was definitely not the Diwali hamper we were looking forward to.