Thugs of Hindostan review: "Bugs audience into shouting azaadi from the theatre!!!"

It was a rather sedate Saturday with hardly much to do & I couldn't have chosen a better day to watch "Thugs of Hindostan" which I was eagerly looking forward to. Though I never read reviews prior to watching any movie, a couple of my friends did mention that they werent impressed with TOH. I have to admit that it did dampen my spirits, but I was still optimistic after all Aamir rarely falters in choosing a worthy script. With the Super Sunday matches just a couple of hours away, will TOH prove to be a sumptous appetizer for it or will I have the same experience as my buddies???

The story unfolds in the late 18th century when the East India Company were slowly & steadily establishing themselves as rulers of India. Led by the ruthless British officer Clive (Lloyd Owen), their latest target was Raunakpur which was ruled by Mirza Sikander Baig (Ronit Roy). As the brave & proud king refused to bow before the company, his whole family was brutally murdered by Clive's men. However, Princess Safira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) was rescued by their General, Khudabaksh (Big B). As time passed by, Khudabaksh, Safira & his band of soldiers proved to be a constant headache for the British. With all their efforts to imprison Khudabaksh proving to be futile, they hatch a plot to infiltrate the former's group. They entrust the task upon the cunning Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan) in exchange for wealth. So will Firangi nail Khudabaksh or will the latter succeed in making Firangi into a worthy human being???

The last time that Vijay Krishna Acharya had called the shots was for "Dhoom 3" which was close to half a decade back. Though it set the box office on fire, it didnt quite match upto the usual standards of an Aamir movie. So I was really surprised when Aamir decided to join hands with Vijay yet again, but when Big B was also roped in; it proved to be a casting coup that had everyone excited. Unfortunately that was the only thing that Vijay managed to do to enthrall the audience with as his script & screenplay was mediocre. Apart from the fact that the characters & template of the movie looked heavily inspired from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series such as Firangi/Jack Sparrow, Khudabaksh/Barbossa etc, the story just didnt have anything worthwhile that would have made it unique. On the technical side, the film definitely looked grand & kudos to Manush Nandan for the stunning visuals. Even the action sequences were pretty impressive while John Stewart did a praise worthy job with the BGM especially the one used for Firangi while there was another score which seemed like inspired from "Avengers: Infinity War". The same cant be said for Ritesh Soni whose editing was far from ideal while Ajay-Atul's music was average.

Despite the pedestrian script, I felt Aamir did a fine job as the duplicitous Firangi who goes all out with his whacky mannerisms which is endearing for most parts. Big B had a rather stiff character to portray but he did utmost justice to it though it wasnt a challenging role for a person of his caliber. As for the rest, Lloyd Owen was ok, Fatima Sheikh wasnt quite upto the mark, Katrina didnt have much to do apart from groove while Mohammed Ayyub was wasted.

Verdict: After a record breaking initial of more than 50 C, it has since then been on a steady slide which was understandable after all the movie was well short of expectations. This was one of those rare movies where Aamir's judgement of the script had faltered & a classic movie from two of the finest actors in Bollywood was denied to the audience. Hopefully we will get to see them paired up again in a much better movie. But until then, it's better not to be bothered by this mundane flick!!!

Rating: 1.75/5

Regards...Ben

Sarkar review: "Not quite matching the expectations like Modi Sarkar!!!”

The Festival of Lights is here as the nation celebrated Lord Rama’s return from exile & Krishna’s slaying of Narakasura apart from similar other mythologies. Despite a restriction of 2 h to the bursting of crackers, there hasn’t been any such restriction to the release of some cracking movies. The most prominent among them happens to be Vijay’s “Sarkar” & “Thugs of Hindostan” which had kept the audience wait with bated breaths ever since the trailers had hit the screens. With “Sarkar” having released earlier, I decided to check it out in the hope that it would be as exciting as their previous ventures together. The question is will it set the box office on fire???

Sundar Ramaswamy (Vijay), a NRI was the CEO of GL & known as the “corporate monster” in the business world for his style of decimating rival companies pretty much like Thanos. His visit to India was met with apprehension by the Indian corporates, though it turned out that he had flown down to Chennai to cast his vote in the assembly elections. Much to his dismay, an imposter had voted in his name & he decided to seek legal assistance to stay the election results in his constituency. Interestingly, there is a provision in the Conduct of Election Rules under Rule 49P where a voter can cast a “tendered vote” & Sundar obtains the permission for the same from the judiciary. He subsequently sets in motion an awareness campaign about the rule which eventually results in the elections being annulled. This irks Masilamani (Pala Karuppiah), the CM & his brother, Malarvannan (Radha Ravi) who were corrupted to the core & had clung onto power taking advantage of the hapless citizens. The stage was set for an all-out showdown between Sundar & Masilamani, both of whom had vanquished their opponents with disdain in the past. So, who will have the last laugh???

AR Murugadoss is a name that needs no introduction as his craft over the years has earned him an honourable position in the industry. This was his third venture with Vijay after “Thuppakki” & “Kaththi”, both of which had garnered huge numbers at the box office. His latest effort, looked classy in the trailer but can’t quite say the same about the movie. Scripted by Murugadoss himself (not exactly, as writer Varun Rajendran had to be compensated & credited after he launched complaints that it was plagiarized from his story “Sengoi”), it kicks off in an engaging manner giving us ample awareness as to what Rule 49P is about. However, once that stage is over then it proceeds into the ‘tried & tested’ territory of one guy taking on the whole system. It morphs into a political podium for Thalapathy as he speaks about capitalism, Jallikattu, government freebies, fishermen issues etc. to name a few. 

Interestingly, there were quite a few subtle references to real life characters as well such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai/ GL CEO Sundar Ramaswamy, top lawyer Jethmalani & Varalaxmi's Komalavalli which happens to be Jayalalitha's real name. It was kinda evident that the makers have tried to show AIADMK in poor light and rather than the script taking the movie forward, it’s Vijay’s charisma they have heavily relied upon & he pulls it off impressively for most parts. Another major disappointment was AR Rahman’s music which was strictly average though his BGM was catchy. However, Girish Gangadharan’s visuals were praise worthy while the other technical aspects were kinda ok.

As mentioned earlier, the film depends entirely on Vijay’s histrionics & he manages to carry his suave style with elan. At the same time, he was extremely over dramatic in many sequences with exaggerated body language be it with his hand gestures, laughs & even dialogue delivery. Keerthy Suresh was barely given anything substantial to perform except make wide eyed expressions despite sharing the screen with Vijay in numerous scenes. Varalaxmi did her part well but the character required someone more impactful & it should also have been introduced much earlier. As for the rest of the cast, Yogi Babu was fine while Pala Karuppiah lacked consistency as his character oscillated from being evil to comical.

Verdict: It has all the elements that will make the fans go wild & that in turn should facilitate its way to being a huge hit. As a person who had really looked forward to the magic of the Vijay-Murugadoss duo, this movie came across as a disappointment as it started off with a bang before meandering itself into the oft witnessed storyline. In short, it’s a decent time pass if you watch it without expectations!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards…Ben