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
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