It is one of the most awaited films of this year. Thugs of Hindostan promised to be a good one; also bringing together two of Bollywood's biggest ever stars: Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. So was the movie worth the wait? In a word no. The movie was quite awful. The plot was all over the place, the story incomprehensible and incoherent and all the fine acting talent was wasted. The movie was supposed to be set in late 18th century India, but appeared to have not even a nodding acquaintance with historical accuracy.
The first half of the film was so awful, that I wanted to go home. Only my curiosity to know how much worse things could get, kept me in my seat. To be fair, the first half of the movie is worse than the second.
The posters and the look of the film seemed very much like Pirates but there the resemblance ended. The CGI of Thugs was not up to par. Also, one kept wondering where this mythical Indian palace by the sea and those eerie dark cliffs were.
As one reviewer put it, the film "was so awful that it felt like a satire of itself". I have to agree. The lavish and visually spectacular film simply failed to impress.
The ancient looking Amitabh was constantly snarling, swinging from ropes and fighting with two swords. There was some impossible item number sequence to accommodate the lissome Katrina Kaif. Fatima Sana Shaikh kept simultaneously shooting three arrows to fell three men at the same time and did little else.
This is what a popular standup comic had to say about the film. The nationalistic bits seemed forced into the narrative and were quite simply incongruous for the time that the movie was supposed to be set in.
The man may have made some of Bollywood's most enjoyable and meaningful movies, but Thugs of Hindostan is not among that number. I kept wondering what Aamir Khan was doing in this strange mishmash of a movie.
…But I do wonder if this tweet is speaking about the same movie that I watched!
In spite of it being panned by the critics, the movie has had a record opening at the box office; with simultaneous releases in Hindi as well as Telugu and Tamil.
There are those who claim they wouldn’t watch the film again – even at gunpoint!
The English are portrayed as pure evil: malevolent, cruel, lying betrayers in general. Aamir is the quintessential crook with the heart of gold who comes good in the end.
We watched the movie and retuned home with our lives and sanity intact. Mostly.
The story is bad, the performances strictly OK. The music is mostly just about competent, but Kaif’s item number was utterly forgettable and the background score perked up in places. The interval was undoubtedly welcome and yes, you cannot trust anyone… even Aamir.
If you were planning to watch Thugs of Hindostan but are having second thoughts after reading this post…. You're welcome!
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