A Thursday REVIEW: Yami Gautam owns the screen with her fiery yet vulnerable act

Director: Behzad Khambata

Cast: Yami Gautam, Karanvir Sharma, Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dhupia, Dimple Kapadia

Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3.5 stars

I walked into watching A Thursday wondering if it will be a sequel to the very celebrated film A Wednesday that stars Naseeruddin Shah in the lead role. A Thursday, however, surprised me in many ways than one. Although predictable after a point, the journey that leads to the anti-climax and climax is what makes you hooked on to the film till the end.

Yami Gautam plays Naina Jaiswal, a play school teacher, who is kind-hearted and everyone’s favourite. After returning from a break of three months, Naina takes 16 of her students as hostage and requests for Jawed Khan (Atul Kulkarni) to lead the operations and demands for two people to be taken into custody, apart from the larger demand of meeting with the Prime Minister in exchange for release of those kids. While everyone is trying to figure what happened to the innocent Naina they knew, you witness the media hype, sexism, mind numbing insensitivity and use of social media to propagate and threaten. We are told that Naina had been on anti-depressants post her father’s demise, and immediately the media brands her as ‘pagal’.

The film navigates between the emotional turmoil of the parents, the state machinery trying to diffuse the situation and the larger picture at display. You also have Neha Dhupia (Catharine) play a pregnant police officer heading the operations who is constantly battling sexism and conflict at work. Jawed, also her ex-husband, doesn’t look at her with respect and is not happy working under her.

 

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At first, no one takes Naina seriously till she decides to use the gun to shoot randomly in air in order to be taken seriously. Many vile attempts are made by the forces to nab Naina but all in vain. An hour into the film and it becomes difficult to even move despite knowing what’s to come. The film is beautifully made with scenes hitting you right at the spot. I remember there was a cut-throat silent in the theatre a few minutes before the interval when we see a kid getting shot. The desired impact could be seen.

What I loved about the approach is that there was no unnecessary hyper sensational tone used to deliver the social message at hand. It was from the prism of empathy and angst for the helplessness.

Yami Gautam is stupendous as Naina. She makes you flinch yet feel invested in her character right from the beginning. She brings a sense of vulnerability to Naina which is so endearing. Yami is such a treat to watch. Neha is the right cast for Catharine. The complex nuances she brings to the foray is unmissable. Atul Kulkarni is fire. At first, his condescending tone makes you cringe but the transition and the back story makes you sympathise with them. Dimple Kapadia is again such a treat to watch onscreen.

Director Behzad Khambata has made sure to keep the screenplay tight enough for everyone to feel invested and emotional by the end of it. This is probably a film that will move you to the end and leave you with a lingering question.

Watch A Thursday on Disney + Hotstar.

ALSO READ: A Thursday trailer: Yami Gautam as a kidnapper looks deadly and brutal in this suspense drama

Bhavna Agarwal

Assistant Editor at Bollywood Bubble. An ambivert who is currently high on K-dramas and K-Pop. A forever Bollywood fan, who continues to gush over solid stories and characters. Hit me up for a fine conversation over chai.

You can also reach me on – https://twitter.com/filmybugB