‘Thugs of Hindostan’ Movie Review: This movie sinks like a broken ship

Directed By: Vijay Krishna Acharya

Produced By: Aditya Chopra

Cast: Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Katrina Kaif

Bollywood Bubble Rating: 2.5/5

Billed as one of the most awaited films of 2018, ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ turns out to be a grand ship that sinks. It fails to invoke any passion (like ‘300’) and it’s predictability fails to make it anything more than a boring snoozefest. It’s clear that none of the actors are used to doing action sequences, and the director (Vijay Krishna Acharya) does not manage to use the huge budget at his disposal to create something thrilling.

The movie starts by showing Ronit Roy as a King of Raunakpur. He does not believe in slavery, and intends to fight the Britishers. Unfortunately for him, John Clive (Lloyd Owen) kills his son and doesn’t spare him either. The King’s daughter Zafira is witness to this atrocity and vows to avenge her family’s death. We are then introduced to Khuda Baksh (Amitabh Bachchan) who is a commander, who uses wily techniques (you’ve seen it before though) to take over British ships. Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan) is then brought in to stop Khuda Baksh aka Azad. As a part of his plan, Firangi befriends Azad. For what happens next, you’ve to see the movie.

As far as the performances are concerned, a talented starcast is let down by a weak screenplay and melodramatic dialogues. There are twists and turns too, but nothing is really unexpected. A major one involving Amitabh Bachchan’s Khudabaksh is plain annoying. Katrina Kaif has a special appearance, and to promote her as one of the film’s leading starcast is plain wrong. Fatima Sana Shaikh has a much meatier role and she does manage to make her action scenes look convincing. Amitabh looks too old to be doing action, but his heavy loaded dialogues do manage to hit the mark. Aamir Khan’s performance is bright and he does manage a great accent and good body language. Yet, some of his expressions look fit for a slapstick comedy like ‘Andaaz Apna Apna’, not a serious action film like ‘Thugs of Hindostan’.

Probably the only good thing about the movie is its production design. The sets look grand and fit for an international film. If only, the makers had worked equally hard on the script.

We could have also made a list of illogical things that transpire in the movie but we’ll try not to give any spoilers.

Final verdict:

Stay away from this film unless you’ve sworn to watch every Aamir Khan film that releases.

Watch the trailer here: