KRK reviews Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Thugs of Hindostan'

A torturous tale of the pirates from Raunakpur.

Story

Dating back to the late 1700s, 'Thugs of Hindostan' starts with a conspiring British officer Clive who invades Raunakpur and kills King Mirza (Ronit Roy) and his entire family. Only his young daughter Zafira, played by Fatima Sana Shaikh, is saved by the king's trusted guard Khudabaksh, aka Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan), as he takes her away from the grips of the British.

Zafira grows up to become a fierce warrior under the guidance of Khudabaksh. They form a gang of pirates pledging to free Raunakpur from the clutches of Clive and take revenge. But the British rope in a 'thug named Firangi (Aamir Khan) to foil Khudabaksh's plan.

The scene suddenly shifts to the sea showing Khudabaksh and his gang of pirates attacking a British ship and capturing it. That's when Firangi comes into the picture. He is let loose on Khudabaksh and his gang, and whilst he is trying to thwart their plans, he falls in love with Zafira.

Screenplay

The writing seems to be lacklustre. 'Thugs' is an effort gone to waste as it attempts to recreate the adventurous 'Pirates of the Caribbean' with a pale script. To add to the scrawny screenplay, 'Thugs of Hindostan' fails massively in delivering the needed muscle to the film. The first half seems bearable with emotional scenes between Fatima and Amitabh beautifully depicted, while the second half is nothing but torture.

Editing

The editing is poor. The film, which should have been only two-hours long, has been stretched to nearly three hours. This is torturous.

Dialogues

Awfully written dialogues. The English actors look really funny uttering badly written Hindi dialogues.

Music

There are only three songs in the movie and they are bad. The songs seem to appear out of nowhere, with girls shown dancing to entertain the thugs in the jungles just for the sake of it.

Action

The action in the first half is very good. However, the second half is bad -- it appears to be superficial and doesn't seem real.

Location

The location, of course, is great. The clear waters of the Maldives against the backdrop of the mountains is breathtaking. Also the sets are eye-catching and beautifully created.

Acting

Amitabh Bachchan as Khudabaksh has done a fabulous job with his portrayal of a warrior and trusted guard. But Fatima is the one who steals the show with her acting. She is made for a film like this and vice versa! The actress has done a splendid job right from the beginning till the end. While Katrina, who has only two songs and two scenes in the entire film, seems to have put in much effort into her dancing. However, her effort seems to be wasted as the songs are pathetic.

Talking about Aamir Khan's acting, it is difficult to watch him in the role. It's a disappointing mismatch. Moreover, his acting gets more irritating as he seems to be trying hard to act like Johnny Depp. No doubt he fails horribly. It wouldn't be an exaggeration if we said that there is not a single scene where Aamir has acted well. The thought 'Is this really Aamir?,' will surely cross the minds of audience.

Verdict

Although the first half of the film has some gripping emotional scenes, the second half leaves you restless. The awful second half gives you a headache and it's a torture to watch. To sum it up, 'Thugs of Hindostan' does look like an expensive film with commendable cinematography and effects. Sadly it fails. It is impossible to watch the movie, even if one is offered free popcorn and cold drink!

No stars for 'Thugs of Hindostan' because a film which took Rs300 crore to make, looks worse than a Rs20 crore movie.