Thugs of Hindostan (2018) directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, is the film that I wanted to see for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg. I feel that Thugs of Hindostan had a more engaging story and characters, however this film is considered to be awful, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was successful, even though it’s characters and story was terrible. This is my first Hindi Film, I kept up with the English subtitles while listening to the Hindi language. If you don’t like watching films in subtitles, then I’m sorry but this film isn’t for you.
The narrative starts in 1795, where we see the character Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) as a child and her father (Ronit Roy) preparing to strike the British before they lose their castle. Unfortunately, John Clive (Lloyd Owen) led the British to victory in claiming Zafira’s castle, preventing any attack on The Company. Luckily, Zafira is rescued just in time by Khudabaksh Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan), who then go onto leading the rebellion. Now it’s 1806 and the British are finding it difficult to fight the “thugs” and decide it’s time to use another thug to betray their own in capturing Azaad. Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan) is hired to bring in Azaad, driving the narrative forward as he searches for this rebel. Will Firangi succeed? Will Zafira get her revenge and reclaim her throne? Why is Firangi’s master a donkey? You should probably go and find out at the cinema.
The characters have a similar style/personality to other characters from Hollywood films, which make them easier to remember by what they wear. For example, Firangi is a Captain Jack Sparrow mix with The Mad Hatter, but Indian. He is funny and wacky, but he betrays too many people, making him too deceitful in my opinion. Aamir did well with acting as this crazy character. On the other hand, Azaad looks like Black Beard but with a grey beard and is a grandfather figure. I feel as though Amitabh acted very well and created this believable character. While Zafira was an ‘overkill’ in my opinion. She is a ‘Mary Sue,’ but at the end she was a too trusting with a character. Fatima played the intimidating Zafira well, with a lot of aggression. The character Clive is that stereotypical villain who wants to crush a rebellion, but at least he is kind enough to speak their language throughout the film. Lloyd played his character incredibly well, and even as an English actor, he spoke Hindi fluently.
One issue I found with the film is that half of it is just Firangi betraying one person or another. The film focuses on him as he goes from betraying criminals who stole from people on the road to finding Azaad to bring him in. I know the use of his deceitful trait makes an interesting twist to the film, but I think it would be best if he chose one side and stick with that. He betrays people for different reasons, whether it’s for his own selfish gain of reward or trying to survive the fights without a care for who he kills.
The cinematics, editing and lighting are brilliant for establishing characters and what’s going on in the scene. The use of extreme long shots to show the battles to the long and mid shots of the sword fighting presents the overall battle going on. In a few fight scenes, there’s the use of slow motion and then the action is sped up, this was incredible to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the action as it was at the right pace, it wasn’t too fast that you couldn’t keep up with the action, but not too slow that you get bored of the fights. The CGI on the other hand is a bit more noticeable, where I noticed what was the green screen and what wasn’t. Like Zafira swinging on a rope to get on the ships, these shots look amazing even when you notice the CGI. The range of extreme close ups and close ups of swords along with the guns were strangely satisfying to look at as the metal reflected the light. The lighting was perfect for me, not too dark but not too bright, we can tell when it’s night and day, but also the change in weather used the lighting to its advantage.
The sound was a pleasure for me to listen to, both the film music and the sounds in the film. Although the gunshots should have been a tiny bit louder, as I felt that they weren’t quite as shocking to hear as gunshots are. The film music was perfect for the action, all composed by Ajay-Atul and John Stewart. Also, when I was watching this film, I didn’t realise that Indie Films have an intermission and songs sung in the film. Not like a musical but part of the film. For example, Suriayya by Vishal Dadlani, the song is catchy and fitted well in the narrative, instead of oddly placing songs in the film. This song was sung while there was a performance on for the soldiers, this allowed the narrative to continue forward while not disrupting it the flow. I do like Vashmalle by Sukhwinder Singh and Manzoor-e-Khuda by Shreya Ghoshal, as they also fit in with the narrative while making me want to dance along to them. This film has educated me on the Hindi culture and its music.
As you can see, I am shocked by how many reviews say this is a terrible film. Although, as you can see, this film is not a Hindi version of Pirates of the Caribbean, as the story is very different with no use of curses or fantasy monsters. In fact, I’d say it’s Thugs of Hindostan is better, and would fit in the Disney franchise. I recommend watching this film, so “good bye, 1, 2, 3, quick march” to the cinema and watch your first Indie Film.
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