El destino de Sikandar

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar (2024) : Movie Review -

Amitabh Bachchan starred in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), which justified its title with the main character rising from zero to the top and then becoming a king-size hero. Reversing the theme, Neeraj Pandey brings Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, as the hero's fate is misjudged by the circumstances, but is that the truth? No, there is a lot more in the store, so prepare yourself for a typical Neeraj Pandey thriller. Enough praise; now I asked myself, "Does this film make any sense?" The answer is no. This has to be the most rubbish thriller ever written and directed by Pandey. It's hard to believe that the filmmaker, who once delivered 3 consecutive classic thrillers in a row (unheard of stuff by any director in Bollywood) with "A Wednesday," "Special 26," and "Baby," is now struggling to make a decent-average flick. It's high time he wakes up and gets back to old form.

Officer Jaswinder Singh (Jimmy Sheirgill) has a 100% track record, so he is appointed to high priority to solve a robbery case at NISCO where 5 diamonds worth Rs. 50-60 crores have been stolen. During the investigation, his basic instinct says that one of the three from Sikandar (Avinash Tiwary), Kamini (Tamannaah Bhatia), and Mangesh (Rajiv Mehta), or maybe all 3, has stolen it. He takes them into custody, tortures them, but is unable to get any info out of them. The three are harassed by Jaswinder, especially Sikandar, because of Jassi's egoistic instinct, and the poor Sikandar has to pay a high price for it at every phase of his life. Who's the real culprit, and will Jaswinder be able to find him/her?

Neeraj has actually written a good script that keeps you hooked for two hours or so, but it's the next 30 minutes that destroy this well-made thriller because of its brainless conclusion. There is no real motive shown behind the robbery, no real planning of aftermaths, and no precautions taken either. That's silly, man. Someone hides a small diamond in a nail, and they are telling me that the cops didn't find it when we all know that a body detector can trace it so easily. Someone breaks the glass bracket and steals diamonds, and the cops didn't bother checking the rod by which it was broken and checking fingerprints to catch the thief? I mean, it's so basic to get a heist thriller right, but even a genius like Pandey didn't think of this? Totally unacceptable. By the way, who waits for 15 years and destroys its own life for diamonds that can't be used or destroys personal life and career to find a thief? All these theories are extremely annoying and super childish. I didn't expect a good-looking thriller to collapse like this with such rubbish ideas at the end. Not by Neeraj Pandey, but maybe that's the phase he's going through currently and it seems that it's affecting his work too.

Performance-wise, Avinash Tiwary is pretty impressive. His expressions during those begging-for-life scenes are damn good. He doesn't go well with romance and regular drama portions, though. Tamannaah Bhatia looks gorgeous as always and also fails with voice modulation as always. Rajiv Mehta does well with his small part with utmost conviction. Jimmy Sheirgill fans are in for a treat again. This man is so good at everything he does! His versatility always keeps him ahead of contemporaries. Jaswinder's character has two different phases, and he performs both parts so well. Ridhima Pandit has a two-minute role and passes the time without any flaws. The supporting cast, especially the man who played Ghorpade and Jaswinder's assistant have done a fantastic job.

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar has a romantic song that feels completely useless as per the ongoing tempo of the film. It appears right after a dramatic sequence and spoils the tuning of the linear impact and pace of the film. The screenplay keeps things pacy, thankfully, and the background score was fine too. The camera work wasn't really great, but strictly okay, as we have several slow scenes and pauses just to complete a walk or one activity of the character. That takes too much time and gives you a moment to unlock your phone and check some stuff on internet. A thriller that doesn't give you this chance is what I call a brilliant thrilling affair. After finishing Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, you take a moment to rewind the story and realise that it was a pointless film. Not because of the bleak ending, but because it lacks the base on which the tower is standing. Neeraj Pandey's direction has a few ignorable flaws and that's fine, but as a storyteller and writer, he fails completely. That's so unfortunate. In short, Sikandar Ka Muqaddar runs like a winning horse for hours, only to break its leg a few meters behind the finishing line.

RATING - 4/10*

You see the trailer and see Neeraj Pandey's name. The memories hit back!

Baby

Special 26

"This one must be a worthy movie," you tell yourself.

The movie starts off slow, you constantly keep waiting for something to happen, something to reveal itself but nothing happens. "Did I miss anything?"

The narrative keeps juggling between the past and the present, and there are nice intersections that keep you hooked throughout. Neeraj Pandey makes sure you feel bored initially and then when the story starts weaving itself, you get a few Eureka moments.

The set design in the past narrative could have used better art direction, hair and make up. I'm sorry but they looked all out of place. Looked like the production budget was tight.

It's not a typical "whodunit" since three suspects are readily singled out an they are the actors you see on the poster, so it all comes down to how did they do it? Even though from a cinematic point of view, some of the twists were good, realistically they seemed out of place.

"No one has so much patience" is what will you think.

Story - 7/10

Cast - 6/10

Direction - 8/10

"The End" title card comes during the climax, and the movie still continues from there for another 30 minutes. I liked that bit because I would have hated the movie if that actually happened.

The storyline could have been a bit tighter, there were a few unnecessary scenes but overall it was a good watch.

PS: The end is open ended but it feels justified.

What's the point of making a thriller if you're not going to give it a conclusion? Seriously, Bollywood, what's happening? This is becoming a norm now-movies that hook you in with suspense, build tension for two long hours, and then just leave you hanging.

This latest so-called "thriller" follows the same pattern. You sit there, completely invested, eager to see how the story unfolds. But when the final ten minutes roll around, guess what? There is NO proper ending!

Sure, I'll give credit where it's due-Jimmy Shergill. He's the only saving grace of this film. His performance is as solid as always, and you can tell he's doing his best with what he's given. But even his makeup felt cheap (in first half) which is honestly insulting for an actor of his caliber.

Bollywood needs to stop this trend of ambiguous endings masquerading as "intellectual filmmaking." It's not clever. When people spend their time and money on a movie, they deserve a satisfying payoff-not vague nonsense that feels like a slap in the face.

I'm reluctantly giving this film 4 stars solely for Jimmy Shergill. Otherwise, it's a waste of time. Stop with the half-baked stories, Bollywood. Give us proper endings.

I was really looking forward to this film, knowing that Neeraj Pandey had written the story, the screenplay and directed it.

While professionals like Neeraj Pandey achieve the ordinary effortlessly, just like that, anything short of extraordinary disappoints their fans as they have fallen short of their own standards!

While for most filmmakers, this film could even pass as a brilliant attempt, for someone of the class of Neeraj Pandey, it falls really short of the bar...and yet it is not a bad film at all!

The story builds up nicely and continues to intrigue the audience, until there appear a couple of meaningless twists! For example, the twist in the Kamini Singh tale or the need for the character Tabassum is completely lost on me! I am certain that the narrative would have held together and probably appeared even more coherent without those additions.

The performances are very good. Jimmy Shergill & Tamannaah Bhatia live up to the expectations from them as actors and the relatively less known (to me), Avinash Tiwary, has certainly impressed. The other characters play their part very well...although I thought that an actor of the calibre of Divya Dutta could have had a more substantial role.

The de-aging of Shergill is not brilliant and the "no aging" of Avinash Tiwary and Tamannaah after 15 years is a rare miss for someone of Neeraj Pandey's class. But then, no one is infallible!

By all ordinary standards, the film is definitely watchable...at least a one-time watch.

Request to Mr. Pandey: Storytellers like you keep some of us still interested in cinema. We expect you to beat your own high standards every time. Please give us the pleasure of watching that happen over and over again.

You start the film hoping to see Neeraj Pandey's intense grip on such genre like Special 26 but sooner you'll realise that it'll be a mistake to even finish it.

Overall plot is promising but inside it's an empty coconut shell. You will exactly know what's gonna happen and guess what! The film never surprises you.

The Direction seems poor, I don't why Neeraj put continuous shots in the scenes where there is absolutely no requirement of that. I had to play some parts in 1.5x due to that.

Some Characters were forcefully developed and then left alone as if they have nothing to do with this.

This film is disappointment at its best. First "Auron me kahan dum tha" now this.