A Thursday

My Rating : 7/10

Bollywood doesn't make very many of these and the few they do make fall short somewhere or other. 'A Thursday' however delivers from the start and gets to work!

Yami Gautam and Atul Kulkarni do a brilliant job and hopefully do more of this type of genre, the characters really suit them here.

Simple storyline executed beautifully with the Mumbai rains as a backdrop. Recommended.

A young playschool teacher, Naina Jaiswal (Yami Gautam Dhar), returns prematurely from her sick leave to resume her responsibilities but soon afterwards, surprises everyone by taking 16 children hostage in the school. She demands for Rs. 5 crores, supercop Inspector Javed Khan (Atul Kulkarni) to be her point of contact for negotiations, and a meeting with the Prine Minister, Maya Rajguru (Dimple Kapadia). On the one hand, Naina is the affectionate and doting school teacher, and on the other, she is a gun toting, tough speaking terrorist who will stop at nothing to get her demands fulfilled.

Initially baffled by the sudden developments, police lunges into action and nabs every connection of Naina possible to make any headway and find a solution. But Naina won't relentl until she got a private meeting with the prime minister. The truth slowly starts unravelling about how Naina suffered from depression earlier, and that could possibly be the reason behind her irrational behaviour.

A Thursday isn't a remarkable story or execution but is quite a thought-provoking subject. It starts off with the hostage situation pretty early on, but then the proceedings start dragging, making the film run as if with the handbrake of a vehicle were kept on. The real motive of Naina's strange action takes a long time to be revealed by when most people would have gauged the reason. In spite of that, director Behzad Khambata doesn't fail to drive home an important point. The film has some intense acting by Yami Gautam Dhar, sound performances by Dimple Kapadia and Atul Kulkarni, and leaves ample scope for interpreting if Naina and Javed actually acted in partnership to give the act a successful conclusion. When pleas, requests, and demands for justice fall on deaf ears, it's perhaps time to take up the cudgel yourself.

It is a great movie which has Ample twists and turns to keep you hooked till the end.

The climax is the major highlight, though little predictable but effective

Yami Gautam's range as an actress is indefinite and she is the perfect example that to be successful you don't need PR machinery or a controversy.

Must watch for its earnest attempt.

Very nicely made thriller on a very important problem of the society.

I am in full support of the cause.

Admire the guts of the producer to make a movie like this.

Great job you all..

For the time being, let's forget about "A Wednesday " despite both films having the same theme of a rogue man giving a social message at the end after creating a ruckus. Reason is , that film was as a whole a really smart slick tensed thriller. Thursday is not a smart film as a whole but definitely has smart elements in it in parts. Let me put out the goods and bads in points:-

GOOD:-

1. Yami Gautam Dhar! Has to be her career changing and best performance. Just like how Alia had surprised audience with her performance in Raazi when Noone expected much from her, Yami too has given an unexpectedly pyscho performance, completely different from her Fair n lovely image she carried. She nails her dialogue delivery. She makes her conversations tense. She was born to play this role.

2. Addition of nursery rhymes in the background as a battle or tense scene would take place is a slick move.

3. Atul Kulkarni returns back with a bang! Terrific performance that further elevates the tension in this film. He basically is similar to the role which Jimmy Shergill played in Wednesday.

4. The twist at the end. Many won't be able to predict it. Seems like Behzad Khambatta is a genius when it comes to revealing twists just like he did in his previous film Blank. Just that the film gives absolutely no hint as to what that twist is , makes viewers watch till the end.

5. Quite an engrossing screenplay although I felt Wednesday had a more tense and engrossing screenplay.

NEGATIVES:-

1. Unnecessarily added a media angle that gives it a bit of Dhamaka/Terror Live feeling at one point.

2. The responses on social media shown on screen seemed cringy especially that poll thing which yami created.

3. Poor acting by support cast (I mean people standing in public or the media men) they looked cringy and a wasted Neha Dhupia.

4. Poor portrayal of the PM.

These are pretty ingnorable negatives cuz the overall product is good enough to make you like it. Behzad Khambatta needs to just polish his work a little more and he could well be the next neeraj Pandey as I see this film is a much better product than his previous work "Blank".