Filmmaker Behzad Khambata’s film ‘A Thursday’ headlined by Yami Gautam ticks most of the boxes of what makes a good thriller. We all know that sign of a good thriller movie is how unpredictable it is and how well and long it keeps its audience engaged with it through its run time.
In Indian cinema, ladies are no longer looked upon as pretty props in distress. Stories are now being written about them. Stories that don’t just scratch the surface but go beyond. These are stories that matter.
Director Behzad Khambata trusts Yami Gautam with an author-backed role, Yami’s first in her career. Her character expects her to be brutally cold and yet breathe fire through silence and ambiguity. When pushed into uncharted territory, the actress struggles to stay subtle but amps up the required intensity eventually.
Dimple Kapadia and Neha Dhupia also play significant characters here and the two render powerful performances. Atul Kulkarni’s talent needs no introduction. He is perfectly cast here as well.
Review:
The whole story of ‘A Thursday’ revolves around Yami Gautam who is portraying Naina, a pre-primary school teacher, who one Thursday decides to take her 16 students hostage. She calls up the local police station to announce that if her demands are not met, she would kill her hostages- which includes a driver of a student and the school’s helper- on an hourly basis.
What happens next forms the rest of the film. Without giving away much, here’s our review.
While Naina, an expert shooter, live streams her demands, the Mumbai Police, led by the heavily pregnant Catherine Alwaris (Neha Dhupia) and aided by her deputy Javed (Atul Kulkarni), flap about in disarray. The fact that little kids’ lives are in danger instills an instant fear in the audience’s hearts, clearly because there’s a connection there.
Naina demands to first speak to Javed Khan (Atul Kulkarni). She then demands a lump sum money to be transferred to her account in exchange for a student. Things go awry soon enough when she shoots at one of her hostages live on social media, much to the horror of the cops, the frightened parents who have gathered outside, and the nation at large who are watching the drama unfold live on new channels. Naina eventually wants to speak to the PM of the country (Dimple Kapadia) who takes time to understand the seriousness of the situation.
She makes her demands one-by-one and, by the end of it, you can’t help but feel sorry for her. You’ll have to watch the whole film to know what we are talking about.
In the end, the film delivers a strong message. It’s not just a thriller, the emotions it touches and innumerable twists it offers will keep you hooked till the end. Trauma and violence run deep in A Thursday, but for a good cause. Also, the dialogues are hard-hitting. Ashley Michael Lobo and Behzad Kambata’s screenplay deserves credit here. One of the USPs of the film is Roshan Dalal and Kaizad Gherda’s background score, which contributes to the thrill factor.
To its great extent, the film is a sequel of sorts to Neeraj Pandey’s brilliant ‘A Wednesday’ where a common man-made the Mumbai Police run amok to find bombs in the city to send across a powerful message. Thematically, ‘A Thursday’ is also a vigilante drama and adapts to the current pace of live TV and social media well as Naina unfolds her demands one by one on social media.
We have to say that this is one of Yami Gautam’s best performances so far. ‘A Thursday’ keeps you mostly gripped throughout its 2 hours run time. Why has she held the innocent children hostage, why does she only want to speak to Javed Khan, why does she want an audience with PM- are questions that plague your mind while watching thereby keeping you hooked to the film.
It wastes almost no time in deep diving into the plot with Naina, as the popular teacher of the playschool, who suddenly goes from the girl next door to a monster, one who keeps her students hostage. Her menacing glare, her serious expressions are straight out of a horror movie that fits very well into her role.
Neha Dhupia also shines, although we feel she should have been given more screen time and perhaps her role should have been made stronger. It’s not every day you see a pregnant cop in a film. Neha Dhupia’s Catherine just barks into her walkie-talkie while clutching her swollen belly. Nevertheless, the actress has performed her part terrifically and no one could have done it better.
Needlessly aggressive Javed doesn’t do much except being in touch with Naina constantly. That being said, Atul’s acting is superb. He perfectly fits into his character of a police officer. Karanvir Sharma, who plays Naina’s fiance in A Thursday, had very little to do. If the makers had excluded him, no one would’ve noticed. Points were deducted for his overacting.
Performances of Dimple Kapadia as the PM of the country are also worthy of praise.
The film though takes copious liberty in terms of how the drama unfolds and how Naina’s demands are met by the police. It also delivers a message which is deeply polarizing and has been a topic of debate for years now. Of course, in cinema judgments and laws are delivered quicker than in real life. The film also lacks technical detailing. Sumeet Kotian’s editing could have been tighter in the first half. These are some minor faults but they make up for all of that at the end, which is unpredictable.
In conclusion, we can just say that Yami Gautam’s A Thursday is the perfect thriller to watch. It is executed well and has a taut script. It’s a film that should have ideally come in cinemas. We highly recommend it.
You can watch A Thursday on Disney+ Hotstar.
