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A Thursday Review : An intriguing hostage drama that’s high on emotion

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Users' Reviews

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

User User 626 days ago

Very impressive movie for all age. That's teach us protest against all rapists and punished them and get protection children, women's & men from sexual abuse and tourcher.

Rekha Hegde 760 days ago

nice movie with full suspension till the last

James George 780 days ago

It's always a cycle....kids who get abused in childhood ends up being abuser coz he doesn't understand what someone did to them in their moment of lust was wrong. And many times it's mostly close ones understand family who sweeps it under carpet these incidents to keep equilibrium in their family....

Shreya Sharma 781 days ago

"A THURSDAY" is an amazing movie. this movie gave us an idea to recorrect our law and can make law against rape cases.

Vaishnavi Mahajan 797 days ago

according to me this film is good at highlighting few spots neglected by the society and its makes us question few things after it ends,this film has beautifully represented the concept and it holds the audience till the end making them question about women safety in our society.The best thing is a this film shows a pregnant lady as working and indian prime minister a lady too showing women empowerment

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Naina, a playschool teacher, takes 16 students hostage. Rattling the police and the leaders, her demands send shockwaves through the country. Naina, a playschool teacher, takes 16 students hostage. Rattling the police and the leaders, her demands send shockwaves through the country. Naina, a playschool teacher, takes 16 students hostage. Rattling the police and the leaders, her demands send shockwaves through the country.

• Behzad Khambata
• Ashley Lobo
• Vijay Maurya
• Yami Gautam
• Atul Kulkarni
• Neha Dhupia
• 794 User reviews
• 11 Critic reviews
• 6 wins & 5 nominations

• Naina Jaiswal

• ACP Catherine Alvarez

• Prime Minister Maya Rajguru

• Rohit Mirchandani

• Shalini Guha

• Police Commissioner

• Kusum Jaiswal
• Renuka Dubey

• Rohit's Father

• Aakash's Mom
• Aakash's Dad
• PM Secretary
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Neha Dhupia was pregnant in real life during the filming of A Thursday. Thus, the director of the film changed the script to rewrite her character ACP Catherine Alvarez being pregnant.
• Goofs As the Police switch off WiFi, telephone, cable etc, Most devices are shown to be disrupted. But the kids continue to merrily enjoy the Cartoons on TV :)

User reviews 794

• Feb 17, 2022
• How long is A Thursday? Powered by Alexa
• February 17, 2022 (India)
• Watch A Thursday on Disney+ Hotstar
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• Runtime 2 hours 8 minutes

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A Thursday Movie Review: Yami Gautam's film is one of the best thrillers in recent times

Yami gautam's a thursday is the kind of thriller that has been missing from indian screens for a while. the film is now streaming on disney+ hotstar..

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Yami Gautam

On a normal Thursday, a playschool teacher suddenly takes 16 students hostage. Naina Jaiswal (Yami Gautam) has one demand before she releases them - a meeting with the country's Prime Minister. She also threatens to kill the little ones one-by-one. Instantly, there's fear and consternation among the anxious parents and the citizens. 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 instils an instant fear in the audience's hearts, clearly because there's a connect there. Also, what does Naina even want? 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.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yami Gautam Dhar (@yamigautam)

We have to say that this is one of Yami Gautam's best performances so far. In an instant, she 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. It's hard to believe that this is Yami's first thriller. 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.

But, A Thursday is not without its flaws. It was hard to believe that a person single-handedly took the kids hostage while the police and the commandos outside stood as mute spectators. Journalist Shalini Guha (Maya Sarao) is also weak. While anyone in a situation like this, would kill to get the story, she's too shaken up. That being said, while the plot is intriguing, the film 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 in 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.

ALSO READ I A Thursday star Neha Dhupia on life with new baby, says it's challenging but you live for cuddles

ALSO READ I Yami Gautam on ‘heavy’ A Thursday character, husband Aditya’s reaction to film. Interview Published By: Nairita Mukherjee Published On: Feb 17, 2022 --- ENDS ---

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A Thursday Reviews

The Yami Gautam-starrer spiritual sequel to A Wednesday comes with lots of flaws...

Full Review | Oct 10, 2023

The film is yet another lazy and rabble-rousing iteration of a complicated issue.

Director Behzad Khambata creates a set-up with potential but you never lose sight of the football-sized loopholes.

It’s not like the needlessly aggressive Javed is in command either. Despite being described as a crack negotiator, Javed is always two steps behind Naina.

Despite a rather predictable backstory, A Thursday redeems itself with its powerful emotional arc and social commentary in the latter half.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2023

The chief problem with Yami Gautam film is that we do not take any of this seriously, whether it is Naina brandishing a gun, or snarling and cooing at her hostages.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 10, 2023

A Thursday strives to be urgent, relevant and cool, but succeeds only partially, because it stops to make a point far too often.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.75/5 | Oct 10, 2023

Thursday is the sort of in-the-moment drama that holds your attention and emotions while it lasts but doesn't dig enough to linger on.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 23, 2022

A Thursday movie review: Yami Gautam delivers her best performance in this taut thriller

Directed by behzad khambata, a thursday features yami gautam, atul kulkarni, and neha dhupia in important roles. it is streaming on disney+hotstar..

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A Thursday Movie Review: A THURSDAY springs a huge surprise. It’s a film that should have released in cinemas.

Featuring a taut script, first rate execution and fine performances, a thursday springs a huge surprise., a thursday review {4.0/5} & review rating.

A THURSDAY is the story of a woman who takes 16 kids hostage. Naina Jaiswal ( Yami Gautam Dhar ) is engaged to Rohit Mirchandani (Karanvir Sharma) and stays in his sprawling house. A part of his residence has been converted into a playschool, which is run by Naina. She falls sick and resumes the playschool three weeks later, on a rainy Thursday. After the parents drop the kids off and leave, the maid, Savitri (Kalyanee Mulay) asks Naina for a holiday the next day as she has to go to the Aadhaar card centre for updating her details. Naina insists that she get her work done on the same day. After Savitri leaves and Naina is all alone with the kids, she calls the Colaba Police Station and informs them that she has taken 16 kids hostage. Her demand is to talk to a reputed cop, Javed Khan (Atul Kulkarni). After she ends a call, she gets a visitor, a driver (Boloram Das) of one of the children, who has come to deliver a parcel. She lets him inside. The driver notices that she has a gun. He gets scared and tries to raise an alarm. She ties him up. As luck would have it, Savitri returns as she had forgotten her cell phone. She too gets tied up. Meanwhile, a pregnant cop, Catherine Alvarez (Neha Dhupia) arrives at the scene. Naina fires at her and this is when the cops realise that the matter is serious. Javed is asked to come down immediately. Javed calls Naina and she says that she wants Rs. 5 crores. She assures that after her demand is met, she'll release one kid, and would inform about the rest of the demands later. After her demand is fulfilled and after a child is allowed to leave, Naina puts forward her next demand - to talk to the Prime Minister of India, Maya Rajguru (Dimple Kapadia). What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Ashley Michael Lobo and Behzad Kambata's story is quite engaging and relatable. It is also in the same zone as A WEDNESDAY (2008). Ashley Michael Lobo and Behzad Kambata's screenplay is very gripping and thrilling. The writers are in firm control of their material and have peppered the narrative with a lot of thrilling and unpredictable moments. Vijay Maurya's dialogues are hard hitting. A few of the sarcastic dialogues of Atul Kulkarni raise laughs.

Behzad Kambata's direction is superior. The director's last film BLANK [2019] was decent but A THURSDAY shows that he has improved considerably. The nearly two-hour long film has no song and dance or lighter moments. The focus is just on the story and the main characters. And Behzad manages to grip the viewers from start to finish. What’s commendable is that the finale is hard-hitting and clapworthy and to a great extent does justice to the legacy and impact of the predecessor (of sorts), A WEDNESDAY. On the flipside, it's a little unconvincing to see that a person single-handedly was able to take the kids hostage and the cops and the commandos outside stood as mute spectators. The track of the journalist, Shalini Guha (Maya Sarao), is also weak. However, these are minor faults and the twists and turns in the second half compensate for all the shortcomings. The suspense is unpredictable.

A THURSDAY’s beginning makes one feel that it’s a sweet, light-hearted film. But soon, the thrilling background score is played and one realizes that Naina has a sinister plan in her mind. The way she takes the kids hostage without making them feel that they are in such a situation and the way she negotiates with the cops has been done very nicely. The  tu-tu-main-main  between Catherine and Javed enhances the entertainment quotient. Post-interval, the interrogation of Rohit is gripping. The film stagnates after this sequence. However, the scene where Naina gets attacked while the kids are listening to meditative music in their noise-cancelling headphones once again piques interest. The last 15-20 minutes are terrific.

Yami Gautam Dhar delivers the most accomplished performance of her career. She has always been a fine performer but after this film, she’ll be seen in a different light. Her performance is just right and the way she switches from being menacing to being very sweet is seen to be believed. Atul Kulkarni is highly entertaining and is lovely as the sarcastic and kind-hearted cop. Neha Dhupia had played a similar part in SANAK [2021] but here, her role is fleshed out in a better way. And her performance is also first-rate. Dimple Kapadia is very good and suits the part. Karanvir Sharma is quite good in the supporting role. Maya Sarao is nice but doesn’t get much scope. Kalyanee Mulay and Boloram Das lend able support. Others are fine.

A THURSDAY is a song-less film. Roshan Dalal and Kaizad Gherda's background score is one of the USPs of the film and contributes to the thrill factor very well. Anuja Rakesh Dhawan and Siddharth Vasani's cinematography is very good. Madhusudan N's production design is rich. Ayesha Khanna's costumes are realistic and non-glamourous, as per the demands of the script. The same goes for Vikram Dahiya's action. Sumeet Kotian's editing could have been tighter towards the beginning of the second half but overall, it’s good.

On the whole, A THURSDAY springs a huge surprise. It is laced with a taut script, first-rate execution and the finest performance ever by Yami Gautam Dhar. It’s a film that should have ideally come in cinemas. Had it been released on the big screen, especially in the Women’s Day week, it would have emerged as the sleeper hit of the year, if not the sleeper super-hit. Highly Recommended!

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A Thursday Movie News

Yami Gautam Dhar shares how she shot for A Thursday during her wedding shenanigans; says, “On set, it’s dark, it's intense”

Sequel to Yami Gautam’s A Thursday in the works?

Yami Gautam opens up about A Thursday; says, "it became more than just a film"

A Thursday actors Yami Gautam Dhar and Neha Dhupia visit Delhi Commission for Women

Neha Dhupia reveals the inspiration behind her role in the Yami Gautam starrer A Thursday

Aditya Dhar is scared of sharing a home with Yami Gautam after watching the trailer of A Thursday

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A Thursday review: Yami Gautam-starrer spiritual sequel to A Wednesday comes with lots of flaws

In the disney+ hotstar release, yami gautam plays a schoolteacher who takes her little students hostage while demanding to meet the prime minister..

Yami Gautam -led A Thursday is a spiritual sequel to Neeraj Pandey’s 2008 sleeper hit A Wednesday!. Both Ronnie Screwvala productions feature a vigilante creating a hostage situation, trapping the police and the government at the highest levels, for a righteous cause which is revealed in the end.

The Disney+ Hotstar film stars Gautam as Naina, a playschool teacher in Mumbai who takes little kids hostage, demanding ₹ 5 crore, and a tête-à-tête with the Prime Minister, played by Dimple Kapadia . The cops on the case are Catherine Alvarez (Neha Dhupia) and her deputy Javed Khan (Atul Kulkarni). Catherine and Javed have a strange equation. It’s hard to tell who’s boss, when the screenplay by director Behzad Khambata and co-writer Ashley Lobo hands the heavily pregnant Catherine some rash strategies to tackle Naina, which gives Javed opportunities to lecture Naina about policing and motherhood.

A Wednesday! remains memorable for two solid lead performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher . As vigilante and cop, their repartee was among the film’s highlights. The film also benefited from two lovely supporting performances by Aamir Bashir and Jimmy Sheirgill , one the level-headed cop and the other, the angry young man. The concept also felt novel.

An equally unique spin to the idea was seen in the South Korean movie The Terror Live. Its Hindi remake Dhamaka released in November last year was a far inferior film.

So, how does A Thursday fare?

It’s a serviceable vigilante movie whose plusses include the tense atmosphere supplied by the premise itself. The incessant rain adds to the morose proceedings.

What are its minuses? Several.

Gautam, whose character is clinically depressed, plays Naina like a horror movie villain, which is surely not her fault. This was how the writer-director imagined the character, as there are several moments of Gautam snarling and glaring at the camera, with fast zoom-ins and horror-movie music thrown in to really sell her as a crazy woman.

Kulkarni is overdramatic and hams all throughout the film, really making an effort to look the part: a tough, world-weary cop with cigarette dangling from his lips. In comparison, Dhupia is understated and does the best she can with her thankless role.

As for Kapadia, in a post-Modi India, such a naive Prime Minister who’s easily bullied by her advisers, the press, and some random vigilante into appearing weak in public is just hard to buy. The press can even get close to her and ask questions. I mean, hello, haven’t you learned anything from Narendra Modi?

The dialogue isn’t anything to write home about, which shouldn’t have been the case, given the man in charge is Vijay Maurya, who wrote the lovely Bambaiya Hindi lines for Gully Boy. But then, he also wrote Radhe.

Khambata, who previously directed the thriller Blank (2019), starring Sunny Deol and Dimple Kapadia’s son, has a knack for staging scenes well. There is a moment in the film where Naina has to fight off her only two adult hostages to get hold of her gun. It’s a somewhat imaginative sequence, in comparison to the rest of the film which unfolds in a routine fashion.

Also damaging the film’s prospects is some of the weak bits in the writing. For example, Naina is live-streaming her thoughts using her smartphone as the hostage situation plays out. Just before the cops are planning to charge in, they cut Naina’s connection to the internet and television. But she gets WiFi back using one of her hostage’s phones. Why not simply cut the internet connection in the entire area?

Also read: Neha Dhupia says A Thursday director changed film's script for her: 'Not like cops do not get pregnant'

And the film’s idea of the news media is just hilarious. This is a recurring foolishness with Hindi films. It is one thing to show all journalists are corrupt, TRP-hungry, incompetent. But at least, get the details right. That will only make your journalists look even better at being evil. For example, even hours after Naina launched her mission, and the entire country appears to be angry with her, the news channels are just busy moralising, going all how-could-she. Why haven’t they dug out her entire history and shamed her yet? How are reporters not harassing her parents, fiance, family members? It would take Twitter 30 minutes to find out about her and her extended family, going back to five-six generations.

In fact, even the police take hours to track down her relatives and find out about Naina’s past, which happens at least 90 minutes into the film. I mean, in a situation of national emergency like this, it is strange to think that the entire security apparatus can’t find a serious way to neutralise such a non-threat. Best is to just go back and rewatch A Wednesday!

Devarsi Ghosh writes about films and music from Calcutta. That's all you need to know. ...view detail

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