Naina Jaiswal is a teacher who has returned to the school to resume her work after a three-week leave. She is in good books to her staff, students, and all the parents of the kids. The parents leave their kids in her custody and leave the premises but no one realizes for a second what would happen next. Naina calls the police and informs them that she has taken sixteen children as hostages.
Okay first thing, A Thursday is a shocking story. I don’t remember if I have watched a Hindi film with a similar plotline. And with such an impressive start, the film continued holding interest with a captivating screenplay. And with the continuity, all the supporting characters played their part well and got enough screentime to fit in this thriller.
With such an impressive start, it becomes a bigger challenge for the writer to maintain that aura in the middle and the final phase. And I think the final phase is where the story didn’t get its deserving piece of conclusion. It then looked as if Behzad Khambata, the writer and director of the film, was desperate to end this story somehow. The points Naina rose were critical and could have been better if more intensity was built instead of showing the country’s premier arriving to meet her and listen to her story. The realism faded and I felt if the writer had more time to think about the conclusion, he would have done better.
And pretty sure that live shooting scene dropped everyone’s jaws and eyes from the socket. That is some daring sequence we often do not possibly watch in a Bollywood film. So kudos to Khambata for that.
The film is led by strong performances. Yami Gautam as Naina deserves all the praise who took the mantle of a psycho. I liked the muscles she pulled to display her angst and facial expressions of a terrorist. I wish she could have brought more madness, after all, she took sixteen kids with her. Atul Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia also performed very well.
The director took some of the shots with quality care like the media’s portrayal, reactions of mentally disturbed parents, and even the social media reactions Naina received had characteristics with a real feel. The background score annoyed me and was distracting the scenes that were shot well.
A Thursday is a social commentary of a victim demanding change by seeking attention and taking matters into her hands by making children her hostages. It is a psycho case that expects a change in the system by giving that multitude of threats. Addressing a very critical issue was necessary, but practically I do not see this applicable. Could have approached any other method to make the point and get the attention but not this. I praise the message that is forwarded and how the public is made understood about her angst so I will just take it as a very good try at raising the voice by committing wrong.
Ratings: 6.8/10
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Sami Naik | Film Critic 