A long, Very long journey

Jasmine Singh

Thug Life... a story of three boys, and a girl who does sting to earn some money, how they get caught in a trap and how they bail out. Done. Actually this is exactly what you would be getting in Mukesh Vohra’s directorial venture. And, of course, there are a few good foot-tapping numbers and a comic character introduced, or let’s say created for reasons only known to the director.

The first half of the film is dedicated to developing the characters. In fact, the development process takes so long that one forgets that this is a film and it has other characters as well. The one good thing that the director has done is that he has left no questions unanswered, and also the scenes connect well. But so long are the scenes that he needs an entire roll of threads to join it together! The story of the film is interesting, but it is the length, the stretched scenes that take away a viewer’s interest. The film could have been interesting if everything was kept short and crisp. The second half of the film is still okay where things start moving at least. 

Here we certainly need to talk about actor Harish Verma. For the zillionth time we say that Harish is a versatile actor; he can make you cry, laugh and fall in love. But here, in Thug Life, his comedy looks slightly forced, whether it is the dialogues or just wrong comic timing, we don’t get that punch in his comedy. Only a fine director can extract work out of Harish Verma that he is capable of. On the other hand, actor Jass Bajwa, not a fine actor, still sounds natural with his dialogues. Actor-comedian Rajiv Thakur is the third thug in the film. Had the director known that, Rajiv is a fine stand-up comedian, he would have made best use of his skills. The fourth thug is Ihana Dhillon. Okay, we get to see new kind of costumes, dhoti pants, tees, which are interesting. What about her acting? C’mon, one thing at a time! This time it’s costumes, next time she might even score on acting. Actor Yograj, the quintessential loud father of Punjabi film industry, this time we are convinced, the industry cannot have a better father than him, and yes not a better mother than Anita Devgan.

If after the long scenes it strikes that you did not see Karamjit Anmol in the film, ten points to you. What a waste of his skills. And not the last here, Vrajesh Hirjee, the popular television actor, what was the thought process while sketching his character. If his character is a dig on Jazzy B or Yo Yo Honey Singh, we must say, it fails to impress.

Thug Life has good music coming from Jatinder Shah. Rest, if you think that the film reminds you of Shahid Kapoor-starrer Badmash Company, Thug Life is totally different. In fact, it has such a long life that the audience might move on to the next level, while the film is still playing.