User Reviews

A veteran cop sees the chance to prove himself when murder shakes up a sleepy desert town, sending him into the seedy underbelly of the town as he attempts to uncover a grisly torture plot.

While the parched setting and the cinematography (by Shreya Dev Dube) are definite positives, the bland writing, familiar plot beats, and the overall failure of the performances to make us root for a single character, let alone the protagonist(s), pull the film down to an average fare. Written differently, this could have been a gripping thriller set within the vast expanse of the desert. The final reveal fails to add anything substantially new, and we still know very little about Harshvarrdhan Kapoor's forever-wooden character. Anil Kapoor, being the seasoned performer, does alright. Fatima Sana Sheikh adds yet another confused character to her filmography.

If you are unaware of the genre of this film, then not very long into this film when you will easily realize the genre of this film. That's it! From there onwards you pretty much know what the film is going to tell you. This is the biggest underwhelming part of the film ( in fact yesterday only I watched a Tamil film Saani Kayyidham and i could not help but find remarkable similarities between the this film Thar and that Tamil film).

When finally the makers reveal the reason why Harshvardhan is in a torture mood, it is just too flat. No emotional connect, everything shown in a montage form, which is why you dont feel for harshvardhan at all. You don't feel the slightest bit of anger for the accused (yeah you might think these are spoilers I am hinting at but mark my words it is so predictable that these are not even spoilers). Story definitely is nothing new and is a let down.

Still, it does hold on to your attention atleast the way things move, you want to know why harshvardhan tortures the three guys but you will know that they must have done something to deserve that, its just this "what must they have done" that is left to see in the film.

Locations and settings are terrific! Never seen bollywood do this ever with such authentic setting in the desert with good use of BGM, especially that whistle one. This is where the film scores brownie points.

Despite a sub par story, the actors have given their best. Anil Kapoor to harshvardhan to Satish Kauahik to Fatima, everyone.

Another negative point is the dacoit part. I felt it an absolute unnecessary addition. They are pnly there as show pieces .

Overall, a film that deserved a much better story. Such a weak story and a poor climax let's down the film.

Despite a rustic period setting and a clutch of fine performances, Anil and Harshavardhan Kapoor's "Thar" reduces to yet another case study in what could have been, with a plotline that was a bundle of cliches with nothing new or interesting enough to keep viewers invested. Director Raj Singh Chaudhary's well-intentioned western oozes intensity and tension yet falters in its tepid screenplay that never builds characters strong enough for the audiences to empathize with or a narrative that offers any real surprises.

We follow the journey of a veteran cop (Anil Kapoor) in a 1980s sleepy village hamlet in Rajasthan, intent on creating some impact in his otherwise mundane job as he approaches retirement. Enter the quintessential 'tall, dark and handsome stranger' in Harshavardhan Kapoor who is seemingly a visitor passing through the village in his quest for ancient artefacts as a trader. How the inspector unravels the true motivations behind the stranger's arrival and the chaos that ensues in the investigation for the rest of this visually pleasing yet narratively thin storyline.

While Anil Kapoor shines in the role of a deadbeat yet earnest cop, Harshavardhan is one-dimensional and monotonous as the young stranger, never providing any nuance or depth to his character, so much so that one gets the feeling that he was sleepwalking through this role. Satish Kaushik is expectedly terrific as Anil Kapoor's aide-de-camp while Fatima Sana Shaikh continues to improve her stock as one of Bollywood's finest leading ladies with a superb supporting performance as a village lass who gets inadvertently embroiled in this tale of deceit and revenge.

Cinematographer Shreya Dev Dube deserves praise for capturing the rustic western aesthetic of rural Rajasthan in all its glory and the Production Design by Wasiq Khan remains authentic and on point throughout. However, the film never rises to be more than the sum of its parts with the lack of narrative clarity and the absence of any real surprise elements beyond the beaten path of umpteen westerns before it, resulting in "Thar" reducing to another damp squib effort. Not recommended!

Hindi film review: Thar streaming on Netflix #sanjuzzreviews #tharfilm #netflixindia

Directed by Raj Singh Choudhary and produced by Anil Kapoor & Anurag Kashyap Thar is a visual treat indeed. This is a rare film where the raw beauty of the rustic countryside plays an important role in enhancing the narrative immensely.

Set in a small sleepy town in Rajasthan on the Indo-Pak border, Surekha Singh ( Anil Kapoor) is the inspector on the verge of retirement along with is lower cast man Friday Bhura ( Satish Kaushik).

The peace and quiet of the town is disrupted with the coming of Siddharth ( Harshavardhan Kapoor), supposedly an antique dealer. Gruesome murders start to happen with the needle of suspicion pointing towards the stranger and also the drug smugglers operating in that area. Is the stranger hiding something or are the killings related to drug smuggling ? This is what our protagonist has to decipher along the way.

Anil Kapoor is the star and carries the film on his shoulders all the way .Satish Kaushik too is brilliant, adding a doze of humor to the otherwise laidback narrative. Harshvardhan Kapoor and Fathima Sana Sheikh too have done well.

The whodunit part is revealed quite early in the film. "why were the murders committed" is the key question here.

Not difficult to guess though !! Surprise element is missing.

This is a great experiment by the makers in integrating the wild west in the Indian backdrop. Definitely a refreshing change from the dubbed South Indian films which have recently flooded the market.

If you have enjoyed watching films like Manorama: 6 feet under, Gulaal and Lal Kaptaan this one is for you.

3/5 for this one .. adios!! 🙂

Weak Hearted don't see. If you like Crime Mystery movie don't miss this. Movie is full of thriller & mystery. Anil Kapoor and his Son acting was too good.

A toothless revenge drama/thriller that can be described by that popular idiomatic expression I.e. 'all show and no go'. Now look, I don't mind creators settling on common templates nor do I care if a certain film has been influenced by some Western features or not, instead, what I do expect though is an unambiguously penned narrative that can lay out the shenanigans of vengeance in a somewhat engrossing manner.

For a tale of comeuppance, it's rather imperative to have a commanding narrative as well as a set of constructive character developments. However, in this case, it had none! "Thar" might have had naive intentions in its heart but looking at the denouement, it has to be pointed out that their plans didn't go as intended. Apart from the obvious technological competencies (including the commendable aspects of Gore & Violence), and a couple of decent to fine performances, I find nothing worth your precious time down here.

It is dark, intense, gritty, & beautiful. Only watch if you have a pallet for slow burn thrillers and brutal storyline. Definitely much better than all those pan India over the top commercial non sense.

Boring and no story at all.

Movie is produced by Anil Kapoor to save his son's career. Don't know why Netflix show a crap nepo kid movie. Boycott Bollywood.

Nicely made. Good narration. Length of scenes is justified. Acting is ok.

Desi generation coming of age in terms of movie making. The movie is more about direction, cinematography, art work and camera work.

Not much story, which is simple and predictable.

In general Bollywood seems to be moving in right direction.

The torcher scene came from.. I spit on your grave Hollywood movie.

Still its a good one.

The first half was made slow just for the second half.

Anil kapoor was there to save his son.

Editing is kind of a tailor making kurta.

The movie can be better.

All points for the plots.

Dialogue deliveries, upper cast lower cast remark,gaalis without need can be put aside.

Acting was average. Cast wast good. But the plot was missing. The movie seemed like a unwanted task given to director. I mean why show the opium dacoits, was it just for the climax. And what is with this stupid confrontation visit. And why create a period movie. Just to keep the budget low.

Set in the year 1985 in a small, peaceful Western border village in Rajasthan called Munabao, the tranquil that everyone has been used to since 1947, is suddenly shattered. A bunch of heavily armed bandits raid a small hut, kill the aged resident couple and decamp with what they call a booty. At the same time, a young villager Suva from the same place is found brutally hacked and mutilated to death at a distance. The local police station in-charge, Inspector Surekha (Anil Kapoor) immediately swings into action, but in very little time realises that everyone is clueless about who may have been behind the crimes, albeit he suspects that the bandits must be at it.

In parallel, a young man who calls himself Siddharth (Harshvardhan Kapoor), starts frequenting the village looking for one Panna, who is said to be away from the village for months, but is expected back soon. The Inspector by now has also gathered that the deceased Suva was a close friend of a trio, comprising Panna, Dhanna & Jeevna. The day Panna returns to the village, Inspector Surekha interrogates him about his deceased friend, but finds no answers, and warns him not to leave the village without asking him. The next day, Siddharth contacts Panna and gives him an irresistible offer to work for him in Delhi, to which, the latter agrees, but not without his friends Jeenvna and Dhanna. The next thing you know is that Siddharth abducts the 3 friends and holds them hostage in an unknown place.

Thar, produced by Anil Kapoor himself is an interesting premise with two stories running in parallel, but you constantly have a hunch that these must somewhere be connected. They will eventually dovetail, but not before you get dollops of violence, blood and gore, and due to the short run time of 108 minutes, your interest remains intact. There's police and law on the one hand, and a vigilante in full swing on the other. Set in thecmost rugged terrains that I've witnessed in Indian movies, Thar is dark, quiet and disturbing. It's making is reminiscent of the Western cowboy films, and boasts of a delirious speed. On the downside, the proceedings are extensively dry, dark, and menacing. Both Anil Kapoor & Harshvardhan Kapoor are broodingly good, and the rest of the cast has precious little to do.

First of all thanks to cameraman for capturing the barren land of thar & raw and rustic people...though the plot is simple its brutal on its own way,Anil kapoor scores well as an honest unsuccessful cop,HARSHAVARDHAN shines with his unpredictable characterization seems to handle pressure well after the success of "BHAVESH JOSHI"...Remaining star cast does their job neat to give a good package of entertainment...Overall its a zara hatke cinema that wont disappoint u.

This movie cannot be termed entertaining by any stretch of imagination. It is a difficult watch. Picturised completely in the scorching, barren Rajasthan desert at the border, this movie makes for both difficult and compelling viewing dealing as it does with multiple gruesome killings and scenes of torture but the filming is top class with some awesome cinematography and crisp editing. ( Both the camera work and editing departments are headed by talented women , Shreya Dev Dube and Aarti Bajaj respectively. A big salute to women power at work ).

The treatment given to the film is reminiscent of the Clint Eastwood movies where we have the brooding, strong, silent hero who enters the village as an outsider and is treated with suspicion. Here Harshavardhan Kapoor who doesn't talk much, plays the revenge seeking loner, drives around in a jeep, tells people he an antique dealer but he has a different agenda. He also has a torture room where he makes hell for his oppressors. He doesn't talk much and as per the owner of the small eatery Harshavardhan frequents, he says he has heard Harshavardhan utter only three words so far. Anil Kapoor plays Surekha Singh, an ageing police inspector on the verge of retirement who is accompanied by a rotund deputy Satish Kaushik. Both are investigating the murders and hanging which have taken place. Due to the rugged landscape and the killings there is reference to cult movie "Sholay" and rightly so. The camera lingers on dry landscape, bare trees, briefly focusing on the the weather beaten faces of lazing old men and women of the village who are mute bystanders. Two village women ( Fatima Sana Shaikh and Mukti Mohan) are at the receiving end of mental and physical harassment by their toxic, misogynistic husbands. Director Raj Singh Choudhury has no doubt made a gripping film using his technical team to their full potential but appears to have gone overboard with scenes of killings and torture. Maybe he has a Tarantino or Sergio inspiration and he just could be the next auter here. He has used the camera with excellent results and some aerial shots are superb. The last drone/aerial shot with the scattered bodies is praiseworthy. However some scenes are clearly disturbing and needed to be toned down. Anurag Kashyap's dialogue seems rooted to that area with the expletives included for effect. Acting wise both Anil and Harshvardhan are top class in their roles. Satish Kaushik does his bit in his usual dependable style. Other actors have all done well.

One of the time waste movie. Very poor story line and pathetic acting by Harsh.

Anil, Satish Kaushik and rests of the actors performed well but lead role was not impressive at all.

Netflix needs to work on the movie quality that they release on their platform.

A brutal revenge saga set in rural rajasthan of 90's. The story takes the cue from west (that is evident in the background music as well) where the cops quest for seeking the truth and antiques dealers dark secret cross the path. The choreography shows the raw rajasthan where the aged wrinkles are clearly visibles.

Fatima, harshwardhan and Anil kapoor seem lively and none of the moments are dull. The movie is compact with just 1 hr 45 minutes.

It's amazing how harshwardan has chosen the movies first bhabesh joshi and then this one. Perfectly placed final line of the movie "badlaa ek saath do kabr khodtaa hey!"

Movie is good. It is a Indian western and captures Rajasthan desert beautifully.

Anil Kapoor and his constable are good. So is his son who has got very less dialogs but the movie is more about the story. Sana sheikh and muKti Mohan are also good and beautiful. I would say watch it it is good one time watch with seriousness lurking from every corner in it.

Why was this movie made. Waste of time, absolutely stupid story so slow and everything about it was pathetic. Just will put abusive words and think movie will be hit. Waste of time . Save yourself and do not watch it ever.

My Rating : 6/10

Employing subjects of violence and gore, 'Thar' is profanely sublime. The subliminally slow and suspenseful plot makes for a rather interesting movie.

I won't go into the usual filmic critique as it's value is lost thus. The only souvenir is the harshness of crime and the coldness of the protagonist's tears.

Ok for a one-time viewing or multiple, your call.

I started watching this movie with very low expectations as I declared Harshvardhan Kapoor a failed actor after watching Mirzaya. But against my expected this film come up pretty good. Father son duo produced this film as I am sure no one wants to take Anil's talented son in their movies so only option left is to do home production and try to relaunch lad.

This is genuine Neo-nior. Film's overall setting is brilliant. Beautiful location and it actually give you feeling of 1985. Overall pace of the movie is good. Although story has no great depth but director has done brilliant. Harshvardhan looks good and Anil was best. Harshvardhan can become good character actor and I give full marks to casting director.

You can watch this movie anytime and you'll definitely enjoy this movie if you are dark themed,medium paced neo-noirs fan like me.