A Thursday: A new concept or an off-shoot of A Wednesday?

In any typical Bollywood masala thriller, we have often seen bearded, kohl-eyed bad boys putting innocent citizens in danger or taking them hostage to get their ‘saathi’ or ‘sardar’ released. And, towards the end, a good cop, in his crisp uniform, ups his game and saves the citizens and captures the villains.

In A Wednesday, Neeraj Pandey showed us the preparator can be somebody from among us, a common man (Shah), who can one day, out of frustration, seek retribution for a fellow citizen as they fight an apathetic system.

A still from A Wednesday.

Here, even the good boy, Mumbai Police Commissioner Prakash Rathore, played by Anupam Kher, looks relatable in his plain pant and shirt. He deals with ‘the stupid, common man’ in a lingo not different from ours. There are no larger-than-life dialogues like “Aata Majhi Satakli” or “ye haath nahi faansi ka fanda hai”. Even Kher’s officers, Aamir Bashir and Jimmy Sheirgill are not over-the-top nationalists. They do as ordered by their senior, to a certain degree, and they also care about the image of a police officer (again to a certain degree).

After looking at Yami Gautam and Atul Kulkarni in A Thursday’s trailer, they seem to be relatable. Yami is a cheerful kindergarten teacher and a wife, as Shah was a working man and a husband whose nagging wife reminds him to get groceries. Kulkarni, on the other hand, looks like a cop who does his job sincerely but doesn’t go over the top shouting ‘Vande Mataram’ during a complex situation.

The high point of A Wednesday was the revelation of Shah’s intent, a moment when I (just like many others) switched from being Kher’s supporter to Shah’s cheerleader. It was a moment in the movie when I held my breath and literally sat on the edge of my seat to see if the police will ever get hold of our ‘dear’ common man and prayed that they don’t.

Now, in A Thursday, we are not sure about Yami Gautam’s intentions, too, but she does look as harmless as Shah did as a common man. While Shah demanded to talk to someone with authority, she wants to talk to the country’s Prime Minister and demands Rs 50 crores. Also, just like Shah, she has made a news anchor (Maya Sarao), her source of information about whether her demands are being acted upon or not.

Anupam Kher in a still from A Wednesday.

A Wednesday evoked empathy in the viewers for hundreds of unknown people who died in terrorist attacks. Kudos to Pandey for writing and directing a taut thriller that was not a typical cat-and-mouse chase. It is a movie that grips you even if Zee Cinema plays it for the 100th time.