A Thursday (2022)
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A mentally unstable woman seizes sixteen children as hostages, forcing a tense negotiation that uncovers a disturbing truth from her past.
The story
Naina Jaiswal, a teacher at the Little Tots play school in Colaba, Mumbai, unexpectedly returns from a three-week leave. After taking 16 children as hostages, she contacts the police and demands to negotiate only with officer Javed Khan. She threatens to kill the children in alphabetical order unless her demands are met, starting with a bank transfer. As the standoff intensifies, investigating officers Catherine Alvarez and Javed Khan begin to uncover a disturbing truth: Naina knows them from a traumatic event in her past, and they may be directly tied to the current situation.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Naina Jaiswal, a teacher at the Little Tots play school in Colaba, Mumbai, returns early from leave and takes 16 children, a helper named Savitri, and a driver as hostages. She demands a bank transfer and a meeting with the Prime Minister, Maya Rajguru. During the standoff, Naina kills a child named Aakash on live television after the police ignore her demands. ACP Catherine Alvarez and officer Javed Khan, who share a romantic history, lead the investigation. Catherine discovers Naina has been on antidepressants since age 16. Javed learns from Naina's mother, Kusum, that Naina was raped at 16, and both Javed and Catherine were the officers in charge who neglected the case to pursue a high-profile matter. Naina demands the death penalty for her rapists. It is revealed the driver is Charan, her rapist, and Rakesh Mathur was her accomplice. Naina shoots Charan dead in the presence of Rajguru and Javed. Armed commandos arrest Naina, who is later assigned to teach female inmates in prison. Rajguru subsequently announces the death penalty for rapists.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 129
- Production countries
- India
- Original languages
- Hindi
- Directors
- Behzad Khambata
- Writers
- Behzad Khambata · writer; Ashley Michael Lobo · story; Behzad Khambata · story
- Cast and characters
- Yami Gautam · Naina Jaiswal; Atul Kulkarni · Javed Khan, ex-husband of Cathy; Neha Dhupia · ACP Catherine "Cathy" Alvarez, ex-wife of Javed; Dimple Kapadia · Prime Minister Maya Rajguru; Karanvir Sharma · Rohit Mirchandani, Naina's fiancé; Maya Sarao · Shalini Guha, Naina's friend Yash's mother; Sukesh Anand · Lokhande; Kalyanee Mulay · Savitri, Naina's maid
- Genres
- psychological thriller; action thriller
- Themes
- trauma; social commentary; justice; neglect
- Tone and mood
- tense; urgent; emotional
- Premise and plot tags
- hostage situation; psychological thriller; crime; social issue
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for Yami Gautam's performance and its social commentary, while some criticized its pacing and seriousness.
- Reported review scores
- Firstpost · score: 2.75 · scale: 5; The Indian Express · score: 1.5 · scale: 5
- Awards and nominations
- Filmfare OTT Awards · Best Web Original Film · 2022 · Nominated; Filmfare OTT Awards · Best Actress in a Web Original Film (Gautam) · 2022 · Nominated; Filmfare OTT Awards · Best Supporting Actor in a Web Original Film (Kulkarni) · 2022 · Nominated; Filmfare OTT Awards · Best Supporting Actress in a Web Original Film (Dhupia) · 2022 · Nominated
- Production trivia
- The film features twenty-one instrumental compositions in its score.; Principal photography began on 12 March 2021 and wrapped in July of that year.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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