Sikandar ka Muqaddar

What's the point of making a thriller if you're not going to give it a conclusion? Seriously, Bollywood, what's happening? This is becoming a norm now-movies that hook you in with suspense, build tension for two long hours, and then just leave you hanging.

This latest so-called "thriller" follows the same pattern. You sit there, completely invested, eager to see how the story unfolds. But when the final ten minutes roll around, guess what? There is NO proper ending!

Sure, I'll give credit where it's due-Jimmy Shergill. He's the only saving grace of this film. His performance is as solid as always, and you can tell he's doing his best with what he's given. But even his makeup felt cheap (in first half) which is honestly insulting for an actor of his caliber.

Bollywood needs to stop this trend of ambiguous endings masquerading as "intellectual filmmaking." It's not clever. When people spend their time and money on a movie, they deserve a satisfying payoff-not vague nonsense that feels like a slap in the face.

I'm reluctantly giving this film 4 stars solely for Jimmy Shergill. Otherwise, it's a waste of time. Stop with the half-baked stories, Bollywood. Give us proper endings.

You see the trailer and see Neeraj Pandey's name. The memories hit back!

Baby

Special 26

"This one must be a worthy movie," you tell yourself.

The movie starts off slow, you constantly keep waiting for something to happen, something to reveal itself but nothing happens. "Did I miss anything?"

The narrative keeps juggling between the past and the present, and there are nice intersections that keep you hooked throughout. Neeraj Pandey makes sure you feel bored initially and then when the story starts weaving itself, you get a few Eureka moments.

The set design in the past narrative could have used better art direction, hair and make up. I'm sorry but they looked all out of place. Looked like the production budget was tight.

It's not a typical "whodunit" since three suspects are readily singled out an they are the actors you see on the poster, so it all comes down to how did they do it? Even though from a cinematic point of view, some of the twists were good, realistically they seemed out of place.

"No one has so much patience" is what will you think.

Story - 7/10

Cast - 6/10

Direction - 8/10

"The End" title card comes during the climax, and the movie still continues from there for another 30 minutes. I liked that bit because I would have hated the movie if that actually happened.

The storyline could have been a bit tighter, there were a few unnecessary scenes but overall it was a good watch.

PS: The end is open ended but it feels justified.

A solid trailer and a good cast are always alluring factors when narrowing down a movie to watch, and this one promised just that-only to disappoint in the end.

The lives of three suspects in a diamond robbery turn miserable when a police officer becomes obsessed with proving them guilty, relying solely on his hunch, without any concrete evidence.

The story's premise had the potential to make it a riveting watch, but the lackluster script turned it into a half-baked recipe. The movie begins on a promising note, drawing you into its narrative, but as it progresses, it becomes repetitive and uninspired. The so-called "big twist" at the end is predictable right from the beginning, making you regret the time spent watching it.

Avinash Tiwary shows promise and delivers an earnest performance. He is undoubtedly versatile and proves his acting capabilities once again. Jimmy Shergill does a decent job as the police officer. Tamannaah Bhatia is adequate in her role, though the script gives her little room to shine. Rajeev Mehta, fondly remembered as Praful from Khichdi, plays his part well.

The movie feels considerably slow, with no real highs or lows to maintain engagement. It suffers from several glaring cinematic liberties that are hard to ignore, especially since it is not a mindless entertainer. The de-aging of Jimmy Shergill, in particular, is poorly executed and feels amateurish. Neeraj Pandey, once known for his brilliance, disappoints yet again, further diminishing his magic.

Sikandar's Muqaddar is sealed for disappointment. It's an easily skippable, below-average affair.

#PranuReviews #SikandarKaMuqaddar #SikandarKaMuqaddarReview.

I was really looking forward to this film, knowing that Neeraj Pandey had written the story, the screenplay and directed it.

While professionals like Neeraj Pandey achieve the ordinary effortlessly, just like that, anything short of extraordinary disappoints their fans as they have fallen short of their own standards!

While for most filmmakers, this film could even pass as a brilliant attempt, for someone of the class of Neeraj Pandey, it falls really short of the bar...and yet it is not a bad film at all!

The story builds up nicely and continues to intrigue the audience, until there appear a couple of meaningless twists! For example, the twist in the Kamini Singh tale or the need for the character Tabassum is completely lost on me! I am certain that the narrative would have held together and probably appeared even more coherent without those additions.

The performances are very good. Jimmy Shergill & Tamannaah Bhatia live up to the expectations from them as actors and the relatively less known (to me), Avinash Tiwary, has certainly impressed. The other characters play their part very well...although I thought that an actor of the calibre of Divya Dutta could have had a more substantial role.

The de-aging of Shergill is not brilliant and the "no aging" of Avinash Tiwary and Tamannaah after 15 years is a rare miss for someone of Neeraj Pandey's class. But then, no one is infallible!

By all ordinary standards, the film is definitely watchable...at least a one-time watch.

Request to Mr. Pandey: Storytellers like you keep some of us still interested in cinema. We expect you to beat your own high standards every time. Please give us the pleasure of watching that happen over and over again.

You start the film hoping to see Neeraj Pandey's intense grip on such genre like Special 26 but sooner you'll realise that it'll be a mistake to even finish it.

Overall plot is promising but inside it's an empty coconut shell. You will exactly know what's gonna happen and guess what! The film never surprises you.

The Direction seems poor, I don't why Neeraj put continuous shots in the scenes where there is absolutely no requirement of that. I had to play some parts in 1.5x due to that.

Some Characters were forcefully developed and then left alone as if they have nothing to do with this.

This film is disappointment at its best. First "Auron me kahan dum tha" now this.