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A Thursday
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Behzad Khambata
Written by	Behzad Khambata
Story by	Ashley Michael Lobo Behzad Khambata
Dialogue by	Vijay Maurya
Produced by	Ronnie Screwvala Premnath Rajagopalan
Starring	Yami Gautam Atul Kulkarni Neha Dhupia Dimple Kapadia Karanvir Sharma
Cinematography	Anuj Rakesh Dhawan Siddharth Vasani
Edited by	Sumeet Kotian
Music by	Rooshin Dalal Kaizad Gherda
Production companies	RSVP Movies Blue Monkey Films
Distributed by	Disney+ Hotstar
Release date	17 February 2022 (2022-02-17)
Running time	129 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

A Thursday is a 2022 Indian Hindi vigilante thriller film written and directed by Behzad Khambata. The film, produced by RSVP Movies stars Yami Gautam, Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dhupia, Dimple Kapadia, and Karanvir Sharma. It premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on 17 February 2022. The film received mixed reviews, but Gautam's performance was praised.

At the 2022 Filmfare OTT Awards, A Thursday received 4 nominations – Best Web Original Film, Best Actress in a Web Original Film (Gautam), Best Supporting Actor in a Web Original Film (Kulkarni) and Best Supporting Actress in a Web Original Film (Dhupia).

Plot

Naina Jaiswal, who teaches at the Little Tots play school in Colaba (part of Mumbai), had been on leave for three weeks for an unknown reason. The school is in front of the property owned by Rohit Mirchandani, Naina’s fiance, where Rohit lives. Parents drop off their children, and Naina asks one parent to send a cake since the next day is their daughter Niharika’s birthday. The parent asks if their driver can deliver the cake to the school. Everyone leaves, and Naina snaps; she calls the police station and tells them that she has 16 children as hostages. Niharika’s driver arrives with a cake and Savitri, the helper, returns for her phone; both are also taken hostage.

The police suspect it is a hoax, but Naina fires a shot. ACP Catherine Alvarez contacts her, but Naina says that she will only negotiate with Officer Javed Khan. Javed is brought to the scene, and she tells him that she will free one child for every demand he meets. Her first demand is for a transfer of ₹5 crore to her account. Catherine and Javed had a romantic history, and are incompatible when working together. Catherine does not listen to Javed, and tries to send armed police inside. Naina kills Aakash, one of the children, in alphabetical order, as she had said. The Commissioner of Police places Javed in charge and assigns Catherine to do research.

Naina’s second demand is to speak to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Maya Rajguru talks to Naina on the phone, and Naina urges her to meet her in person. Naina then tells Javed to find Rakesh Mathur and Charan Kumar, who she last knew were working at a school in Goregaon (a Mumbai suburb) and bring them to her. The police find Rakesh, but are unable to locate Charan. No one knows what Naina is up to, and Javed and his team have no choice but to agree to her demands because the children are still hostages.

During a background check, Catherine learns that Naina has been taking antidepressants and seeing a psychologist since she was 16 years old. She searches Naina’s house and finds receipts for medication prescribed by Dr. Juneja. Catherine contacts the doctor, and Javed gets hold of Naina’s mother. Naina was raped when she was 16 years old, and Javed and Catherine were the officers in charge of the case. They paid little attention to Naina’s case, since they were pursuing a high-profile case to gain recognition. After begging them to help for two years, Naina’s mother became resigned to their indifference.

Prime Minister Rajguru decides to meet Naina in person, accompanied only by Javed. Naina brings up the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, which become effective in 2012 to protect children under the age of 18. Naina asks the prime minister why there is no protection for people over 18, and demands that her rapists face the death penalty. Rajguru tells her that legislation is a complex task that requires time, but her rapists are found and imprisoned. Naina then says that the child she supposedly killed is actually alive.

Although the police could not find Charan Kumar, Naina says that he is the family driver who brought Niharika’s birthday cake. He held Niharika's hand (arousing Naina's fear that he would rape the child as well), and Naina asked Niharika’s mother to send him with the cake so she could take him hostage; he was her rapist, while Rakesh held her hands. Naina shoots Charan, and the commandos enter the school and arrest her. Rohit salutes her, referring back to the start of the film where he says that you should only salute people who deserve it. While she is being transported to prison, Maya Rajguru brings up the issue of capital punishment in parliament. While teaching a class in prison, Naina picks up a newspaper, sees the headline, and smiles. The film ends with a statistic: Every 16 minutes, a woman is raped.

Cast

• Yami Gautam as Naina Jaiswal
• Atul Kulkarni as Javed Khan
• Neha Dhupia as ACP Catherine "Cathy" Alvarez
• Dimple Kapadia as Prime Minister Maya Rajguru
• Karanvir Sharma as Rohit Mirchandani, Naina's fiance
• Maya Sarao as Shalini Guha, Naina's friend Yash's mother
• Sukesh Anand as Lokhande
• Kalyanee Mulay as Savitri, Naina's maid
• Boloram Das as Charan Kumar, Naina's rapist and Niharika's family driver
• Shubhangi Latkar as Kusum Jaiswal, Naina's mother
• Adi Irani as Police Commissioner
• Divjyot Kaur as Renuka Dubey
• Micky Makhija as Rohit's father
• Sanjeev Jotangia as Malcolm
• Sulagna Chatterjee as Aakash's mom
• Bhavin Hirani as Aakash's dad
• Raj Kumar sharma as Home Minister
• Asim Sharma as PM PR REP
• Hardika Sharma as Niharika (play school student)
• Prachi Hada as journalist

Production

Principal photography began on 12 March 2021, and wrapped in July of that year.

Reception

Cyril of India Today gave the film a rating of four out of five and wrote, "Yami Gautam's A Thursday is the kind of thriller that has been missing from Indian screens for a while". Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India rated it three out of five and wrote, "Despite a rather predictable backstory, A Thursday redeems itself with its powerful emotional arc and social commentary in the latter half. It touches upon a relevant issue that will resonate with women across the globe".

Pradeep Menon of Firstpost gave the film a rating of 2.75 out of five and wrote, "A Thursday strives to be urgent, relevant and cool, but succeeds only partially, because it stops to make a point far too often". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the film 1.5 out of five and wrote, "The chief problem with Yami Gautam's film is that we do not take any of this seriously, whether it is Naina brandishing a gun, or snarling and cooing at her hostages".

Accolades

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to A Thursday contains twenty-one instrumental compositions used in the film score, curated and composed by Rooshin Dalal and Kaizad Gherda.

References

1. "Thursday trailer: Yami Gautam as a deadly kidnapper challenges PM Dimple Kapadia, Neha Dhupia is a pregnant cop". Hindustan Times. 10 February 2022. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
2. "A Thursday trailer: Yami Gautam takes 16 kids hostage in tense thriller". The Indian Express. 10 February 2022. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
3. "A Thursday teaser out. Yami Gautam's hostage drama to release on Disney+ Hotstar soon". India Today. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
4. "A Thursday teaser: Yami Gautam's scary stare sends chills down the spine, fan says 'oh bhai'. Watch". Hindustan Times. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
5. "Yami Gautam's grim look in A Thursday teaser is sure to send chills down your spine". Firstpost. 10 February 2022. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
6. "Yami Gautam to star in A Thursday, film to release on digital". Bollywood Hungama. 4 September 2021. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
7. "Yami Gautam as terrorist in A Thursday will hook you. Disney+ Hotstar film to release on Feb 17". India Today. 10 February 2022. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
8. "Yami Gautam and Neha Dhupia start shooting for A Thursday". India Today. 12 March 2021. Archived from the original on 12 March 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
9. "Yami Gautam begins filming for thriller 'A Thursday'". The Times of India. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
10. "Yami Gautam begins filming for thriller 'A Thursday'". India TV News. 12 March 2021. Archived from the original on 12 March 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
11. "Yami Gautam announces official production wrap for 'A Thursday". ANI News. 23 July 2021. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
12. "Yami Gautam Wraps Up A Thursday Shoot With The "Best" Team And A Trunk Of Memories". NDTV. 23 July 2021. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
13. "Yami Gautam wraps up shoot of 'A Thursday'". The New Indian Express. 6 August 2021. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
14. "A Thursday Movie Review: Yami Gautam's film is one of the best thrillers in recent times". India Today. 17 February 2022. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
15. "A Thursday Review: An intriguing hostage drama that's high on emotion". The Times Of India. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
16. "A Thursday movie review: Yami Gautam Dhar's vigilante-hostage thriller is slick but uneven with a polarising message". Firstpost. 17 February 2022. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
17. "A Thursday movie review: Yami Gautam starrer deserves a series of eyerolls". Indian Express. 16 February 2022. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
18. "Filmfare OTT Awards 2022 - Nominations". filmfare.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
19. ^ "A Thursday – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jiosaavn. 27 February 2022.

External links

• A Thursday at IMDb

• 2022 films
• Indian action thriller films
• 2020s Hindi-language films
• 2020 thriller films
• 2020 films
• Disney+ Hotstar original films