Thugs of Hindostan is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language period action adventure film directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif (in an extended cameo), Fatima Sana Shaikh, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Ronit Roy and Lloyd Owen. Set during the period of Company's expansion in India, Firangi Mallah, a small-time thug from Awadh, is sent by an East India Company official to infiltrate and counter a band of thugs.
Produced at an estimated budget of –, Thugs of Hindostan is one of the most expensive Bollywood films. Initially titled Thug, the film marked the first time Khan and Bachchan featured together as lead actors. The film was the second collaboration between Khan, Acharya and Kaif after Dhoom 3, and between Khan and Shaikh after the latter's debut in Dangal. Principal photography commenced on 5 June 2017 in Malta and continued in Thailand, Morocco and Mehrangarh. It was put on a short hiatus after Bachchan was injured on the set. Filming concluded in March 2018, with the final schedule in Rajasthan. The soundtrack was composed by Ajay–Atul, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, while John Stewart Eduri composed the musical score.
Thugs of Hindostan was released on 8 November 2018, during the week of the Diwali festival, and received negative reviews from critics. The film grossed () at the worldwide box office. The film was released in China on 28 December 2018, where a special edition, edited by Aamir Khan, was released with a shorter run-time than the original version.
Plot In 1795, when the Indian subcontinent was known as Hindustan or Hindostan, King Mirza Sikander Baig is killed by John Clive. The residents of his kingdom are massacred, and the land is annexed by Lord Clive of the East India Company. The only survivors are his daughter, Zafira Baig, and general, Khudabaksh. Khudabaksh defeats the retreating enemy soldiers, and raises Zafira as his daughter, training her in the arts of warfare.
In 1806 (11 years later), Firangi Mallah is a small-time thug who fools people for money. For instance, he once gives the location of a travelling landlord to some thugs and takes money for it. Then he gives the location of the same thugs to British soldiers for money. Firangi turns into a routine informer for the company. Firangi aims to be a European himself (hence the moniker "Firangi"), and hence dresses up as one in many circumstances.
Khudabaksh, now known as Azaad, leads a band of Indian bandits known as Thugs, who specialise in sea-based warfare and expose a serious challenge to Lord Clive and the expanding East India Company which had, by then, seized control of large parts of India. Lord Clive assigns his right-hand to counter the rising threat posed by the Thugs.
Firangi goes to meet Suraiyya, a dancer and performer and flirts with her. Suraiyya challenges Firangi to confess his feelings during her performance in front of the British officers. Firangi then turns up during her performance, disguised as a Viceroy but Suraiyya removes his prosthetics in the middle of her performance, revealing his disguise. Firangi is arrested and tasked by the East India Company to meet Lord Clive's challenge. He, with the help of his friend, manages to track Azaad at one of Azaad's attack on a British ship. He mistakenly saves Zafira's life by taking a bullet for her and Azaad takes him to their secret location for treatment. He appears before Azaad and asks him for recruiting him. Azaad accepts and begins to show confidence in him.
When Azaad and his men make a stop to pick up muskets from a local ruler who supports their cause, Firangi betrays them and lets the East India Company know about their location. When the forces of the East India Company surround the warehouse where they are meeting with the ruler, Azaad lets Firangi know that he knows Firangi has sold him out but he still believes that Firangi has some good in him. After a short duel, Azaad is about to fall to his death when Firangi saves him. Azaad sees that Firangi is conflicted with his feelings about working for the East India Company and asks him to help with his cause. Azaad then asks him to protect Zafira and then sacrifices himself by confronting the East India Company forces alone so that Zafira and Firangi can escape.
Firangi then goes to Clive for claiming reward and also trades the location of Azaad's remaining thugs. However, this is a trap as Zafira and Firangi attack the incoming ships. Clive, with the help of a prisoner, Bhure Lal attacks them. The thugs survive and then Firangi and Zafira go to Suraiyya who is going to perform on the Dussehra function and asks for her help where Clive will also come so they can kill him there. Initially hesitant to help them, Suraiyya is convinced upon Zafira's request, revealing that there is a revolution in her, too. There before the function, Clive reveals that Azaad is alive and has to be executed. Firangi betrays all the thugs to Clive. However, this is a plan to release all the prisoner thugs including Azaad who survived but was captured by East India Company soldiers.
At the final encounter with the East India Company at an abandoned fort, Zafira fights the EIC soldiers while Firangi stops Clive from boarding his ship. Zafira kills Clive, and justice is served. Azaad looks to the sky and realizes the infertile land has now borne fruit, suggesting that Firangi has now become an empathetic human capable of greatness. The next day, Zafira is crowned the queen and declares her kingdom free of EIC rule. Meanwhile, Firangi along with Suraiyya and Shanichar are shown to have run away with a ship stolen from Zafira to England.
Cast
Amitabh Bachchan as Khudabaksh Jhaazi (Azaad), a general of the nawab of Raunakpur Mirza Sikander Baig, commander of the Thugs, Zafira's adoptive father. Aamir Khan as Firangi Mallah, a small-time Thug from Awadh. Zafira's love interest. Katrina Kaif as Suraiyya, a dancer, performer and Firangi's love interest in an extended cameo appearance. Fatima Sana Shaikh as Princess Zafira Baig, the daughter of Nawab Mirza Sikander Baig, adopted daughter of Khudabaksh Jhaazi, a warrior-archer Thug, love interest of Firangi Mallah and later Queen of Raunakpur. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Shanichar, Firangi's friend Ronit Roy as Mirza Sikander Baig, Nawab of Raunakpur. Lloyd Owen as John Clive, a ruthless East India Company officer Dev Dave as Young Orderly Sharat Saxena as Maharaja Sangram Singh, King of Durgapur. Ila Arun as Jaitumbi Gavin Marshall as Capt James Powell Vikas Shrivastav as Daroga Kalida Jan as Ammi, former Queen of Raunakpur, Zafira's mother. Deshna Dugad as young Zafira Baig Sharad Joshi as Aslam Baig, son of Mirza Sikander Baig, former Prince of Raunakpur, Zafira's brother. Shaji Chaudhary as thug Bhure Lal Kaivalya Chheda as groom Lala ji Abdul Quadir Amin as Azhar Ali
Production
Development In September 2016, Yash Raj Films' next project titled Thugs of Hindostan was announced, and would feature Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. The lead actress was not yet finalised at the time. The film was initially titled only Thug; it was set for a release on Diwali in 2018. Hrithik Roshan, who was initially approached with the film's leading role, suggested some changes to the script. The film producer Aditya Chopra agreed; meanwhile, Acharya approached Khan with the script, who agreed to do the film with no changes to the storyline. Later, in November 2016, Khan also requested that the script be reworked, particularly the character of the leading actress, and put the project on hold. Meanwhile, he grew his hair and beard for his look in the film.
By February 2017, Khan had prepared his look for the film. In the same month, Shraddha Kapoor gave a costume look test and audition for the film. In March 2017, it was reported that Khan suggested Fatima Sana Shaikh's name for a role in the film; while denying rumours of casting, Shaikh expressed her eagerness to work in the project. In May 2017, Shaikh was confirmed to play a role in the film, with her audition look being revealed. She replaced Kapoor. Kaif was confirmed to star in the film on Yash Raj Films' official website. Khan, Bachchan and Acharya met during the month of May to discuss script changes. Contrary to initial reports, the film is not based on Philip Meadows Taylor's 1839 novel Confessions of a Thug (which was about Indian thugs); the film tells a fictional story based on historical events. Acharya links the misunderstanding to the word thug appearing in both works. Khan also denied rumours of Thugs of Hindostan being inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, stating in May 2017 that they are both simply action-adventure productions, among many others in the action-adventure film genre, such as the Indiana Jones series.
Thugs of Hindostan is Khan's second time collaborating with Vijay Krishna Acharya and Katrina Kaif, after Dhoom 3 (2013). It also marked the first collaboration between Khan and Bachchan. Bachchan and Khan were supposed to star together in the Indra Kumar-directorial Rishta, planned during the late 1990s, but the project was shelved. Besides Roshan, Jackie Shroff, Alia Bhatt, and Deepika Padukone were to be a part of the film, but turned down the role. For his look, Khan also underwent permanent ear and nose piercing.
In making Thugs of Hindostan, Acharya wanted to give a twist to period drama films and thus made what he considered "an irreverent film which has a chapter that is not very noble". He made the film a visual "spectacle", considering the difficulty in bringing audiences to theatres. Khan said his character was someone "who cannot be trusted at all – [so it's the] very opposite of Dangal ... He's a very slippery character. He has no scruples at all – for money he can sell his mother out. He's like that." Kaif said that she does not have much action to do in the film, compared to her previous action roles, in particular Tiger Zinda Hai (2017). Bachchan wore iron armour for playing his character, the second time he did so after his 1988 film Shahenshah. In addition, he also wore a pagri, grew long hair and learned sword-fighting. Most of Bachchan's action sequences were situated in rainy settings.
Principal photography
Thugs of Hindostans estimated production budget is , making it the most expensive Bollywood film. It was initially planned to be produced on a budget of , but the budget was overrun while filming. Filming commenced on 5 June 2017 in Malta. Two ships were constructed in Malta for the purpose of filming; shooting was heavily guarded to prevent leaks from sets. The ships were built by over 1000 people working together and weighed 200,000 kg each. By 28 June 2017, Bachchan finished filming his first schedule in Malta. In middle July, Khan took a break from filming and went on a vacation to Italy.
Chopra, who was not impressed with the film's action sequences filmed in Malta, had them filmed again in Yash Raj Films' studio. It was reported that busy with filming for Thugs of Hindostan, Khan would be unable to promote his film Secret Superstar (2017) properly. However, in October 2017, Khan took a break from filming to promote his film. In August 2017, Bachchan fractured his rib cage while shooting, but had to continue filming since the schedule was tight. The film's dance sequence, which featured Bachchan, among others, and choreographed by Prabhu Deva was filmed in October 2017. When filming was not taking place, the cast, along with the crew, wore face masks to avoid contracting the common cold. In September 2017, photographers of the Filmfare magazine captured Khan while filming, and leaked his look. An upset Khan increased security surveillance on film sets. The same month, Bachchan's look was also leaked online. Khan stated that "this shouldn't have happened" and it foiled plans for later looking releases.