Movie Name: Family of Thakurganj
Cast : Jimmy Shergill, Mahie Gill, Saurabh Shukla, Manoj Pahwa, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Nandish Singh, Pavan Malhotra & Yashpal Sharma.
Direction : Manoj K Jha.
IWMBuzz Ratings : 2.5 stars
Whenever a gangster oriented film comes your way, the expectation is usually of a ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’. But sadly enough, that ain’t the case. Jimmy Shergill aka Nannu is someone who takes up to the world of illegal bootlegging business and crime because of a lot of ‘majboori’ . Although his mother, Supriya Pilgaonkar aka Sumitra Devi finds out about her elder son’s activities, she keeps quiet because that is helping the family survive. But however later as Nannu grows up to be a dreaded and feared personality, his family then comprising of his mother and wife played by Mahie Gill seems to enjoy all the attention and ‘respect’ which oozes out of people because of Nannu’s fear. Only Nannu’s brother Munnu, played by Nandish Singh is an exception in this regard as he is entirely against his brother’s activities and hence does not approve any bit of it. This even leads to altercations and ‘nok jhok’ between him and Saurabh Shukla aka Baba Bhandari who plays the con game to perfection with an element of slyness merged alongside comedy. There’s a battle for power in Thakurganj between Nannu and Sajjan Singh which leads to gun battle and eventually a bit of bloodshed. However somehow Munnu manages to transform Nannu into a good man who tries his best to minimize his evil deeds by doing good for the people he once troubled, eg. returning Manoj Pahwa’s land back to him which he had taken away due to which he would day in and day out be cursed. Sajjan Singh somehow manages to create a dispute between Nannu and Baba Bhandari just when Nannu transforms and Baba falls for the trap and eventually he plans to execute Nannu with the help of his partners in crime, Sajjan Singh & Ballu Thapa (Played by Raj Zutshi) which leads to Nannu’s death.Then comes Pavan Malhotra aka SP Rathore into the scene who delves deep into the mystery and ultimately finds a way to resolve it at the end of the story.
Meanwhile, in between all this, Sajjan feels the heat with Ballu Thapa around and tries to implant in Baba’s mind that Ballu Thapa is a potential threat and he needs to be removed. The news reaches Ballu Thapa and he escapes and battles for his life. The story unfolds into how Nannu’s family plans to avenge Nannu’s death and his brother leads the charge to eventually free Thakurganj from the evil and the corrupt.
IWMBuzz Verdict : The chemistry between Jimmy Shergill and Mahie Gill looked its desi best and somehow it always works whenever they work together. Jimmy Shergill gave his best shot to become the desi gangster with a personality like that of a tiger and looked convincing. Saurabh Shukla and Manoj Pahwa simply nail it with their comic timing and performances and it would not be wrong to say that they have been the best part of the movie. Nandish manages to strike a balance between the peace-loving good guy and the emotionally drained brother who takes to the world of crime himself to avenge for his brother’s death. However, the direction and the storyline isn’t the most convincing and is filled with loopholes and the margin between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ has been reduced to almost nil and it isn’t really justified. It’s only a one time watch at the movies and definitely watch it only if you are totally into gangster oriented movies which has that desi flavour. Watch it for the the performances of the actors though, especially Saurabh Shukla and Manoj Pahwa who save the film with their impeccable comic timing in bits and pieces whenever required.
IWMBuzz Ratings: 2.5 stars.