Thar was undoubtedly the biggest original movie that Netflix ever helmed. It was greatly anticipated and the trailer left everyone stunned. Yesterday the viewing stats were officially announced and it was the 9th most viewed non-English film on Netflix last week.
Gangubai Kathiawadi was the third most-watched watched title globally and dominated the Indian territory in the second week too. Mind you that, unlike Thar, Gangubai Kathiawadi is not a Netflix original and was released after a massive theatrical run.
Then the question is, Why didn’t Thar achieve what it could/should have been? Because it is too predictable and cliched. It looks like the team rushed to shoot without polishing the screenplay enough.
The underwhelming performance of Thar is a clear indication that Anil Kapoor’s latest also became a victim of the same.
If you’ve watched Thar then you would know that the film relies on the shoulders of Anil Kapoor and his brilliant performance. Harshvardhan Kapoor boasts intense silence throughout the film and the female characters are just too weak to leave any impact on your experience.
Long story short, the script needed tremendous improvement which it never received. The problem statement of the film is so overused that Thar just contributes to uncountable films based on the same “high concept”.
Talking about masterpieces like “The Power Of The Dog” or “Don’t Look Up”, they are all Netflix products. And the reason they are masterpieces is that the writing captivated us as a viewer.
Had Peter simply killed Phil in “The Power of the Dog” or the President simply refused to help the scientists in “Don’t Look Up” then they would be disastrous films.
There was a proper obstacle that the characters went and evolved through and that is the sole brilliance of the writing.
Sadly, we see that little internal evolution in just Anil Kapoor and that too through his merit as an actor.
Indian cinema has immense potential but sadly, it dances on the fingers of producers and trashy mass entertainers. Thankfully OTTs have an edge in making quality content because they don’t depend on box office business.
If the streamers don’t reap that benefit then it will certainly frustrate Reed Hastings (Netflix’s CEO).