Tag Archives: Kulbushan Kharbanda

Movie Review: Jewel Thief – The Heist Begins (2025)

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3 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins on Netflix

Netflix kicks off an entertaining new (potential) franchise with Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins, a fun, vibrant caper with a charming leading man.

Saif Ali Khan stars as Rehan Roy, a master thief who’s eluded Indian police for years. The cops follow him all the way to Budapest, Hungary, where he delights in giving them the slip.

Cheeky Rehan isn’t the first character we’re introduced to. That honor goes to Rajan Aulakh (Jaideep Ahlawat), a gangster-turned-art-collector who isn’t as far removed from his former profession as he purports to be. His accountant learns that the hard way when an error costs Rajan money, and the accountant meets a brutal end at his boss’s hands. It’s one of the rare instances of violence in an otherwise mostly bloodless film, but it establishes high stakes for anyone who gets involved with Rajan.

The gangster learns of an upcoming Mumbai exhibition of a rare African diamond called the Red Sun. One of the only people in the underworld who could fence something so expensive is the crime boss Moosa (Loitongbam Dorendra Singh), whom Rajan double-crossed a decade ago. Handing over the Red Sun would finally get Rajan off Moosa’s hit list, but he needs the help of an expert thief to get it.

Rehan doesn’t join forces willingly. He learns he’s been pressed into service when his estranged brother Avi (Gagan Arora, who brings intense emotion to his small role) arrives in Budapest to tell him that Rajan donated dirty money to their father’s charity hospital. Unless Rehan returns to Mumbai to steal the jewel, Rajan will report Baba (Kulbushan Kharbanda) to the authorities, destroying him and his hospital.

From this point on, we see Rehan doing what he does best: executing complicated plans that keep him one step ahead of everyone else. It starts with getting into India before top cop Vikram Patel (Kunal Kapoor) can nab him at the airport. Then Rehan, Rajan, and Rajan’s goons devise a scheme to nab the Red Sun before the museum exhibition opens. These sequences are a ton of fun, giving fans of heist movies everything they want from the genre.

Another necessary genre convention is a beautiful woman to complicate the thief’s plans. That would be Rajan’s wife, Farrah (Nikita Dutta), a painter trapped in an abusive marriage. When she lends a sympathetic ear to Rehan about his family problems, he resolves to steal her away from Rajan along with the diamond.

Having multiple subplots — not always a given in Hindi films — enriches the story and adds depth to Rehan’s character. It gives him more to explore in subsequent movies (which haven’t been officially greenlit by Netflix but are clearly planned by the film’s creator and producer Siddharth Anand).

The good news is that, should Netflix opt out of future films, this franchise could easily transition to a theatrical model because it feels like a big-budget release. International filming locations like Budapest and “Istanbul” (which at one point is represented by a shot of the Griffith Museum overlooking Los Angeles) contribute to the vibe, as do the glamorous sets and vivid color palette. It’s a very pleasing movie to look at.

Best of all is its perfect cast. Khan knows how to blend humor with sincerity, making Rehan a crook you love to root for. Kapoor and Dutta are a bit underutilized, but they do exactly what their roles need to impact the story.

Fans of Ahlawat are in for a treat. He’s menacing in a quiet, controlled way, making him all the scarier. When he unleashes upon someone, it’s quick and devastating. Ahlawat’s dancing in the disco-inspired credits song “Jaadu” grabbed attention because it’s not something he’s done much on screen, but he shows in the film’s few, highly entertaining fight scenes that he’s a skilled physical performer.

Also, kudos to Mohd. Faiz Abrar for really well-executed English subtitles. Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins has real crossover hit potential, and quality subtitles will play a big part if it takes off internationally.

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Movie Review: Khandaani Shafakhana (2019)

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1.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Khandaani Shafakhana is like a half-finished topiary. The general shape is there, but it needs a lot more trimming.

Sonakshi Sinha stars as pharmaceutical sales representative Baby Bedi. Her job supports her mother (Nadira Babbar) and her loafer younger brother — the unfortunately named Bhooshit (Varun Sharma) — following her father’s death. Dad took out a loan from his greedy brother (Rajiv Gupta), and now Uncle wants to take possession of the family’s home and kick them out.

An opportunity arises in the wake of another death, that of Baby’s estranged maternal uncle Mamaji (Kulbushan Kharbanda). Mamaji was notorious for running a fertility clinic in a town where just saying the word “sex” is considered obscene. He bequeathed his clinic to Baby, on the condition that she hire a doctor and operate the clinic for six months in order to conclude his patients’ treatments. After that, she’s free sell the property, paying off her father’s debt and leaving her with enough money to start her own herbal medicine franchise. If she fails, the clinic goes to the medical school that kicked out her uncle decades earlier.

Returning to Mamaji’s clinic — inexplicably covered in cobwebs even though he’s only been dead a few days — brings back childhood memories of learning about traditional Unani medicine at her uncle’s knee. Her first meetings with patients to talk about their erectile dysfunction issues are profoundly awkward, but Baby realizes the positive impact of her uncle’s treatment on their lives. This reawakens her own dormant dreams of becoming a doctor and inspires her to destigmatize the topic of sexual health in her prudish Punjabi town.

Sinha’s warmth in the film’s thoughtful moments feels so natural, and her character builds endearing relationships. Sinha deftly guides Baby through a complicated journey as she considers what she really wants from life. Comedy might not be Sinha’s strongest suit, but the jokes in Khandaani Shafakhana are pretty subdued anyway. Nor are they especially bawdy.

The moderate tone does a world of good for Sharma, whose comic performances tend to be over-the-top. Annu Kapoor is funny as Mamaji’s lawyer, and Priyanshu Jora is adorable as a lemonade vendor hired by the lawyer to spy on Baby to ensure she fulfills her part of the deal.

Khandaani Shafakhana looks fantastic. Director Shilpi Dasgupta and cinematographer Rishi Punjabi tell their story through carefully framed shots, the best of which make a pensive Sinha look positively ethereal.

But Khandaani Shafakhana falls short of success for a few reasons. It’s overly long, first of all. By the time Baby hits her lowest point, I was ready for the whole thing to be done. The resolution to Baby’s crisis feels convenient and unrealistic.

Some aspects of the movie felt like they didn’t quite translate, not so much as a matter of language but culture. (The English subtitles are actually quite good, including a funny joke about one of Baby’s suitors being handsome “like Al Pacino.”) The film’s primary audience in India will likely be more familiar with the particulars of Mamaji’s Unani medicine than a Western audience, so much about it is left unexplained. But the characters periodically give each other meaningful looks, and I wasn’t sure what the meaning was supposed to be. This is not a good starter film for Bollywood newcomers.

Then there’s Khandaani Shafakhana‘s biggest problem — one that can hopefully be edited out of the version that makes it to Amazon Prime. Bhooshit is discussing one of Baby’s patients with her: a famous rapper named Gabru Ghataak (Badshah). Bhooshit speculates that, because Gabru is always surrounded by beautiful women, the reason for the rapper’s erectile dysfunction must be that he’s a “homo.” Bhooshit says the slur in English, so it’s not a translation error. He also repeats it several times, indicating that director Dasgupta and writer Gautam Mehra intended the scene to be humorous. It’s an unfortunate scene that can easily be excised from the movie without ruining the story flow. In fact, in a movie that’s already too long, axing it could help in more ways than one.

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