Disclaimer: The article contains heavy spoilers for ‘A Thursday’.
Yami Gautam starrer A Thursday recently released on Disney+ Hotstar. In the film, Naina (Yami Gautam) a playschool teacher in Mumbai takes some 16 little kids hostage, demanding ₹5 crore, and a face-to-face talk with the Prime Minister, played by Dimple Kapadia.
Does the title and the plot of the film remind you of something? It looks and sounds a lot like the 2008 film A Wednesday starring Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah. While it’s surely not a sequel to A Wednesday, as clarified by Yami Gautam in a conversation with Pinkvilla, we couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the two films.
I think the obvious reason people are feeling, you know, is it a ‘spiritual’ sequel is the title, and the fact that of course, it’s Ronnie who’s backing this as well. But to clarify, no it is not a sequel of any kind to A Wednesday.
1. In both the films, a commoner decides to take things into their hands.
In A Thursday, Naina, a playschool teacher holds 16 kindergarten kids hostages to get heard by the authorities. Something similar happened in A Wednesday, where a ‘common man’ decides to shake the entire system within four hours as he claims to have planted bombs at various places in Mumbai.
2. On the face of it, the perpetrators in both the films seem like they’re ‘terrorists’ and want to harm people for their own gain.
When the ‘common man’ in A Wednesday, asks the police commissioner to release terrorists in police captivity it seems like a sinister plan. In Yami Gautam’s A Thursday also, she makes us believe that she is serious about her demands when she pretends to kill a kid live on social media and people think she actually killed the child.
3. The scenario flips almost entirely later in both the films.
In A Wednesday, an explosion occurs and kills three terrorists. This is when the ‘common man’ reveals that he does not belong to any terrorist organisation and wanted to kill the terrorists, something that the government could not do.
In A Thursday too, Naina’s mother reveals to Javed Khan that she is the same child who was raped in school and he was the police inspector handling the case. The case was shut and Naina’s rapists never got arrested.
4. The cops in both the films feel relatable and not over-the-top.
Unlike other Bollywood films, where the police officers use a larger than life language, Mumbai Police Commissioner Prakash Rathore, played by Anupam Kher in A Wednesday and Javed Khan played by Atul Kulkarni in A Thursday take their work seriously.
5. The lead characters in both films demand to talk to someone in authority.
In Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday, we see that the ‘common man’ demands to talk to someone in authority. In A Thursday too, Naina Jaiswal demands to talk to the PM of the country.
6. There’s a news anchor in both films whom the perpetrators use as sources of information.
In A Wednesday, the ‘common man’ tips off television news reporter Naina Roy, telling her it is going to be ‘the most important day of her life’.
In A Thursday too, Naina Jaiswal holds hostage one of news reporter’s kids to remain updated on the status of action by the police.
7. Both films evoked viewers’ empathy towards the end.
In A Wednesday, the viewers felt empathy for hundreds of unknown people who died in terrorist attacks, especially the 2006 Mumbai train bombings. In A Thursday, the audience empathised with lakhs of rape victims who are still awaiting justice.
And one more thing. Both these films have been produced by Ronnie Screwvala.
Have you watch A Thursday on Disney+ Hotstar yet?