Thugs of Hindostan
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Official poster
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Directed by
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Produced by
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Screenplay by
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Vijay Krishna Acharya
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Starring
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Music by
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Cinematography
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Edited by
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Ritesh Soni [1]
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Production
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Distributed by
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Yash Raj Films
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Release date
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8 November 2018
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Country
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India
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Language
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Budget
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Thugs of Hindostan is an upcoming 2018 Indian Hindi-language epic action-adventure film, written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, and produced by Aditya Chopraunder his banner Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Lloyd Owen in leading roles. Set in 1795, the film follows a band of Thugs led by Khudabaksh Azaad, who aspires to free Hindostan (the Indian subcontinent) from the rule of the expanding British East India Company. Alarmed, British commander John Clive sends a small-time Thug from Awadh, Firangi Mallah, to infiltrate and counter the threat.[3] The soundtrack was composed by Ajay-Atul with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
Thugs of Hindostan
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Produced on a budget of ₹300 crore(US$42 million), Thugs of Hindostan is the most expensive Bollywood film. Initially titled Thug, the film marked the first time Khan and Bachchan featured together as leads, and was the second collaboration between Khan, Acharya and Kaif, after Dhoom 3 (2013). Principal photography commenced on 5 June 2017 in Malta. In October, a dance sequence choreographed by Prabhu Deva and centred on Bachchan and others was filmed. The film was also shot in Thailand and Mehrangarh; it was put on a short hiatus after Bachchan experienced discomfort on set. Filming concluded in March 2018, the final schedule being completed in Rajasthan. Thugs of Hindostan is set to be released during the week of the Diwali[a] festival, on 8 November 2018.
Premise
The film tells a historical fiction story set in 1795, when the Indian subcontinent was known as Hindustan or Hindostan, where Indian bandits known as Thugs (from the Hindustani word "thug") posed a serious challenge to the expanding British East India Company which ruled over large parts of India.[4] The film follows a band of Thugs led by Khudabaksh Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan), who poses a grave threat to Company rule in India as he aspires to free the country from the British. Alarmed, John Clive (Lloyd Owen), a British commander, sends Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan), a small-time Thug from Awadh, to infiltrate and counter the threat.[3]
Cast
- Katrina Kaif as Suraiyya, a dancer and performer
- Fatima Sana Shaikh as Zafira, a warrior-archer Thug
- Lloyd Owen as John Clive, a ruthless British East India Company officer
- Abdul Quadir Amin as Azhar Ali[7]
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 finalized at the time.[8] The film was initially titled only Thug; it was set for a release on Diwali in 2018.[9]Hrithik Roshan, who was initially approached with the film's leading role, suggested some changes to the script. The film producer Aditya Chopraagreed; meanwhile, Acharya approached Khan with the script, who agreed to do the film with no changes to the storyline.[10] 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.[11] Meanwhile, he grew his hair and beard for his look in the film.[12]
By February 2017, Khan had prepared his look for the film.[13] In the same month, Shraddha Kapoor gave a costume look test and audition for the film.[14] 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, Sheikh expressed her eagerness to work in the project.[15] In May 2017, Shaikh was confirmed to play a role in the film, with her audition look being revealed.[16] She replaced Kapoor.[17] Kaif was confirmed to star in the film on Yash Raj Films' official website.[17] Khan, Bachchan and Acharya met during the month of May to discuss script changes.[18] In June 2017, Khan denied rumours of Thugs of Hindostan being inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, stating they are both simply action-adventure productions.[19]
Thugs of Hindostan is Khan's second time collaborating with Vijay Krishna Acharya and Katrina Kaif, after Dhoom 3 (2013).[20] It also marked the first collaboration between Khan and Bachchan.[21] Bachchan and Khan were supposed to star together in the Indra Kumar-directorial Rishta, planned during the late 1990s, but the project was shelved.[22]Besides Roshan, Jackie Shroff, Alia Bhatt, and Deepika Padukone were to be a part of the film, but turned down the role.[23][6] Contrary to initial reports, the film is not based on Philip Meadows Taylor's 1839 novel Confessions of a Thug; the film tells a fictional story based on historical events. Acharya links the misunderstanding to the word thug appearing in both works.[22] For his look, Khan also underwent permanent ear and nose piercing.[24]
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".[22] He made the film a visual "spectacle", considering the difficulty in bringing audiences to theatres.[22] 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."[25] 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).[26] Bachchan wore iron armour for playing his character, the second time he did so after his 1998 film Shahenshah.[27] In addition, he also wore a pagri, grew long hair and learned sword-fighting.[22] Most of Bachchan's action sequences were situated in rainy settings.[22]
Filming
Thugs of Hindostan's production budget is ₹3 billion (US$42 million), making it the most expensive Bollywood film.[2] It was initially planned to be produced on a budget of ₹900 million, but the budget was overshot while filming.[28] Filming commenced on 5 June 2017 in Malta.[21] Two ships were constructed in Malta for the purpose of filming; shooting was heavily guarded to prevent leaks from sets.[29] The ships were built by over 1000 people working together and weighed 200,000 kg each.[30] By 28 June 2017, Bachchan finished filming his first schedule in Malta.[31]In middle July, Khan took a break from filming and went on a vacation to Italy.[32]
Mehrangarh Fort, situated in Rajasthan, where a large portion of sequences were filmed.
Chopra, who was not impressed with the film's action sequences filmed in Malta, had them filmed again in Yash Raj Films' studio.[33] It was reported that busy with filming for Thugs of Hindostan, Khan would be unable to promote his film Secret Superstar (2017) properly.[34] However, in October 2017, Khan took a break from filming to promote his film.[35] In August 2017, Bachchan fractured his rib cage while shooting, but had to continue filming since the schedule was tight.[35] The film's dance sequence, which featured Bachchan, among others, and choreographed by Prabhu Deva was filmed in October 2017.[36]
When filming was not taking place, the cast, along with the crew, wore face masks to avoid contracting common cold.[37] In September 2017, photographers of the Filmfare magazine captured Khan while filming, and leaked his look.[38] An upset Khan increased security surveillance on film sets.[39] The same month, Bachchan's look was also leaked online.[40]Khan stated that "this shouldn't have happened" and it foiled plans for later look releases.[41] Filming also took place in Thailand, from 6 December 2017.[42] The schedule was wrapped up on 26 December 2017.[43]
Some sequences were also shot in Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur.[44] After Bachchan experienced discomfort on set, a team of doctors visited him in Jodhpur. His wife, Jaya Bachchan stated that his heavy costumes hurt his back and neck.[45] The stunts aggravated his pre-existing neck and shoulder pain, which was a result of past injuries from stunts he did for filming in the 1970-80s.[46]Bachchan stated that he was back to normal.[47] The film's shooting was put on a short hiatus as a result of his injury.[48] He resumed filming on 13 March 2018.[49][50] The film's climax sequence was filmed in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in late March 2018.[51][52]
Music
Thugs of Hindostan
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Recorded
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2017-2018
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Language
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KAY-S.(Ajay-Atul's team)
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The soundtrack was composed by Ajay-Atul, with background score by John Stewart Eduri and lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya.[1]Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were supposed to originally compose the soundtrack, but they were unable to complete their work on deadline after the film was reshot, and new tracks were required.[53]
Marketing and release
Thugs of Hindostan is scheduled to be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu with 3Dand IMAX formats.[54] The Yash Raj Films's marketing team began their promotion of the film on Monday, 17 September 2018: an official logo and title card was revealed on their YouTube channel.[55] The following day, a motion poster of Khudabaksh, the commanding thug played by Bachchan, was released.[56] This was the first of a systematic marketing campaign that introduced the film's characters to the general public consistently throughout the week, using motion posters. On 19 September, the second character to be revealed was the archer Zafira, played by Shaikh.[57] John Clive, played by Owen, a ruthless British leader, was revealed on 20th September.[58] Suraiyya, a dancer played by Kaif, was displayed on 21 September.[59] 3 days later, the poster of Firangi, played by Khan, who was an eccentric-looking, donkey-riding thug, was revealed.[60]
On 26 September, Khan and Bachchan released a promotional video which featured them speaking in Telugu and Tamil, urging native audiences to watch the film.[6] On 27 September, Yash Raj Films' founder Yash Chopra's 86th birthday, the film's trailer was released on YouTube.[61] The trailer launch was held in Carnival Cinemas, Wadala, Mumbai, on India’s biggest IMAX screen, along with the presence of the film's cast.[62]The trailer crossed 30 million views on YouTube on the first day,[3] and crossed 32 million views across digital social mediaplatforms in 24 hours.[63] Dubbed versions were also launched in Tamil by Kamal Haasanand in Telugu by S. S. Rajamouli.[64] It is set to be released in India during the week of the Diwali[a] festival, on 8 November 2018.[65][3]There are also plans to release the film in China, where Khan's previous films were successful, including 3 Idiots (2009), PK(2014), Dangal (2016) and Secret Superstar(2017).[
