Thappad

Thappad
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnubhav Sinha
Written byAnubhav Sinha
Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul
Produced byBhushan Kumar
Krishan Kumar
Anubhav Sinha
StarringTaapsee Pannu
Pavail Gulati
CinematographySoumik Mukherjee
Edited byYasha Ramchandani
Music bySongs:
Anurag Saikia
Background Score:
Mangesh Dhakde
Production
companies
Distributed byAA Films
Release date
  • 28 February 2020 (2020-02-28)[1]
Running time
142 minutes[2]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget24 crore[3]
Box office₹44.54 crore[4]

Thappad (transl.Slap) is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed and co-written by Anubhav Sinha, starring Taapsee Pannu. The film released theatrically on 28 February 2020. This film received positive reviews from both critics and audience.

At the 66th Filmfare Awards, Thappad received 15 nominations, including Best Director (Sinha), Best Supporting Actor (Mishra) and Best Supporting Actress (Azmi), and won a leading 7 awards, including Best Film and Best Actress (Pannu).

Plot

[edit]

Amrita Sandhu and Vikram Sabharwal are happily married. Amrita is a homemaker, looking after her husband and the house. During a party to celebrate his promotion, Vikram learns that his promotion has been compromised for his inexperienced junior, who is a relative of his boss. Angered, he gets into an argument with his superior, Rajhans. When Amrita tries to break up the argument, Vikram slaps her publicly. The incident leaves her shaken and opens her eyes to all the little unfair things she had previously ignored. She realizes that a husband who respects her wouldn't slap her. Moreover, Vikram refuses to take accountability or apologize for his actions.

Unable to "forget it and move on", as everyone advises her to do, Amrita leaves for her parents’ home and files for divorce. This shocks her family. She makes no claims for alimony; her stand is simply that Vikram has no right to hit her and that the slap made her realize she was getting neither respect nor happiness.

Things get complicated when she discovers she is pregnant. Vikram and his lawyer play dirty, making false claims against her to get sole custody of the unborn child. Hurt, Amrita decides to file a domestic violence charge unless he agrees to a divorce and joint custody of the child. Vikram settles for the divorce. Meanwhile, his boss informs him that he is getting the promotion after all.

Amrita speaks to her mother-in-law Sulakshana in the presence of both their families, explaining that on the night he slapped her, nobody in the family asked once if she was okay; they did not hold Vikram accountable, tell him he was wrong, or advise him to apologise. The only thing she was told was to endure it to keep the peace. Sulakshana apologises, acknowledging their misogyny, and says Amrita is doing the right thing.

When Amrita and Vikram meet in court to finalise their divorce, Vikram apologises to her for the first time. He says he rejected the promotion and quit his job, and will try to be someone who deserves her. The two complete their divorce and part ways with a sense of renewed hope.

Cast

[edit]
  • Taapsee Pannu as Amrita "Amu" Sabharwal (née Sandhu)
  • Pavail Gulati as Vikram Sabharwal, Amrita's husband
  • Dia Mirza as Shivani Fonseca, Amrita's friend; Vikram's neighbour
  • Maya Sarao as Advocate Netra Jaisingh
  • Geetika Vidya Ohlyan as Sunita
  • Kumud Mishra as Sachin Sandhu, Amrita's father
  • Ratna Pathak Shah as Sandhya Sandhu, Amrita's mother
  • Tanvi Azmi as Sulakshana Sabharwal, Vikram's mother
  • Ram Kapoor as Advocate Pramod Gujral, Vikram's Lawyer
  • Naila Grewal as Swati Sandhu, Karan's fiancé
  • Ankur Rathee as Karan Sandhu, Amrita's brother
  • Sushil Dahiya as Romesh Sabharwal, Vikram's father
  • Nidhi Uttam as Kavita Sabharwal, Vikram's sister-in-law
  • Siddhant Karnick as Viraj Sabharwal, Vikram's brother
  • Manav Kaul as Rohit Jaisingh, Netra's husband
  • Gracy Goswami as Sania Fonseca
  • Rohan Khurana as Priyan
  • Shantanu Ghatak as Subodh
  • Harssh A. Singh as Rajhans Jetley
  • Purnendu Bhattacharya as Thapar
  • Anil Rastogi as Justice Jaisingh, Netra's father-in-law
  • Mritunjoy Dev Nath as actor

Production

[edit]

Principal photography began on 6 September 2019 and ended on 16 October.[5] The film was shot in various places of Uttar Pradesh mainly at Shalimar Paradise, Barabanki and other locations in Lucknow.

Promotion and release

[edit]

The film was initially set for release on 6 March 2020, but was moved a week earlier to 28 February 2020 in order to avoid clashing with Baaghi 3, a big commercial release.[6]

On 11 February, a second trailer[7] was released which showed Pannu breaking the fourth wall and asking viewers to report the video so that it gets blocked on YouTube.[8]

Reception

[edit]

Critical response

[edit]

Praise about the film was focused on its social message, screenplay, direction and performances, but was criticized for its pacing.[9][10] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 16 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10.[11]

Box office

[edit]

Thappad earned 2.76 crore net at the domestic box office on the first day. On the second day, the film collected ₹5.05 crore. On the third day, the film collected ₹5.76 crore taking total opening weekend collection to ₹13.57 crore.[4]

As of 19 March 2020, with a gross of 36.44 crore in India and 8.10 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of 44.54 crore.[4]

Accolades

[edit]
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
AACTA Awards 30 November 2020 Best Asian Film Anubhav Sinha, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar Nominated [12]
Asian Film Awards 28 October 2020 Best Film Thappad Nominated [13]
Best Editing Yasha Ramchandani Nominated
International Indian Film Academy Awards 4 June 2022 Best Film Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Anubhav Sinha Nominated [14]
Best Director Anubhav Sinha Nominated
Best Actress Taapsee Pannu Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Kumud Mishra Nominated
Filmfare Awards 11 April 2021 Best Film Anubhav Sinha, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar Won [15]
Best Film (Critics) Anubhav Sinha Nominated
Best Director Nominated
Best Story Anubhav Sinha and Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul Won
Best Screenplay Nominated
Best Actress Taapsee Pannu Won
Best Actress (Critics) Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Kumud Mishra Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Tanvi Azmi Nominated
Best Lyricist Shakeel Azmi for "Ek Tukda Dhoop" Nominated
Best Male Playback Singer Raghav Chaitanya for "Ek Tukda Dhoop" Won
Best Editing Yasha Ramchandani Won
Best Background Score Mangesh Dhakde Won
Best Cinematography Soumik Mukherjee Nominated
Best Sound Design Kaamod Kharade Won

Soundtrack

[edit]
Thappad
Soundtrack album by
Released29 February 2020[16]
Recorded2019
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length14:14
LanguageHindi
LabelT-Series
External audio
audio icon Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The film's songs are composed by Anurag Saikia and lyrics written by Shakeel Azmi and Sanah Moidutty. Additional verses of the song 'Ek Tukda Dhoop' appear only in the movie and these are not officially released in any of the digital platforms.

The song Hayo Rabba is the recreation of Pakistani folk singer Reshma's old song Hai O Rabba Nahion Lagda Dil Mera.

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Ek Tukda Dhoop"Raghav Chaitanya5:25
2."Dancing In The Sun"Sharvi Yadav3:49
3."Hayo Rabba"Suvarna Tiwari5:02
Total length:14:14

Home media

[edit]

The film was made available to stream on OTT platform Amazon Prime Video on 1 May 2020.[citation needed]

Impact

[edit]

Followіng the fіlm's release, Rajasthan Police shared a poster of the film with the helpline number to report domestic violence.[17]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Taapsee Pannu's Thappad gets new release date. Anubhav Sinha says, no one told me". India Today. 16 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Thappad (2020)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Thappad – Movie". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Thappad Box Office". Bollywood Hungama. 28 February 2020. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Taapsee Pannu Tweets New Film Thappad's Release Date; Director Anubhav Sinha Says 'No One Told Me'". NDTV. 16 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  6. ^ "Taapsee Pannu's Thappad to release on Feb, director Anubhav Sinha complains 'no one told me'". Hindustan Times. 16 December 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Thappad Official Trailer 2". JioCinema. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  8. ^ "Thappad trailer 2: Taapsee Pannu wants you to get her own trailer banned from YouTube, gives directions". Hindustan Times. 11 February 2020. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Thappad Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. 27 February 2020. Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  10. ^ Dua, Deepak (27 February 2020). "रिव्यू-मर्दानगी पर पड़ा 'थप्पड़'". Cine-yatra. Retrieved 2 March 2020.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Thappad". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 1 March 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  12. ^ "Winners & Nominees". Aacta.org. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  13. ^ "The 14th Asian Film Awards Nominations Announced". afa-academy.com. 8 September 2020. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  14. ^ "IIFA 2022 Nominations: Shershaah takes the lead with 12 Nominations, Ludo and 83 emerge as strong contenders; check out the complete list". 1 April 2022. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  15. ^ "66th Vimal Elaichi Filmfare Awards 2021: Check out the complete list of nominees". The Times of India. timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 25 March 2021. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Thappad - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jio Saavn. 28 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  17. ^ "घरेलू हिंसा पर राजस्थान पुलिस का ट्वीट- एक थप्पड़, पर नहीं मार सकता". Aaj Tak. 5 March 2020. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
[edit]