By Do you remember Dev Anand smashing it in his classic thriller, ‘Jewel Thief’? With daredevil robberies, doppelgangers, mistaken identity, a slew of femme fatales in Vyjayanthimala, Helen, Faryal, Anju Mahendru, and Tanuja, topped with a twist that holds as amazing as it did more than 50 years back—this was the essential popcorn suspense thriller. While filmmaker Vijay Anand took some narrative techniques from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ and incorporated slick Hollywood technical advancements in the production, he retained the essential Bollywood mainstream elements in the story. And of course, the movie also served us classics that give us goosebumps till this day in “Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara,” “Raat Akeli Hai, Bujh Gaye Diye,” and “Hothon Mein Aisi Baat Main Dabaake Chali Aayi,” which established the trend of climax songs in Hindi cinema. How perfectly were these songs used as plot devices in a thriller!
Cut to 2025: We have a namesake in ‘Jewel Thief – The Heist Begins,’ starring Saif Ali Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Kunal Kapoor, and Nikita Dutta, directed by Robbie Grewal and Kookie V Gulati. In one scene, Saif Ali Khan’s character checks into a motel as ‘Vijay Anand’ (the maverick director brother of Dev Anand who helmed the aforesaid 1967 thriller) and wears a peaked cap like Dev in a sequence. This is the only ode or resemblance that the two have in common, after which it is a downhill slope and a disappointment to the title itself. More on this later.
So we have the amazing Jaideep Ahlawat playing Rajan Aulakh, a merciless ex-underworld don who, to the world, is a renowned art collector. Let us tell you that he happens to be the only redeeming factor in the film, in a never-seen-before avatar, with that menacing stare through those glossy contact lenses. Albeit, he is underutilized throughout. Meanwhile, Saif’s Rehan Roy is a suave, brandish thief (reminiscent of his brilliant ‘Race’ days) on a mission to save his ailing doctor father (played by veteran Kulbhushan Kharbanda) from the hands of Aulakh. Rehan takes up the task of stealing the priceless African diamond ‘Red Sun’ for Aulakh to save his family.
Aulakh is married to Nikita Dutta’s Farah, the quintessential damsel-in-distress, assaulted by him every now and then; she only comes into the plot whenever and however convenient. She also plays a love interest to Rehan, who might be her knight in shining armor. On the other hand, Vikram Patel, played by Kunal Kapoor, is a brainy detective who has been forever chasing Rehan, determined to catch him red-handed. He reminds you of Dhoom’s Abhishek Bachchan, who pretends to let the thief rob the place because he wants to catch him right in the midst of the robbery. Vikram solves each of the puzzles laid out in front of him, just not soon enough to prevent Rehan from actually making the robbery. He is also joined by two intelligence officers who, ironically, are anything but intelligent and are supposedly used as comic relief, reciting some of the poorest jokes out there.
It’s a thrilling world of lustrous red diamonds, wicked mafia dons, and exciting museum heists, high on production value and headlined by an interesting lineup of talent—a masterstroke in theory. But Jewel Thief would easily find its way among the worst Hindi movies of 2025 so far!
We are talking about shoddy editing, zany camera movements, bad lighting, VFX, and a plot that makes as little sense as possible. It’s almost like the makers only aspired to pass this innovation of a movie as a “good one-time entertainer.” There’s hardly any redeeming factor. Do you think I am exaggerating? We actually have a thief/hijacker who uses Google Maps mid-air to guide the pilot as to where he wants to land the flight in Istanbul. While the movie is hard enough to comprehend, they even make the viewing experience difficult to endure with flashy neon and fluorescents splashed across the screen every third shot. All this is substantiated by major logical holes and stupid plot armor with backstories left unexplored. And what is up with the second villain, ‘Moosa,’ in the movie?! I’ll say no more, find out for yourself—it’s weird to watch and indescribable, really.
And let’s not even talk about the dialogues. Corny and cringeworthy. Dialogues like “Churayenge red sun in the Gagan,” “2 saal se aap log mera peecha kar rahe ho…Passport bhi bol raha hoga ab tak thoda toh aaram karne de,” and “Cake katega toh dono mein batega woh bhi barabar” do not amuse the audience anymore!
Astoundingly banal and predictable, the movie is replete with surprises that you can see coming even before they’re introduced. Going by the title, the film might be followed up with a sequel, but one wonders, do we really need that?
‘Jewel Thief – The Heist Begins’ is streaming on Netflix.