Thappad

Thappad (transl. Slap) is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Anubhav Sinha, which he also co-produced with Bhushan Kumar of T-Series. The film, starring Taapsee Pannu, was released in theatres on 28 February 2020.[1] The film received highly positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Pannu's performance, and was just able to recover the cost of making film at the box office.

Thappad
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anubhav Sinha
Produced by	Bhushan Kumar Krishan Kumar Anubhav Sinha
Written by	Anubhav Sinha Mrunmayee Lagoo
Starring	Taapsee Pannu
Music by	Songs: Anurag Saikia Score: Mangesh Dhakde
Cinematography	Soumik Mukherjee
Edited by	Yasha Ramchandani
Production company	Benaras Media Works T-Series
Distributed by	AA Films
Release date	28 February 2020 (2020-02-28)[1]
Running time	142 minutes[2]
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	est. ₹24 crore[3]
Box office	est. ₹43.77 crore[4]

Plot

Amrita Sabharwal and Vikram have been happily married for several years. Amrita is a sparkling woman and a homemaker, who is shown to spend her days looking after Vikram and the house. They throw a party at home to celebrate Vikram's promotion that would have them relocate to London. At the party however, Vikram gets a call informing him that his promotion contract has been compromised for his junior. Angered, he gets into an argument with his superior whom he accuses of two timing him. When Amrita tries to break up the argument, Vikram slaps her in front of everyone. The incident leaves her shaken; she starts to realize all the little unfair things that she had previously ignored and admits to herself that Vikram slapping her isn't what a husband who respects her would do. Moreover, Vikram refuses to take accountability for his actions, stating that he was upset, she got in the way, and things like that happen sometikes (which is wrong).

Unable to "forget it and move on", as everyone advises her to, Amrita leaves for her parent’s home and stays there, leading to an argument between her and Vikram, as he thinks she's overreacting. He sends her a legal document to legally force her to return home. When she refuses, her lawyer explains to her that her options are to either reconcile, file for legal separation or get a divorce. She files for divorce, shocking her family and relatives, who also believe she should get over it. Amrita doesn't make any claims for alimony nor does she file a domestic violence charge; her stand is simply that Vikram has no right to hit her, not even once. She explains that she only asks for respect and happiness and the slap opened her eyes to the fact that she wasn't getting either. To make things more complicated, she discovers she is pregnant. Vikram and his lawyer play dirty when he finds out that she is pregnant. They make false claims against her mental stability, honesty and file frivolous charges against Amrita to try and intimidate her and get sole custody of the unborn child. Hurt, Amrita decides to file for the domestic violence charge against Vikram unless he agrees to a mutual consent divorce and joint custody of their expected child.

Vikram and his lawyer agree to the terms presented by Amrita and settle for a mutual consent divorce. Meanwhile Vikram's superior informs him that the board changed their mind and Vikram got the promotion. While congratulating him personally, he mentions that he heard about the divorce and calmly tells him that what happened on the night of the party was Vikram's fault. He talks about how even though Vikram was arguing with him, he did not slap him even once but raised a hand on Amrita who was just trying to help him.

Later at a family ceremony to bless her pregnancy, Amrita speaks to her mother-in-law in front of all the members of both families, explaining that she was hurt that on the night that he slapped her, nobody in the family came to see her or asked even once if she was okay; they did not even chastise Vikram, tell him he was wrong, or advise him to apologise. They simply told her to tolerate it to keep the peace. She mentions that she had lost her sense of identity over the years while trying hard to keep Vikram and everyone else happy. Her mother-in-law apologises for the family's mistakes, acknowledging their ingrained misogyny (prejudice against women), and tells Amrita that she is doing the right thing by taking a stand for herself. Vikram realises he is in the wrong.

Throughout the movie, Amrita's journey is intertwined with that of two other women, her lawyer and her maid, who realize that they have been wronged by their husbands as well. Her actions help them find the strength to confront those problems and find solutions. The movie also shows snippets of the life of Amrita's neighbour who is a single working mother to a young girl who regularly practices dancing with Amrita.

In the end when Amrita and Vikram meet to finalize the divorce, he apologises to her properly and tells her that he rejected the promotion and quit his job. He wonders out loud why he ever thought that he had a right to hit her or disrespect her in any way. He explains that he will start again from scratch and will try to be someone who deserves her. They complete the formalities and part ways with a sense of renewed hope.

Cast

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

Production

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

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 31 January, an official trailer of the film was released by T-Series.[7][8] On 11 February, a second trailer was released which showed Pannu breaking the fourth wall and asking viewers to report the video so that it gets blocked on YouTube.[9]

Reception

Critical response

The film received generally positive reviews from critics,[10] with praise towards its social message, screenplay, direction and performances, but criticism for the film's pace.[11][12]

Box office

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 ₹35.13 crore in India and ₹8.64 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of ₹43.77 crore.[4]

Soundtrack

Thappad
Soundtrack album by Anurag Saikia
Released	29 February 2020[13]
Recorded	2019
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	14:14
Language	Hindi
Label	T-Series
External audio 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.

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ek Tukda Dhoop"	Raghav Chaitanya	5:25
2.	"Dancing In The Sun"	Sharvi Yadav	3:49
3.	"Hayo Rabba"	Suvarna Tiwari	5:02
4.	"Morni Banke"
10.	Untitled		3:18
Total length:			14:14

Home Media

The film was made available to stream on OTT platform Prime Video on 1 May 2020.[14]

Impact

Followіng the fіlm's release, Rajasthan Police shared a poster of the film with the helpline number to report domestic violence.[15][16][17]

References

1. "Taapsee Pannu's Thappad gets new release date. Anubhav Sinha says, no one told me". India Today. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
2. "Thappad (2020)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
3. "Thappad Box Office Collection Day 5". Amar Ujala. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
4. "Thappad Box Office". Bollywood Hungama. 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. 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. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
7. T-Series (31 January 2020). "Thappad TRAILER: Taapsee Pannu - Anubhav Sinha - Bhushan Kumar - Releasing 28 February 2020". Retrieved 31 January 2020 – via YouTube.
8. "Taapsee Pannu, Anubhav Sinha's film is a resounding slap in Kabir Singh's face". Hindustan Times. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
9. "Thappad trailer 2: Taapsee Pannu wants you to get her own trailer banned from YouTube, gives directions". Hindustan Times. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
10. "Thappad Movie Review: All Critics' Review Round-up". 1Films. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
11. "Thappad Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
12. Dua, Deepak (27 February 2020). "रिव्यू-मर्दानगी पर पड़ा 'थप्पड़'". Cine-yatra. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
13. "Thappad - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jio Saavn.
14. "'Thappad' To Premiere On Amazon Prime Video On May 1, Announces Taapsee Pannu". RepublicWorld. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
15. "Inspired by 'Thappad', Rajasthan Police share helpline number to report domestic violence". Republic World. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
16. "Thappad: Rajasthan police takes inspiration from Taapsee Pannu starrer and starts a helpline for women". Pinkvilla. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
17. "घरेलू हिंसा पर राजस्थान पुलिस का ट्वीट- एक थप्पड़, पर नहीं मार सकता". Aaj Tak. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.

External links

• Thappad on IMDb
• Thappad on Bollywood Hungama