Netflix has unveiled the trailer for Thar, a new Indian neo-Western thriller set to debut on the service on May 6. Starring father-son duo Anil Kapoor and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, Thar is an 80s-set revenge thriller about a city-bred antiques dealer who arrives in a desert village amid a series of violent murders.
The younger Kapoor plays Siddharth, a man of few words who finds himself in the thick of the mysterious events unfolding before his eyes in the remote village. Named after the vast desert, Thar is set in the state of Rajasthan, mere miles from the India-Pakistan border. We see sweeping shots of the desolate landscape, littered with dead animals and simmering with an intense sense of foreboding.
The elder Kapoor stars as the cop Surekha Singh, who initiates an investigation into the killings. This is the actor duo’s second collaboration, after last year’s Netflix film AK vs AK. The mockumentary featured both Kapoors as exaggerated versions of themselves, caught in a kidnapping plot orchestrated by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Kashyap, incidentally, has contributed to Thar’s script.
This is Harsh Varrdhan’s third Netflix project in a row, after AK vs AK, and a segment in the anthology film Ray. His father is among the most respected actors in the Hindi film industry. To international audiences, he is perhaps best known for playing the scheming game show host in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, his supporting turn in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and for playing the president of a fictional country in the TV drama 24.
Thar appears to honor the tradition of Western classics such as Pale Rider and High Planes Drifter, with shades of neo-Westerns such as Red Rock West and Hell or High Water. Incidentally, India also contributed significantly to the genre some decades ago, with a series of “Curry Westerns,” the best examples of which remain Sholay and Bandit Queen. Thar has more of a man-without-a-name vibe, though.
Co-starring Fatima Sana Shaikh and Satish Kaushik, Thar is slated for release on May 6. You can watch the trailer here:
Her’s the official synopsis for Thar:
Directed by Raj Singh Chaudhary, Thar features Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Satish Kaushik and Anil Kapoor in lead roles. The film follows Siddharth, an antique dealer’s journey through a remote village in Rajasthan that has recently been rocked by a series of violent killings. As the local cop Surekha Singh investigates these killings he crosses paths with Siddharth… will that encounter be the only one? We shall soon find out!
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