‘Sikandar Ka Muqaddar’ movie review: Jimmy Shergill is the target in this ho-hum heist film

A broad daylight robbery at a grand jewelery exhibition is averted at the last minute due to a timely call from a distressed citizen. But in the ensuing scuffle and police exercise, five Red Solitaires worth crores of rupees go missing.

Jaswinder Singh (Jimmy Shergill), a hardened police officer with an impeccable record in solving such cases, is called in. Guided by intuition, Jaswinder takes the three men into custody. These include senior executive Mangesh Desai (Rajeev Mehta), salesman Kamini Singh (Tamanna Bhatia), and AV operator Sikandar Sharma (Avinash Tiwari). Jaswinder thinks that Sikandar is the mastermind, but despite using all the tricks, he could not gather any concrete evidence against him. Out on bail, Sikandar is in fear for the rest of his life due to the social stigma arising from the FIR and media reports. Support comes from Kamini, a single mother. The two start a new life but Jaswinder refuses to give up the case that has ruined his career, reputation and family life.

Recently, Pandey has become fond of melodramas where the hero suffers pain due to a strange twist of fate. They turned it into a romantic drama where did the others have the courage And here he has incorporated the same emotions in a thriller with varying returns. What could have been an interesting study of how both cat and mouse suffer socially and psychologically while outsmarting each other ends up being a superficial exercise far beyond its potential.

After a brief absence, Jimmy returns to form with a solid performance that lights up the screen. Given a proper character arc and plenty of punchy dialogues, he makes us feel the plight of a police officer driven by instinct and causes us to hold on to the remote. Avinash is skilled, but a little too cool and matter-of-fact for the part, which leads Tamanna to be a little over the top in a rare de-glam appearance.

Jimmy Shergill as Jaswinder Singh, Avinash Tiwari as Sikandar in ‘Sikander Ka Mukkadar’. Photo Credit: Chandan Kachhawa/Netflix

Since red earrings are in short supply, it is not difficult to guess who has committed the robbery. The hook is the ‘how’ part but the way the film sacrifices thrill for drama, the narrative slowly loses its flavor. From Agra to Abu Dhabi, when the writers (Pandey and Vipul Rawal) start taking generous leaps of fate, they lose grip on the cat and mouse game. The hastily constructed climax ultimately leaves one with the feeling of watching one of those episodes of a crime show where the crime is compelling but its dramatization is ho-hum.

Pandey finally captures that sentiment when Jaswinder’s divorced wife, played by Divya Dutta, watches from a distance, tells her estranged husband that she always trusted his instincts but he failed to prove her point. Ruined a lot of lives.

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar is currently streaming on Netflix