Sikandar Ka Muqaddar Review: A Heist of Time, Not Entertainment
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Ah, a heist movie, where the suspense is over who the real thief is. There are only three suspects, so the list is narrow, and the real question is “how did they pull it off?”—the “who” is pretty secondary. Unfortunately, the 2024 Sikander Ka Muqaddar is such a slow-burn, sleep-inducing movie that if I had known beforehand how inconsequential most of the middle half was going to be, I would’ve just skipped to the end to find out the “who” and “how.” The “who” was always predictable, but the “how” is even more disappointing. At least the makers manage to keep viewers interested in finding out the truth until the very end, so points for that.
Directed by Neeraj K Pandey, who co-wrote the story with Vipul K. Rawal, Sikander Ka Muqaddar stars Avinash Tiwary (Madgaon Express/Khakee: The Bihar Chapter) as Sikander, the primary suspect in a diamond heist, while Jimmy Shergill plays Jaswinder, the tough cop hellbent on cracking the case. The only two other suspects in the theft are Kamini Singh (Tamannah Bhatia) and Mangesh Desai (Rajeev Mehta), two colleagues who were in charge of the stall where the gems went missing at a jewelry expo.
Sikander Ka Muqaddar begins on an interesting note: the cops are alerted about a heist attempt by armed gunmen, and even though the gunmen are quickly neutralized, gems worth crores go missing from a stall. Instead of diving straight into the suspects and investigation, the story skips 15 years into the future, where star investigator Jaswinder is now a washed-up, drunk officer on the verge of being fired, while Sikander, the primary suspect, appears to be living a cushy life in Abu Dhabi. Flitting between the past and present, the movie explores the hardships faced by Sikander, Mangesh, and Kamini, the three suspects. However, the maximum spotlight is on Avinash Tiwary and Tamannah Bhatia’s characters, making it clear that either one of them is the thief—or perhaps a surprise ending will introduce an unexpected twist to the plot.
Jimmy Shergill as the obstinate cop determined to catch his thief (very similar to his cop character in Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba) is the only interesting personality in the story. And for a movie with a 2-hour 22-minute runtime, Sikander Ka Muqaddar is quite the drag, focusing heavily on Sikander’s domestic life and the many obstacles he faces due to the taint of being the primary accused in a major case. A minor romantic subplot between Sikander and Kamini lacks spark, with negligible onscreen chemistry. Like most of the film, everything feels rather “constructed.” Maybe this would’ve been a lot more entertaining if it had come out in the 1990s, when viewers weren’t spoiled for choice with endless options on TV. But for a 2024 release, this film was quite the downer.
It did lead to an exciting climax, and for a moment, I thought, “Oh, maybe this is going to be satisfying after all!” However, the creators chose to close the story with an open-ended cliffhanger and a cheeky text on screen that reads: “Oops! The End.”
Oh well… Oops! Don’t think viewers will find that as amusing as the makers intended it to be.
Rating: 5/10. Watch the film on Netflix.
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