Explained: Decoding the genre of heist in Hindi Cinema, the beginning, success, and even staleness

Heist is one of the most used and abused genre of Hindi Cinema. It’s hard to tell if Vijay Anand’s ageless classic Jewel Thief, starring the always charismatic Dev Anand, can be slotted into this genre or not. The climax is regarded one of the best in history.

The Beginning of the Genre

Google says Vipul Shah’s Aankhen in 2002 is the first heist film of Hindi cinema. It involves a schizophrenic, jilted former employee who plans the perfect bank robbery with the help of three blind men and a helpless pawn. Based on a Gujarati play, Aankhen was audacious and over the top in equal measure. It did well in what was one of the most disappointing years for the industry, second to 2022, or 2017 maybe.

Hindi films have repeatedly failed to extract the juiciness of the premise and the genre, content in its ensemble and the stubbornness of staying a step ahead of the audiences. There are exceptions, of course. There’s Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante, which kept the mood and the tone of the original (Reservoir Dogs) intact. And style too. Neeraj Pandey’s Special 26, a decade later, followed suit, seeking inspiration from a delightfully shocking real-life heist.

There have been turds too. There’s Happy New Year, there’s Cash, there’s Players, there’s Baadshaho. All have one thing in common- An ensemble, followed by one erratic twist after another.

Heist in Hollywood

With the Ocean’s Franchise, the West showed they have far superior writers, stories, and lesser insecure stars. Then there’s Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, which found an inspiration in Phir Hera Pheri (2006). Not to say they have aced the genre, the Fast and Furious franchise is a mixed bag, but their relentless pursuit to deliver unabashed entertainment, both gripping and guilty, makes up for their lack of coherence or even logic.

The Future

Kuttey seems to be a heist film with a solid cast of veterans and actors hungry to perform. Will this be a film that does justice to this genre? It’s indeed about entertainment, but planning and pulling off a heist requires logic, ironically the very factor Bollywood dumps while making heist films.

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