Thar

Movie review by Brian Costello, Common Sense Media
Thar Movie Poster

Common Sense says

age 17+

Grisly violence, strong language in dark Indian action tale.

NR 2022 108 minutes
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age 3+

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  • Thar Movie: Scene One
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Thar is a 2022 Indian action drama in which an archaeologist comes to a village, kidnaps three men, and brutally tortures them, and a local police officer must find out why. The torture scenes are as violent as any slasher movie. Characters are chained to walls while beaten, their fingers cut off, an ear cut off, feet nailed to the floor. There's blood and graphic injury. A man is set on fire and killed. A woman is attacked by men -- one of whom rapes her. Characters are shot and killed. Vehicle chases are part of the action. A young boy falls off of a cliff and dies. A cop tells two teens to commit suicide together. Strong language throughout includes "f--k," "motherf----r," and "c--t." Characters are shown having sex (no nudity) and there's some innuendo. A lot of cigarette smoking occurs and there's talk of drug smuggling (opium).

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What's the Story?

In THAR, the year is 1985, and Inspector Singh (Anil Kapoor) tries to uphold the law in a village near the Pakistani border. Beset by robbers in the countryside and drug smuggling, the citizens of the village are starting to lose faith in Singh's ability to keep the peace. While Singh and his fellow officers try to investigate and stop the violence, an antique dealer named Siddharth (Harshvardhan Kapoor) arrives in the village, looking for three men to help him excavate artifacts in the desert outside of town. Flush with cash, he hires the boorish Panna, a man who is abusive toward his wife and seems to be making a living through shady business transactions. Seduced by the money, Panna readily agrees to help Siddharth, and is soon followed by his two friends. Little do they know that Siddharth has other ideas in mind. It's not long before all three are chained up as Siddharth brutally tortures them. Now Singh must find out what happened to these missing men and how their disappearance connects to the crime wave that's wreaking so much violence in the area.

Is It Any Good?

In this grisly Indian take on Western revenge movies, the graphic violence overwhelms the story. Thar is a revenge story, but it takes too long to get to that payoff. Much of the movie involves the kinds of graphic torture reserved for slasher movies. The setting -- the Thar Desert in northwestern India -- is the perfect place for a Western like this, and while there's some effective use of this emptiness and its close proximity to the Pakistan border, the graphic violence overwhelms it all.

Once the movie comes together into a cohesive story, once we're past most of the scenes of nailed feet, sliced-off pinkie fingers, and much worse, it all starts to make sense, but it sure takes a long time to get there. It's no fault of the actors, who turn in convincing performances, but what keeps this movie from being better is the feeling that it's being told in reverse for no good reason. While the end is mostly satisfying, it doesn't quite overcome the feeling that the movie is filled with excessive torture scenes that will be what viewers are most likely to remember in the days after watching this.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Thar is an Indian movie. How is it similar to and different from other Indian movies you've seen?

  • How much of the graphic violence was necessary to the story? Did it seem excessive? Why, or why not?

  • This movie is an Indian take on Western movies, centered on characters seeking revenge. How is this similar to Westerns you've seen?

Movie Details

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