Netflix’s Jewel Thief, starring Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat, arrives with style and ambition, but the result is a glossy thriller weighed down by its own seriousness. Directed by Kookie Gulati and Robbie Grewal, the film aims for high-stakes drama but ends up lacking the spark and swagger that once defined Bollywood’s best crime capers.
There was a time when Bollywood made heists fun — think Don, Bunty Aur Babli, or the Dhoom trilogy (well, maybe two of them). Even Netflix’s recent Dhoom Dhaam offered a modern take on the genre with some success. In contrast, Jewel Thief is a somber, overly stylized affair that forgets to have fun.
To its credit, the film doesn’t pretend to be a lighthearted caper. But in choosing a brooding, hyper-serious tone, it leaves behind much of what made earlier entries in the genre memorable. Producer Siddharth Anand, fresh off theatrical blockbusters like Pathaan, War, and Tiger, seems to be chasing a similar formula. However, without the big-screen magic or the larger-than-life leads those films boasted, Jewel Thief struggles to rise above mediocrity.
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