Zinda

Sushant Singh Rajput's final film is a muddled mess that squanders a genuinely intriguing premise about an underground prison for hire. The core concept—a man imprisoned for 15 years for the trivial crime of talking too much—could've been darkly satirical or psychologically intense, but instead director Nikhil Gowda transforms it into a generic revenge thriller that never commits to any singular vision. The pacing is glacial, the plot contrivances feel forced (a mysteriously helpful hooded stranger? really?), and the Bangkok setting becomes just another exotic backdrop rather than a character itself. Rajput gives what he can with the material, but his performance feels restrained, almost defeated—perhaps sensing the script beneath him wasn't worthy of his considerable talent.

The film's technical execution is equally frustrating. Action sequences feel choreographed in slow motion, dialogue often plays as expository dumps, and the supposed twist about his daughter being alive lands with zero emotional weight because we've never invested in her character. What infuriates me most is that buried somewhere in this bloated runtime is a potentially gripping story about systemic corruption and the commodification of human suffering—but Gowda treats it like a video game fetch quest where Rajput just moves from one location to another collecting clues. The supporting cast is underutilized, the romance with the taxi driver Jenny feels obligatory, and that hooded savior subplot gets res