Sikandar Ka Muqaddar review: A lackluster diamond heist that's neither mysterious nor exciting

Neeraj Panday’s Sikandar ka Maqaddar is a head scratcher for all the wrong reasons. Here’s why!

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar review: 2024 has truly not been the year for Bollywood. Each Friday when a new film is released, be it on OTT or on the big screens, only a few have hit the mark. But be rest assured that Neeraj Panday’s Sikandar Ka Muqaddar is not one of them! This film starts as a potentially interesting heist and it almost makes you hopeful about Netflix India finally getting this one right but soon after it feels like you spoke too soon; this one feels like a poorly done stage production.

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar begins with a really big diamond exhibition being held with a lot of security from the police. Out of nowhere they get a call saying there’s going to be a heist soon and there actually is one. With guns and all that jazz. And it's over before it even begins. But not everyone knows that the first heist was actually a distraction for the actual heist, and diamonds are stolen indeed. Here’s when the best from the detection squad, Jaswinder Singh (Jimmy Shergill) comes into the picture. His way of catching a criminal is more amusing than fascinating. It’s all based on his ‘moolvriti’ (instincts). He catches criminals simply through his gut feeling. Even in the fictional world that’s a bit too much, IMO!

Anyway, his moolvriti tells him that there are three suspects here. First is Mangesh Desai (Rajeev Mehta) a gem trader, Kamini Singh (Tamannaah Bhatia), a single mom who works alongside Rajeev, and Sikandar Sharma (Avinash Tiwary) a neighbourhood IT guy. Jaswinder is convinced one of these three have the diamonds. But no matter how much he tried, he could never gather any evidence against them, especially Sikandar, who is his main suspect. 15 years go by and the top cop isn’t able to crack this case. 15 years down the line you also see how it has affected Jaswinder’s life. He loses his sanity, his marriage, his job, all of it behind this case. The three suspects on the other hand are free to go as the case is closed after a lot of back and forth of court trials. 

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Years later, Jaswinder calls Sikandar to accept defeat and to hear his apology in person. That’s when the two men meet again and ‘who’s smarter than the other’ competition begins for no reason at all. There’s flashbacks within flashbacks and none of it feels genuine. It’s one thing to make a film where nothing makes sense at all, it’s entirely another to think that your audience is dumb enough to just accept whatever you show them. For starters, in the beginning of the film, we see cops undercover pretending to be a rich couple who fully forget to take out their huge earpieces. When the heist is taking place, Sikandar is conveniently escorting the police to the refuge area, like shouldn’t it be the other way around? Everyone has happily left him alone for him to do the deed. Also, you gotta be really jobless to fly all the way from Abu Dhabi just to hear an apology in person. You think Sikandar might be innocent and there’s some plot twist at the end but no, things are exactly how you predicted it to be. It’s funny how every character feels they’re revealing something big but it’s actually the most obvious thing ever. 

Apart from doing heists on the side, Sikander is also a womanizer. He has his girlfriend Priya from the pre heist era, he marries Kamini while dealing with the court trials and then there's another girlfriend, Tabassum who he meets in Abu Dhabi. These women are so mesmerized by him that they’re ready to help him at the drop of a hat, no questions asked. You want me to hide the diamonds? Done! You want me to lie to the cop? Sure! You want me to wait for you in Switzerland? Of course! It’s all a bit too convenient. Let's not even get into the melodrama; one minute Kamini is ready to serve him dinner and the next, she bursts into tears and refuses to let him go. This film felt more like an Ekta Kapoor soap opera! 

And I haven't even gotten to the worst part of this film. After a runtime of two and a half hours, this film doesn't even have a climax! Yes! There’s no end to this film after two full fake endings! First being Sikandar finally recovering his diamonds and ‘The End ... .Oops’ pops up on my screen as if I am watching a cartoon. And then the last 15 minutes that played like an unnecessary epilogue we didn’t need! The second being ‘Oops…The End’ after Sikandar tells Jaswinder that he has a proposal for him. What’s the proposal? Did he really get arrested? Is there more to this heist? Who knows! It’s ironic that Sikandar Ka Muqaddar comes from the same platform that produced the iconic Money Heist. If you watch this one, I'd love to collectively make sense of this non-thrilling thriller.

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar is currently streaming on Netflix!

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