Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins

A Heist Without Thrills

Netflix's Jewel Thief promises an exciting cat-and-mouse chase between a slick thief and a ruthless crime lord, but delivers little more than a checklist of tired heist movie tropes. Despite a talented cast led by Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat, the film struggles to generate real tension or surprise, settling instead for a by-the-numbers execution.

The pacing moves quickly, but without clever twists or gripping stakes, the elaborate heists and chases feel hollow. Even the emotional beats land with a thud, failing to make us care about the characters' fates. While Ahlawat brings some menace to his role, Khan seems disengaged, and the supporting cast is given little to work with.

By the end, Jewel Thief feels less like a clever caper and more like a forgettable rehash. If you're craving a smart, stylish heist film, you might want to look elsewhere.

Verdict: A bland, uninspired thriller that steals your time but leaves no impression.

How can someone write such lame script , outdated storyline rotten hero/heroine drama and create such hype !

I was excited to watch, then I slept before climax. I just finished watching it next morning. Good that I didn't sacrifice my sleep.

It wasn't expected from veteran actors to choose such script. It fails to engage audience.

TBH set was classic international if same would've been with execution and script it would have been exceptional movie.

Watch it if you have time to waste. Ah it says minimum required char should be 67 so I am gonna write till char gets exempted. Ah it goes on !!

The premise? As basic as it gets. A heist. A villain. A hero who conveniently knows everything in advance. It promises thrill, tension, and clever twists but delivers none.

Visually, the film tries hard to look slick, but the cinematography is painfully average. Several shots feel purposeless, transitions jarring, and key scenes lack any visual tension. There's a strange mismatch between the high-stakes setting and the dull, uninspired camera work.

The plot itself feels like a second-hand copy of every generic Hollywood heist movie ever made. You've seen it before, just with more gloss and less soul. There's zero originality in the scripting. It almost feels like someone binge-watched Now You See Me, Red Notice, and The Italian Job and mashed up the weakest parts.

And then, of course, comes the obligatory love angle. Because god forbid Bollywood lets the hero focus on, well, anything else. The romantic subplot is so forced, it feels like it was written just to pad the runtime or tick a checkbox.

Saif Ali Khan, despite trying to bring back his smooth-talking conman energy from Race and Race 2, ends up trapped in a half-baked script. It's a shadow of Abbas-Mastan's stylish chaos, but without any of the fun or flair. The attempt to inject Agent Vinod-style humor with comic punchlines falls flat every single time. It neither lands the laughs nor builds character charm.

In short, Jewel Thief is a hollow, stylized mess that mistakes costume changes and slo-mo shots for cleverness. Skip it. You're better off rewatching Race 1 with popcorn and nostalgia.

I had high hopes going into Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins. With a cast like Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat, I expected a gripping, stylish thriller. What I got instead was a painfully slow, painfully predictable, and painfully hollow film that couldn't hold my attention beyond the first half hour.

Midway through, I actually fell asleep. And not in the metaphorical "this is boring" way-I mean I genuinely nodded off. That's how low-energy and uninspired the film felt. The twists are obvious, the writing is lazy, and the pacing drags like it's in denial about being a thriller.

I'm just relieved this was an OTT release-because if I'd watched this in a theatre, I would've absolutely asked for my money (and two hours) back.

Skip it. Rewatch Special 26 or Ocean's Eleven instead. At least those knew what they were doing.

Why Netflix ? Why Saif? Why Jaideep? None of you had anything better to do than this?

Why me? Why did I not have anything better to do than watch this. Poor acting, horrible direction, garbage editing and starved audience = A typical Netflix Hindi Movie.

Saif must have been blackmailed into doing this, can't believe he did not find anything better. Just makes you wonder what's happened to Hindi cinema, such mediocrity, even the good actors seem to get trapped within this web of inaptitude. I actually think I can do a better job making a movie than this. My 4th grade acting experience should be enough.

BTW Who names their boat "Allegra" :o.