Thappa is a Punjabi horror comedy film released on Zee5 on 29 July 2022. The film is co-written by director Gurlove Singh Ratol and Parvinder Singh. Produced by Ramandeep Kaur, it is made under the banner of Seerat Media Productions. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 58 minutes.
The cast of the film includes Sanam Bariar as Harjit Singh, Jashn Agnihotri as Nimrat Kaur and Seema Kaushal as Jeeti/Bhoot Bibi in the lead role with Parvinder Singh, Ritesh Sharma and many others in supporting roles. The story revolves around a journalist named Harjit Singh who wants to make a name and win his love at the same time.
The synopsis of the film reads:
In this ZEE5 Original, journalist Harjit is compelled to cover a scoop, exclusive enough to save his job and love. What follows is a hilarious ghost hunt that gets a little too real. Will he succeed?
-Thappa Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
The film starts off like any horror movie with a character sensing the presence of someone else in the house. She is asked by her son to play hide and seek with him. While trying to seek him, she mistakes a spirit as her son and terrified of what she saw, calls upon the husband to come with her.
The couple tries to look for the son in the basement and luckily they find him as well but also encounter white clothes cladded glowing spirit, whose face is not revealed to us. They run out of the home and we are taken to 25 years later in the future when the supposed owner of the house and his son stop their car in front of it.
The son asks his father to sell the house already but the father replies that everyone in the village knows about the house being haunted and whosoever has even tried to live there, goes away running instantly. Following that, we are introduced to our lead, journalist Harjit Singh who is covering a fake death of a cat.
He wants to cover big news and make a name for himself but the place where they live doesn’t have much happening there. So Harjit and his cameraman friend resort to making fake news about some fictional doctor extorting money from patients. But that doctor turns out to be a real one and he is warned by his boss to big a big scoop or he will be fired.
They then get the idea of covering haunted houses after hearing some people talking about a haunted house. They create fake scenarios of capturing a ghost on screen and getting millions of views. On the other hand, his love life is in a pickle as well as his girlfriend is about to accept another marriage proposal.
But after getting some success from the ghost video, he is able to get his own house and ask for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage. But little did he know that after creating fake ghosts, he will be encountered a real one in his own house. The notorious ghost is also determined to ruin his life and get him out of the house.
My Take on Thappa
Thappa on Zee5 is a light-hearted watch with some horror elements but that doesn’t jump scares or anything. It’s more of a comedy looking at how Harjit tries to make fake news and fights with the ghost of the house. However, looking at the plot the duration of the film seems quite long and could have been sufficed at 1 hour 30 minutes or so.
More than the supposed ghost, the makeup done on the lead actress/ Harjit’s girlfriend is scarier. By the midpoint of the film, you can predict what the ending would be like. It is an okayish film and can be watched just for some cheeky comedy.
Thappa is streaming on Zee5.
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