One of Netflix’s new thrillers is is growing explosively worldwide. The efficient Indian air raid movie Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (the title loosely translates to The thief slipped away) debuted among the top 10 most watched movies and shows in 45 different countries independent accountant Ernst & Youngmaking it the company’s third most streamed non-English speaking property around the world. A light but propulsive film with plenty of twists and turns, it’s the kind of mid-budget genre piece that would have made for a fun family movie night DVD rental 15 or 20 years ago, so its appeal is hardly jarring. But the biggest surprise is how well the movie has done compared to Netflix’s other Indian offerings, especially those with more affordable or recognizable stars.
Unlike most Indian movies to cross over to international streaming markets like the Hindi dub of the global Telugu language outbreak RRR or the Bollywood period piece Gangubai Kathiawadi – which reached the top 10 in 64 and 47 territories respectively, the highest number for Indian productions since Netflix started publishing this statistic in 2021 – Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga is a Netflix original. It started life on the streaming platform, rather than a successful theatrical run with pre-existing fanfare.
Image: Netflix
The film stars Sunny Kaushal as the friendly, flirtatious insurance agent Ankit Sethi and Yami Gautam as Neha, the sweet but headstrong flight attendant Ankit falls in love with. This romantic duo is involved in a desperate diamond heist at 30,000 feet – which also happens to coincide with a hijacking. Both actors have previously appeared in Bollywood productions (most notably Gautam featured in the 2019 blockbuster war film Uri: The surgical attack), although neither are considered needle-moving stars. And yet Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga has reached the kind of streaming numbers usually reserved for Indian A-listers.
On the one hand, the film has found success in both South Asia and areas with large South Asian diasporas, such as the Middle East. That’s not entirely out of left field: The Hindi language production, which takes place in India and a fictional Middle Eastern country, reached No. 1 in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates and made the Top 10 in several other Gulf countries and Southeast Asian countries. In those countries, Indian films are often popular among both South Asians and non-South Asians. The film’s title is also likely to evoke ironic nostalgia among Hindi speakers as it quotes a nursery rhyme.
On the other hand, the film also reached No. 1 in Ecuador and Venezuela, and broke through the Top 10 in some other South American countries, where Indian films are not such a sought-after commodity. The film received nothing close to the marketing blitz of major English-language Netflix properties (like Red notice or The gray man), and even the Latin American region has Netflix’s Twitter account alone mentioned the movie once – by its Spanish title El Vuelo de los Ladrones (or The flight of the thieves) – long after the success. So what gives?
The streamer’s relatively opaque policies and stats make it hard to pinpoint exactly how the movie initially found its global audience, but it’s not hard to see how a movie propelled to the front page by the company’s mysterious algorithm pushed, would have attracted prying eyes. Unless you’ve mercifully disabled autoplay on Netflix, if you’re idle for a few seconds hovering over a movie or show will prompt a preview to start playing. And Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga‘s trailer immediately sells its most attractive and most widely digestible elements: terrorism, romance and a botched robbery.
The film’s dueling heist and hijacking sagas make for a compelling viewing, as if two different, equally intriguing films have collided. Meanwhile, the central romance is carried out with pent-up smiles and nervous excitement – and finally, with a strict sincerity that borders on devastating, once it’s time for the leading couple to make tough decisions. The lead actors are a big reason the film works: they deliver fiery, dramatic performances on the same wavelength as the film’s intense yet grounded tone. It also helps that Indian films, both musicals and non-musicals, tend to use original songs for marketing purposes, and those commissioned by Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (“Janiye”, which plays over a lengthy montage of a couple’s blossoming romance) is an earworm.
The conclusion also hints at a possible sequel, even though the story feels self-contained, which is practically a requirement in the age of IP. However, whether or not there is one Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga: Part II on the horizon, it looks like India’s streaming revolution has finally produced a movie whose global popularity rivals the country’s blockbuster. The recent crossover success of blockbusters like Tollywood’s RRR and that of Bollywood Pathan bodes well for films that fit the kind of storytelling that non-Indians often expect from Indian films — lavish musicals with over-the-top action — but Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga probably opens the door for more viewers to discover the relatively realistic world of Indian Streaming Originalswhich have become popular domestically in recent years.
A slick, competent romp with enough back pulls to make you giddy, Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga is a film that cares much more about fooling its audience than letting them ride along in terms of emotional investment. But that’s part of it when it comes to junk food thrillers. The genre’s guiding creed might as well be a poison from Pietro Avengers: Age of Ultron jokes”You didn’t see that one coming?Director Ajay Singh packs the story into a tight 110 minutes, but covers up the bursting seams with breakneck momentum. Whether or not you’re still invested when the movie shows its hand, chances are you’ll be at least curious to find out how each puzzle piece fits together as the characters navigate two intersecting thrillers at once . All things considered, that’s a bargain.
Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga now streaming on Netflix.