Jewel Thief: The attack begins (2025) is an action-packed attack thriller, which is staged by Robbie Grewal and Kookie Gulati and is marketed as a spiritual continuation of the classic jewel thief staged by Vijay Anand. The film plays Saif Ali Khan as Rehan Roy, Jaideep Ahlawat as a criminal mastermind Rajan Aulakh and Nikita Dutta in the role of Farah, Rajan’s partner,.
The film combines nostalgia with modern cinematic techniques, but is not in the representation of female characters. For example, Farah, the only remarkable female presence on the screen, had the potential to be so much more – a player of central importance for the attack, a strategist, a wild card. Instead, she is reduced to a familiar trope: the virgin in need. Farah’s character reduces this choice and shows a broader topic: Despite decades of progress, the film continues to follow a male act.
Jewel thief: The attack does not begin to style or tension – it has many of the two, but it misses the opportunity to develop. With the talent and resources to create differentiated female characters, it chose a familiar path instead. With the promise to deliver something fresh, it becomes something familiar.
Male centered narrative and the marginalization of female characters
The action of the jewel thief is essentially male. Saif Ali Khans Rehan Roy is shown as a clever mastermind, while the Rajan Aulakh from Jaideep Ahlawat plays his strong rival. Her back and forth takes over the entire film and leaves little space for the female characters to actually grow.
Source: Netflix
In the meantime, Nikita Duttas Farah, who is said to be the main leader of the female leading role, is pushed to the sidelines. Your character doesn’t seem to have much deep or agency, and there is also no real bow for you. Due to the film, she is more of a prop, just to drive the male action. This marginalization reflects broader topics throughout the cinema, in which women only exist in films to support male history and not have the chance to be their fully realized people with their own personality, nuances and complexity.
Jewel thief and the reinforcement of gender stereotypes
Farah’s character in the film falls into the old and outdated stereotype of virgin disturbances. It is portrayed as a victim, with her pain and suffering as a catalyst for Rahan’s actions. This not only roams her own agency, but also shows the experiences of women as only important as long as they influence a man’s action.
The film had a real opportunity to give Farah with its own action and at the same time to emphasize its strength to emphasize its intellect and personality without removing the overall story of history. Instead, her character was reduced to the mere passive presence on the screen. This further increased the conventional gender roles, which have long been criticized in feminist discourse.
Lack of female agency in the review of the takeover
Heist films traditionally offer a stage to highlight strategy and teamwork in a number of characters. And once again, Jewel thief all this loan only gives the male leads. The whole attack is planned by men, while women hardly appear in one of the main campaigns. This repeatedly drives up the idea that leadership and clever thinking are only male characteristics and also miss the chance to build a story that is more integrative and also lets women play important roles.
Source: IMDB
In contrast, films such as Oceans 8 and Windows have shown that women can overview, intelligence and emotional depth. Both films show that strategic brilliance is not gender -specific at all. This is something to do with the jewel thief while holding onto a story that is concerned with the female agency.
How feminist stories in the jewel thief could have looked
Jewel thief had a real potential to redefine the genre of raids with the inclusion of strong and complex female characters in the narrative. For example, Farah could have been shown as a central part of the robbery, which emphasized her personality and intellect.
Another strong option could have been to add a female villain or even a competing mastermind – something that brings more excitement to the plot and makes it really more credible. Such things could have pushed the story beyond the usual clichés. This type of creative decisions would not only have added levels to the narrative, but also questioned traditional gender roles, which led to a film that felt fresh and future -oriented and was simply more gripping overall.
A regressive remake: Comparative analysis with the original from 1967
The prominent female characters of the Jewel thief from 1967, which were still shaped by the gender expectations of their time, still managed to contribute to the action and intrigue of history. While the female leadership revolved around a male tour that had a noticeable presence and a narrative weight. On the contrary, the remake 2025 completely equipped its female figure without an agency and very limited screen presence. Instead of adapting to the time and presenting a contemporary and feminist perspective, the remake goes back even more into a reductive representation.
Source: IMDB
Almost six decades later, we are hit on the same stale and outdated gender roles who occupy women as “romantic interests or ornamental figures” and not as their person. This is not only a missed opportunity, but also a reflection of a deeper restraint in the mainstream bullywood cinema, genre narrative to rethink their female characters in the middle. The film had a real potential in how women can be presented in the cinema, but instead it falls back on worn tropics.
Beyond the representation of imagination
Jewel thief: The attack begins (2025) commemorates the continuing gender balance in the mainstream bullywood cinema. The film does it right when it comes to style and tension, but it really does not fall as little as women show and stays with gender -specific stereotypes while using old tropics again.
A feminist view of the film indicates how we still need stories that not only contain women, but actually give them deep, agency and a correct place in the plot. Since more and more people want to stories who are fair and show all types of voices, the filmmakers have to fit better in the Real World.
Juhi Sanduja is an editorial intern at Feminism in India (FII). It is passionate about intersectional feminism, with a great interest in documenting resistance, feminist stories and identity questions. Previously, she was as a research intern in Delhi in the Center for Political Research and Governance (CPRG), Delhi. She is currently studying English literature and French and is particularly interested in how feminist thinking can influence public order and drive advantage of social change.
