Teen Patti is a film that I was genuinely excited to watch (as someone who studied mathematics in college), but I don’t know if I’m better off for having seen this movie. Let me explain…
Teen Patti — Review at a Glance
- Story — 2.5/5
- Acting — 3/5
- Direction — 2.5/5
Pros: Amitabh Bachchan’s acting
Cons: A poorly built narrative
Must-Watch: No
One-Time Watch: Not Exactly
When to Watch Teen Patti: I hate to say it, but this film works better as something that is just playing in the background while you are busy elsewhere
Teen Patti Review — A Deep Dive
The genre of crime thrillers in Bollywood is a dicey one. There are some films, like Wazir, that are talked about years after their release and deserve all the hype in the world.
On the other hand, there are movies that pander to commerciality without keeping their narrative and characters in the core. These films fail to accomplish anything (in terms of storytelling) because they either play it too safe or because they lack a clear structure — and Teen Patti hits both of these boxes.
I will confess: I actually thought Teen Patti had potential in the first few scenes.
After all, the math major in me got excited that such an iconic story from the annals of the subject was covered in an Indian film… heck yes! (For context: Teen Patti is loosely based on the American film 21, which itself tells the story of MIT’s highly successful Blackjack Team that used various principles and beat the house consistently from the late 70s to the early 21st Century).
While I did not expect Teen Patti to dive deep into the mathematics of card counting, it did feel as though the script failed to actually explain to us how the professor does what he does.
Sure, probability plays a role, and buzzwords like “randomness” and “trials” are also repeated throughout scenes, but you would think a man hailed to be a genius at multiple points in the film would be able to break down exactly how his “breakthrough” works in a simple manner.
Instead, all we hear is the end result of his method: that if he knows a certain number of cards, he can predict the outcome accurately.
Another case in point is Teen Patti’s abysmal explanation of the Monty Hall problem. Again, they show the entire setup and give the correct answer. But no explanation is given! Even something relatively simple as to why and how the probability would increase is not explained. (The explanation lies with conditional probability, for those wondering).
So the film starts off on such a half-hearted note that despite initially looking forward to watching Teen Patti, I was quickly disappointed.
(Plus, I’m that weird nerd who wants more such scientific concepts to be explored via filmmaking).
Now, of course, many readers would like to say, “But Noor, it’s Bollywood! It caters to a whole range of people and no one really cares about how the math works out. The masses just want to enjoy the story.”
And to that, I would have said, “Fair point.”
…except, Teen Patti is a film that is also mediocre in its commerciality!
The film tries to do so much all at once, ultimately rendering the story rudderless. Certain plot points are also connected in less-than-satisfying ways. Some other times, key concepts or narratives are introduced and then randomly picked up or left out.
Having said all this, though, I do appreciate the fact that Teen Patti at least attempted to talk about the psychology and consequences of addiction and gambling empathetically, showing how these things can impact individuals on deeply personal levels.
Amitabh Bachchan also stands out as the eccentric math genius, Professor Venkat Subramaniam. His presence is, perhaps, the only saving grace of Teen Patti. Shraddha Kapoor’s debut performance has also been some of her better work. However, I feel Madhavan’s character was somewhat underutilized in the film.
I suppose another reason this film left such a bad taste in my mouth is because Teen Patti really did have potential, even if it’s an adaptation of a Hollywood story. More than anything, I wanted this film to be at least somewhat decent if not outright brilliant. But it failed to do even that, unfortunately.
Teen Patti Plot Overview
When Professor Subramaniam has a breakthrough that could impact the field of probability and randomness, he sets out to test whether his theory is true by going to gambling dens with his students and playing Teen Patti. However, things soon go awry when he starts getting blackmailed for his success.
