Raihan Rafi's directorial action thriller Toofan, starring Shakib Khan, Mimi Chakraborty, Masuma Rahman Nabila, Misha Sawdagor, Loknath Dey, Fazlur Rahman Babu, and Shahiduzzaman Selim, was released in India on 5th July 2024.
The story begins with Shanto (Shakib Khan), a junior artist who aspires to become a hero in a film someday. A costume designer, Julie (Masuma Rahman Nabila), who mistakenly thought he was a dancer, sends him for rehearsal, leading to Shanto being insulted and thrown out from the sets. Julie helps him meet a fight master who is impressed with his action skills and assures him the role of the second villain in a movie.
Shanto meets actress Suchona (Mimi Chakraborty) on the sets, where she is the female lead in the film where Shanto has the opportunity to work as the second villain. Shanto is kidnapped by the gang members of the deadliest gangster, Toofan (Shakib Khan). Why was Shanto kidnapped? Will Shanto be able to save himself from Toofan?
Chanchal Chowdhury, as CID officer Akram, steals the show. Despite having very little screen time, his powerful dialogues and expressions will surprise you. I felt director Raihan Rafi should have focused a bit more on his character, which could have given us a better experience.
Shakib Khan as Toofan delivers a top-notch performance. This is the first time we have seen him in a larger-than-life character, and he gave his best. There is no doubt that the Toofan character will be considered among one of his career-best performances. Though the journey of Shanto looked convincing, Shakib Khan's performance as Shanto was over the top.
A big shout-out to the music directors Pritom Hasan, Naved Parvez, and Arafat Mohsin for delivering a superhit music album. All three songs were amazing, and no doubt, after a long time, we have received a good music composition from a Bengali commercial film.
Toofan's weakest parts lie in Adnan Adib Khan's screenplay and Raihan Rafi's writing and execution. Director Raihan Rafi, stepping into a hardcore action film for the first time, failed to look into the bigger areas for a better cinematic experience. The only area where he impresses is in presenting Shakib Khan perfectly in a larger-than-life character.
Quite surprisingly, characters keep appearing and disappearing without any proper development. Misha Sawdagor as Bashir, who plays a big role in Toofan's life, suddenly vanished. Even actors like Fazlur Rahman Babu as Arifin and Shahiduzzaman Selim as Shahnawaz had little in the script to show their potential. Gazi Rakayet and Loknath Dey delivered decent performances. Certainly, there was a huge expectation from Raihan Rafi, especially after watching Surongo, but his storytelling failed to impress this time.
Masuma Rahman Nabila delivered a convincing performance as Julie in the first half, and I wondered why her character vanished completely in the second half. Mimi Chakraborty as Suchona had little in the script to show her potential. The lack of proper development makes Shakib Khan's on-screen chemistry with both Mimi Chakraborty and Masuma Rahman Nabila forgettable.
Shakib Khan's Toofan character has no journey and no challenges, which is the major reason it never looked convincing. If a gangster does not have strong rivals to reach his goal, then the whole thing does not offer much enjoyment. The latest examples where we saw good opponents of the protagonist are Jeet starring Chengiz or Ankush Hazra starring Mirza. Both films have shown strong rivals for the protagonist which made their journeys more challenging, and so the journeys of those protagonists were more enjoyable and convincing.
From the trailer of this film, audiences like me had expected a tussle between Shakib Khan and Chanchal Chowdhury, which did not happen. I think that was the major reason for many audiences being disappointed.
The background score of the film was also not up to the mark, and the worst part was copying the background score of Ranbir Kapoor starring Animal. The film took inspiration from many Bollywood and South Indian films, lacking originality in the execution.
Finally, director Raihan Rafi's action thriller Toofan is good for a one-time watch due to Chanchal Chowdhury and Shakib Khan's brilliant performances and fantastic music composition.
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