Pranking on April Fool's Day is all good, but these films played the biggest pranks on us, making a complete fool of us with their mind-numbing plot twists that we never saw coming.
Everyone is a little on edge and in full-on alert mode on April Fools where one doesn't believe a word anyone has to say or worse if someone comes actually asking a question. But that's the fun when it comes to pranking, no? To catch someone off guard and leave them completely stunned! This has to be orchestrated carefully because it is not just about the iconic moment of the reveal but also about craftily designing the trick so the person is left wholly caught in your lie and can only figure things out in hindsight. And while we take inspiration for this day from films like ZNMD, there are many films that made a complete fool out of all of us with carefully crafted plot twists that work on the same principle of leaving all of us, in hindsight, buying into the world of the film.
Also Read: Madgaon Express review: A belly-aching comedy that makes the trip to the theatre worth it
Some Hollywood films have done this successfully and oh so brilliantly that we love to be fooled by them, repeatedly retracing the steps of the narrative when we rewatch them. Shawshank Redemption, Shutter Island, Fight Club, The Prestige, The Usual Suspects, Knives Out, Seven, Psycho, and so many more ended up changing our reading of the film (mind you, not the narrative) entirely by their plot twists. And while these twists are majorly expected out of mystery thrillers, there have been a few exceptions! There are a few memorable plot twists from Bollywood too that made 'getting fooled by them' worth it.
Check them out!
Kahaani
Vidya Balan exacting revenge for her husband's death sounds impressive. But using a fake pregnancy and changing the narrative by making the terrorist her own husband, who has gone missing only to find him and capture him at the right moment was an iconic plot twist that none of us saw coming!
Drishyam
Ajay Devgn saving his own family from an accident turned murder by making a fool of the police was a thriller we all enjoyed. Still, he did not just fool Tabu in the film but us as well because who could have seen the plot twist of burying the dead body right under the nose of the police, under the police station?
Andhadhun
Ayushmann Khurrana, as a fake blind person musician who ends up witnessing a crime was an interesting enough plot, but to give it a twist of actually blinding him and then leaving us with an end that has the audience divided to date on whether or not he actually went blind was Sriram Raghavan's brilliance.
A Wednesday
Nasseruddin Shah vs Anupam Kher in a revenge thriller where 'the police is blackmailed by fake bombs all across Mumbai to release some terrorists only to kill them' was a perfect setup. But to have Naseer Shabh as the frustrated common man exacting revenge on behalf of no one in particular was the best part!
Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Vidya Balan and Akshay Kumar in a horror comedy in which a palace is haunted by the ghost of a woman who lost the love of her life was a good surprise for all of us. Still, Vidya's acting as the ghost because of her psychological problems, which Akshay fixes as the doctor, was a twist no one could imagine!
Talaash
Aamir Khan as the distraught grieving father with Kareen Kapoor as the helping hand investigating a case involving sex workers was a good mystery thriller, but when it's revealed that Kareena is the dead sex worker whose missing report wasn't even filed, is where we were all left stunned!
3 Idiots
Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, and Sherman Joshi with Boman Irani brought an engineering college experience that taught us so much, but when Aamir, in a plot twist, is revealed to be someone else altogether and not who he was claiming to be, that was something we were not ready for!
Gulabo Sitabo
Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana cook a fantastic concoction of a Tom and Jerry chase sequence in this film where no one in their best mind could imagine that Begum, at that age, would end up fooling not just both of them but all of us!
Special 26
Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, and his team of conmen raid Ministers as CBI officers and steal their black money, but when real CBI officers plan to capture them in their final heist, what no one saw coming was that Jimmy Shergill who is considered to be honest officer, was actually the con man who was in on the plan all along!
Karthik Calling Karthik
Farhan Akhtar, a socially awkward architect who can't even talk to his crush, Deepika Padukone, starts to get calls from some stranger who helps him gain his confidence and life on track, until he figures out that the call is coming in from his alter-ego all along!
Khakee
Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, and a team of police officers, on a mission in a cliche but iconic moment, are betrayed by Aishwarya Rai, who leads them to the villain, played by Ajay Devgn, so easily. This was so well-planted that not just all these police officers but all of us were fooled!
Bluffmaster
Abhishek Bachchan, a solid con man, is conned by his newfound partner in crime, Ritesh Deshmukh, and the love of his life, Priyanka Chopra. The entire film is a con to make him scared for his life, which is a master bluff to stop him from bluffing!
Special Mention: Ugly, Gupt, and Kaun
Which film's plot twist made a fool out of you but in a good way? Tell us in the comments below!
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