Neeraj Pandey is the writer and director of the 2008 Indian Hindi action thriller A Wednesday!, which was released by UTV Motion Pictures and Friday Filmworks. Ronnie Screwvala, Anjum Rizvi, and Shital Bhatia produced the movie. The movie, which features Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher, takes place on a Wednesday between 2 and 6 p.m.
It took roughly eight months to complete A Wednesday! from casting to finish. In just 28 days, it was shot on location in and around Mumbai. The terrorist's 'workstation' was a real, under-construction, 25-story building that was picked out of 50 similar structures because it had a clear view of the Mumbai cityscape. A trolley lift was erected because the building lacked elevators, and Shah ascended the 25 floors on foot each day. In an interview, Shah stated that this was the first movie of his career in which he didn't alter a single word. Kher's part was initially offered to him.
A Wednesday! was well-received by critics, who frequently compared it to the Die Hard film series. Neeraj Pandey's well-written film, "red herrings, finely etched characters," was praised in a Tehelka review along with the fact that "the real Naseeruddin Shah, whom we knew from Bazaar and Mandi and Sparsh, and the real Anupam Kher, whom we met in Saaransh, both show up." "An intelligent diatribe against terrorism, refreshingly packaged as a racy thriller, reminiscent of the Die Hard Series," was how critic Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India described the film. It was rated three stars out of five by Box Office India's Rony D'Costa.
Renowned reviewer Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave A Wednesday a favorable review with four stars, stating, "It's hard to pinpoint exactly how good the movie is without giving too much away." It's a film that, trust me, is best viewed without preconceived notions. The film's allure is found in the way it unravels.
