CHENNAI: Tigmanshu Dhulia’s latest edition in the franchise, “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3,” may have a new villain in Sanjay Dutt’s Uday Pratap Singh, who gets deported out of London after a murderous assault on a British parliamentarian and loses his fancy-sounding nightclub, House of Lords, but the film flogs the same old tale of treachery and deceit. While the first two parts had Randeep Hooda and Irrfan Khan personifying evil with welcome freshness, Dutt is jaded, hardly villainous-looking and seemingly disinterested.
The plot itself — much like the movies we have seen about the debauchery and excess among India’s zamindars — talks about Saheb/master or Aditya Pratap Singh’s (Jimmy Shergill) efforts to get out of jail — an incarcerated existence that his Biwi/wife or Madhavi Devi (Mahi Gill) pushed him into in the second part of the franchise. Despite her deviously valiant efforts to keep her husband behind bars while she plays to perfection her role as a Member of India’s Parliament, punctuated by her seductive flirtations, Saheb walks out. And he finds a new man to reckon with — Uday, whom Biwi has managed to attract, even though he has a lover in Suhani, a dancer portrayed by a ravishingly beautiful Chitrangada Singh. Hauntingly expressive, but wasted in an inane role.
Chitrangada stands in contrast to the others — Jimmy, Dutt and even Mahi — who all appear boringly wooden in a world Dhulia creates through sickening amorality and wicked scheming. There is very little nobility left out of this royalty, and a classic question is posed to Saheb: Is your blood still royal or have years being a politician turned it into water? In the vicious cat-and-mouse game that the three lead characters play, there are twists and turns. One of them comes in the form of Russian roulette, a deadly game that Uday has mastered. He comes out unscathed from every such dangerous duel. But often the surprises seem forced.
Dhulia needs to introduce new faces if he makes another addition, and the climax tells us that there will be one more. Or he has to think up a radically different storyline.
‘Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3:’ A jaded cat-and-mouse roulette
‘Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3:’ A jaded cat-and-mouse roulette
- Chitrangada stands in contrast to the others — Jimmy, Dutt and even Mahi — who all appear boringly wooden in a world Dhulia creates through sickening amorality and wicked scheming
Art Cairo part of a ‘long-term cultural project,’ founder says
CAIRO: As Art Cairo 2026 draws to a close, its founder Mohammed Younis is keen to set the fair apart from its regional counterparts — and also asserts that the annual event is part of a “long-term cultural project.”
The fair, which took place at the Grand Egyptian Museum and wrapped up on Jan. 26, boasted a distinctly Arab flavor, in terms of galleries, artists and the themes of the artworks on show.
Younis says that is all part of a conscious curatorial effort.
“Art Cairo stands apart from other art fairs in the region as the only platform dedicated exclusively and intentionally to Arab art … While many regional fairs present a broad, globalized perspective, Art Cairo emerges from a different vision — one rooted in presenting Arab art from within,” Younis told Arab News.
Across the fair, depictions of golden age icons such as 1950s superstar Mohamed Mohamed Fawzy by painter Adel El-Siwi jostled for attention alongside ancient iconography and pop culture references from the Arab world.
Abu Dhabi’s Salwa Zeidan Gallery, for example, exhibited work by up-and-coming Egyptian artist Passant Kirdy.
“My work focuses on Egyptian heritage in general, including pharaonic and Islamic art. These influences are always present in what I create. This symbol you’re looking at is a pharaonic scarab … I’m very attached to this symbol,” she told Arab News.
The Arab focus of the curation is part of an effort to bill Art Cairo as a “long-term cultural project,” Younis noted.
“Ultimately, Art Cairo is not simply an art fair; it is a long-term cultural project. It exists to support Arab artists, contribute to building a sustainable art market, and articulate an authentic Arab narrative within the regional and international art landscape.”
