Toaster Movie Review: A Surprising Sci-Fi Thriller

Ramakant (Rajkummar Rao) is a man so tight-fisted he counts the grains of rice in his dal. Forced by societal pressure to give a wedding gift to his cousin Shilpa (Sanya Malhotra) and her new husband Glen D’Souza (Abhishek Banerjee), he buys a cheap toaster from a discount sale. That toaster, however, is not just any toaster - it contains a hidden compartment mistakenly loaded with a crucial piece of evidence from a local gangster’s heist. When Glen’s overbearing mother Mrs. D’Souza (Seema Pahwa) uses the toaster for the first time, the device spits out not just burnt bread but a trail of breadcrumbs leading straight to Inspector Balgaode (Upendra Limaye), who is investigating the theft. Meanwhile, nosy neighbor Malini Pherwani (Archana Puran Singh) and the gangster’s moll Nandini (Farah Khan) get tangled in a web of mistaken identities, while Amol Amre (Jitendra Joshi), a hapless electrician, tries to repair the toaster with disastrous results. Bodies pile up, alliances shift faster than a slot machine, and Ramakant’s obsession with retrieving his “investment” drives the plot into increasingly absurd territory.

Daschaudary directs with a clear affection for the Coen Brothers’ brand of accidental crime and Farce, but “Toaster” lacks their precision. The first thirty minutes are a masterclass in establishing Ramakant’s stingy pathology - Rao delivers a beautifully restrained performance, his eyes darting every time someone asks for money. His physical comedy is top-tier when he chases the toaster through a crowded wedding hall, sliding on spilled chai like a silent-era star. Sanya Malhotra, as Shilpa, is given little to do beyond being exasperated, but she elevates every scene with a deadpan glare that suggests she’s already planning her escape from this family. Abhishek Banerjee, as the perpetually bewildered Glen, and Seema Pahwa, as his scheming mother, share a chemistry that feels lived-in; their bickering over the toaster’s rightful ownership is one of the film’s highlights.

Yet the script struggles with tone. One moment we’re watching a genuinely funny sequence where Inspector Balgaode interrogates a parrot that witnessed the crime - Upendra Limaye’s deadpan delivery saves it from being too silly - and the next we’re plunged into a slapstick fight scene involving a deep fryer and a rolling pin, scored to a jarringly loud rock track. The action sequences, though, are competently staged. A chase through a cluttered kitchen, with characters sliding on oil spills and ducking under flying pans, has an energy that recalls early Guy Ritchie, but without the snappy editing. The film drags in the second act, relying too heavily on characters explaining motives that have already been made obvious. Archana Puran Singh hams it up as Malini, but her running gag about mishearing “toaster” as “poster” wears thin by the third repetition.

Where “Toaster” succeeds is in its refusal to take itself seriously. It knows it’s a one-joke premise - the toaster as a MacGuffin - and it milks that joke for all it’s worth. Farah Khan, in a supporting role as Nandini, brings a welcome unpredictability; her character’s sudden shift from femme fatale to helpless bystander is played for laughs, and she lands the punchlines. Jitendra Joshi’s electrician subplot, while underdeveloped, provides the film’s most memorable visual: a toaster fused to a man’s hand, smoking like a cartoon bomb. The climax, set during a police raid at a wedding reception, achieves the chaotic crescendo the film has been building toward, but the resolution feels rushed, as if the writers ran out of pages and simply had a character explain everything in a monologue.

Pros

• Rajkummar Rao’s committed physical and deadpan performance as Ramakant is the film’s engine.
• The ensemble cast clicks well, especially the chemistry between Abhishek Banerjee and Seema Pahwa.
• Several genuinely funny set-pieces, particularly the kitchen chase and the parrot interrogation.
• The film doesn’t overstay its welcome; at 126 minutes, it moves briskly until the second-act lull.

Cons

• Tonally inconsistent, swinging between farce and crime-thriller without a smooth gear shift.
• Supporting characters (Sanya Malhotra’s Shilpa, Jitendra Joshi’s electrician) are underutilized.
• The central joke - obsession with a toaster - repeats itself beyond its comic expiration point.
• The third-act resolution feels rushed and relies on clunky exposition instead of visual storytelling.

“Toaster” is an uneven but genuinely amusing oddity that will reward viewers willing to accept its absurdity. It’s not going to win any awards for narrative coherence, but Rajkummar Rao’s performance alone elevates it above the average direct-to-streaming farce. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a kitchen appliance became the MacGuffin in a Guy Ritchie knock-off, this is your movie. For everyone else, wait for a rainy day when the toaster is the most exciting thing on the menu.