Director: Nishikant Kamat
Writers: Gautham Menon (original story by), Ritesh Shah
Stars: John Abraham, Genelia D'Souza, Raj Babbar |
Storyline
Critically wounded and lying unconscious in a Mumbai hospital, ACP
Yashvardhan of the Narcotics Control Bureau reflects on his life and his
love-affair with Maya. With the assistance of the Commissioner as well
as his colleagues, Atul, Kamlesh and Mahesh Pandey, and an informer,
Arvind Shetty, he was able to apprehend drug-dealers in Kutch, Gujarat;
Jalandhar, Punjab, as well as in Himachal Pradesh. Unknowingly, he paved
the way for Vasu Anna Reddy to become the sole drug-dealer and invite
his Mombasa-based brother, Vishnu, to join him. An encounter with the
team kills Vasu, and some of the team gets suspended. A vengeful Vishnu
decides to target the entire police unit as well as their respective
families, and vows that he will not rest until he has killed them all.
He starts with brutally killing Mahesh and his wife, Rachna, and then
abducts Atul's wife, Swati - with a motive of forcing the former to do
away with the remainder of this police team. Written by
rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
Movie Reviews
Contrite, clichéd,
awful.. Same old "Once Upon a time there was a security personnel"
theme.. The cast seemed to be an interesting mix of talent and
has-been.. John was Good, Genelia below average but the débutant Vidyut
Jamwal was Outstanding ..The only good thing about this movie is
probably the stunts ..It was clean but then again at times monotonous.
Anyway, in summary, don't think that it's so bad it'll be entertaining, because it isn't (if you want something like that, try 'Dumb Maaro Dumb')It's horrific to the point of disbelief, whilst remaining incredibly dull throughout.
Anyway, in summary, don't think that it's so bad it'll be entertaining, because it isn't (if you want something like that, try 'Dumb Maaro Dumb')It's horrific to the point of disbelief, whilst remaining incredibly dull throughout.
The film is apparently based on a book, "Dongri to Dubai", and I have never read it and know very little about it. However, I could tell by what I read about reaction to the film as well as the prologue (where they admitted much of the film might not be true) that the film is based on reality...to a degree. As a retired history teacher, I wish the film hadn't equivocated and simply presented the best and most truthful story--and stood behind it.
The character Manya Surve was apparently a real gangster who was killed by the Mumbai police in the 1980s. The film portrays him as an innocent man who was framed and sent to prison--where he learned quickly to be vicious in order to survive. So, this monster was created by the police themselves according to the film. I assume some police officials would probably take exception to this--though I really don't know. What I do know is that the story is very action-packed and very violent. And, since it was trimmed, the violence must have been pretty intense in the original--as it was still NOT a film for the squeamish. It also features a strange convention that I've seen in most every recent Indian gangster film--they STILL take time for song and dance numbers like you'd see in a traditional Indian romance. For me, this is a fun cliché for romances but seems completely out of place in gritty crime films. However, the film was NOT made for me but for a billion Indians--and the producer/director probably knew what they were doing. As for me, though, even without the songs I just didn't find the premise interesting and the characters seemed equally scuzzy--whether police, rival gangs or Surve's gang. Mildly interesting but not among the better Indian films I've seen--especially since after a while, the super-stylized action scenes seemed a bit too much.