Thursday 9 May 2013

" SHOOTOUT AT WADALA " : Movie Review


    SHOOTOUT AT WADALA is  basically camaraderie of blazing guns, flaring nostrils,sanguinary revenge & bleak atonement. The characters are   hardened underworld players of 70's with aggressive attitude. The men in SANJAY GUPTA'S flick behave like teenagers who never want to grow up. They fight, scream, throw tantrums  virtually kill,when everything fails. Everyone speaks as if they are reading a copywriter's wisdom from billboards and hoardings. These guys are those kind of smart-asses whose mothers should have delivered solid spankings to them in childhood. In fact characters pull out their guns faster than JOHAN WAYNE CLINT EASTWOOD. But for sure SANJAY GUPTA'S trademark style flourishes in the sepia-soaked camerawork, slow-mo action sequences and slick editing.


SCRIPT & SCREENPLAY                                                                               :  The screenwriting is watertight. Although it takes time to settle down, the solid writing in the second hour keeps you on the edge. In fact, the turn of events in the second half takes the film to its zenith. A large chunk of SHOOTOUT AT WADALA is devoted to high-voltage action sequences. Unlike some recent films, the action here is raw and real, reminiscent of the films of the 1980s. The credit for the story goes to HUSSAIN ZAIDI & SANJAY GUPTA where as Screenplay has been written by SANJAY GUPTA, SANJAY BHATIA, ABHIJIT DESHPANDE. The screenplay in first half, almost anecdotal in nature, jumps from killings to killings never immersing the audience in the lives of its characters, unfortunately. The movie starts off with the story of a bright college student , Manohar Surve ( JOHN ), who is in love with Vidya ( KANGNA ). They are set to marry each other after getting their college degree. But their world collapses when Manya is sent to prison over a murder that was committed by his step brother. While in jail, he meets Sheikh Munir ( TUSSHAR )  who helps him in escaping from prison and becomes his trusted aide. Together, they form their own gang by inducting a few more outlaws including Gyanch** (  SIDDHANT ). This new gang poses a serious threat to the gang of Zubair ( M.BAJPAYEE ) & Dilawar ( SONU SOOD ) and hereafter a bloody turf battle ensues between both the gangs. On the other hand, there is ACP Ishaque ( A.KAPOOR ), who has pledged to erase the mafiaraj in Mumbai and Dilawar as well as Manya are on his hit-list. Will Manya become the undisputed king of Mumbai underworld or ACP Ishaque succeed in his plans ?

STARCAST                                                                                                               :   Every performance in the movie deserves unfathomable praise. JOHN ABRAHAM, in his last couple of flicks has started to break the notion that acting is not his forte. He does it all with a hitherto unseen rawness - be it while mouthing cuss words or emptying bullets and has done justice to almost all of the screen time that has been allotted for him. If as the ruthless gangster, he kills with passion, he beds his ladylove, KANGNA RANAUT, with even more of that. The latter ( K.RANAUT ), meanwhile fits well as the gangster's moll. She is appalled at the transformation of her Manohar into Manya, but loves him way too much. In fact Kangana's character in this flick is reminiscent of her role in ' ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI ' and she has acted with grit. ANIL KAPOOR who has portrayed the character of ACP has acted like a live wire. The man infuses life into ACP's frustration of not being able to do justice to his khaki uniform and has acted with aplomb. He has shown so much maturity in his expressions that it seems impossible to find any flaw in his act. Although, MANOJ BAJPAYEE'S character has got less screen-time but he sets screen on fire and is able to showcase sparks of his brilliant talent. But the man who surprised me is SONU SOOD, who has given a subtle, firm and commendable performance. His serious face expressions and tough stance make him look like a typical 70's gangster. TUSHHAR KAPOOR once again manages to impress in his gangster looks and carries on the same look, style which he earlier portrayed in Shootout at LokhandwalaSIDDHANT KAPOOR in some scenes looks as well as acts like his father SHAKTI KAPOOR and has given an average performance as Gun wielding baddie. Two other actors who deserve a mention are RONIT ROY & MAHESH MANJREKAR who have acted as Cops. While the former has acted as a tough postured, gritty and stern faced cop, the latter has played a cop who is easygoing, laid back for the reason that he has seen it all and is well versed with deficiencies of corrupt system. Not to forget PRIYANKA CHOPRA, SUNNY LEON, SOPHIA CHAUDHARY who add a fair mass entertainment value by innuendo laden item numbers with grotesque dance moves in their individual item numbers.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS                                                                           :          It being a SANJAY GUPTA movie, one can definitely expect technical finesse at its best and surely as usual he doesn't disappoint you this time also. As per the trend of inducing several music directors for one movie, SAW also has a coterie of music directors namely ANU MALIK, ANAND RAJ ANAND, MUSTAFA ZAHID & MEET BROTHERS. But the music has not become very popular albeit its item numbers have been lapped up by certain section of listeners. The background music given by AMAR MOHILE is in sync with movie and goes in tandem with the on-screen proceedings. Cinematography by SAMEER ARYA & SANJAY F GUPTA is top notch and they have managed to capture the aura of the 70's with an impeccable visual finesse. TINU VERMA who has directed the action sequences deserves a big applause for depicting the action in raw, real, brutal, unrepressed way which has resulted in high voltage action-sequences. The editing of the movie has been done by BUNTY NAGI who has managed to catch hold of your attention all through the movie duration of 150 minutes. One more person who deserves accolades is MILAP ZAVERI  who has written dialogues for this movie. Every other dialogue that he has written is capable of conjuring up either a laugh riot or a veritable tornado in the theaters. My viewpoint is that as a director SANJAY GUPTA has put in an overwhelming surfeit of everything i.e. blood soaked action, glorified machismo, cuss words and raunchy dance numbers but in the process has overlooked character development which lends the real emotional feel to a movie. Undoubtedly, this flick like Sanjay 's earlier movies is full of style but for a movie to be successful in Bollywood, even to the stylish content  you have to attach a soul.

OVER THE HEAD                                                                                               :  The scene where Kangana on seeing Manohar being beaten by cop, immediately changes her stance and lies about him  to her parents despite the fact that she herself has called them for introducing them with him . Also it is surprising to see the tough convict who in one scene teaches fighting skills to John in prison, in other scene is found standing outside Gateway of India & earning his livelihood in an interesting manner. He is found asking the onlookers to vent out their personal life frustration by punching him in lieu of money.

WOW MOMENTS                                                                                                       :   The first fight scene of John in jail where he bashes up his opponent has turned out well. Also the chase scene where-in Anil with aides catch hold of a gangster in a Chawl is a marvel. And finally the last scene where Kangana gets shattered on getting betrayed by cops is a treat for emotional cine-watchers.

CONCLUSION                                                                                                              :   SAW does not delve deep into psyche of gangsters nor is a fact finder but what it does is beyond that : It stamps the presence of forgotten Manya Surve on your mind and makes you feel for him. It's rare that you find major part of audience feeling sad while coming out of the hall after watching gangster die in the last scene. It can be seen once for its gargantuan amount of gore action, general sleaze, titillation and sleek style quotient.    

ROHIT SHARMA.
Follow me on twitter at  https://twitter.com/smgr105
rohitreview@gmail.com


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