Generally, having gone through a tough week, most
working class people would want for nothing better than to go for some good
entertainment to unwind. Generally a movie works brilliantly to that effect
more often than not. Then again there are those who prefer watching realistic
movies as they feel mindless movies are a waste of time..... I personally
belong to the former since there is enough of reality to get bothered with, for
one to take more of the same in entertainment also. The question is what
exactly is Shootout at Lokhandwala? A realistic docudrama, or a generic
testosterone driven shoot em up, devoid of any sensibility? Those were the
questions asked by my peers surrounding this weeks release..... Having been
intrigued by the promos and look, I couldnt help going for this (it seemed
right up my alley, proper action/style), and considering that this came from
the director of Ek Ajnabee I felt if nothing else at least it would be
slick...Having said that, the question is, what sort of audience would it
satisfy and to what extent, in this day and age of increasingly sensible
cinema?
Plot:
ACP Shamsher Khan (Sanjay Dutt). Inspector Kaviraj Patil (**Sunil
Shetty). Constable Javed Shaikh (Arbaaz Khan**). Three men who are
being dragged through the mud by both the media and human rights
organization for inhuman behavior towards gangsters Maya Dolas (Vivek Oberoi),
Dilip Buva (Tusshar Kapoor) and their henchmen in a recent shootout in
the city of Bombay, 1991. There are various theories being thrown around, such
as the killings were inhuman since they wished to surrender and that the most
notorious don himself ordered the killings. Their defence lawyer, former Chief
Justice Dhingra (Amitabh Bachchan), calls to grill them before the case
and find out what really happened and why. What follows from here is a
story in which right and wrong, good and evil are both well defined but each
are equally flawed and redeemed, and their final clash leading to a bloody
shootout.
*Pros:
1)The treatment. While this wasnt going to be the most documented take
or the most realistic, what I liked was the way the characters were treated.
There was no straightlaced hero, each and every hero had his flaws which
affected his life, no bhaari bhashan bazi of farz and imaandari, the true
frustration that policemen feel upon getting such low wages for their risk of
life, is well documented. And no completely evil villain. They were evil men, bad
men, and they deserved in large parts what they got, due to their power
madness, but fact is they had a good side which was away from their profession
for their loved ones and that was shown well in the movie. Yes they were good
and bad guys, but their conflict and the lack of redemption at the end was a
welcome change,
such events happen and the policemen dont feel remorse, its something thats
needed to be done a lot of the time, and that feeling came through well.
2)The direction, even though the movie flashes between the
present and past, there is no huge discord and the proceedings flow smoothly
and Apoorva Lakhia does a better job here than in Ek Ajnabee, simply because
that was an almost scene by scene remake and here this topic had not been broached
before, so for him to do justice to the script and get out good performances
from the cast, shows that he is becoming better with each movie, even if his
forte maybe action movies, Heavens know we ned more of those, what with the
mush overload thats prevalent most of the time.
3)And most of all the theme, of it being a violent action packed movie
that appealed to the male audience was something refreshing. Its been a while
since movie makers came out with such stuff, most movies these days are made
keeping the women quotient in mind and most of the time romantic movies end up
becoming chick flicks, which shouldnt always be the case. I dont mind all
genres but its refreshing to see a movie made for the boys to be enjoyed by the
boys. Proof is all the girls in our group were whining about a "sick and
disgusting bloody" movie while the guys were relishing every second.
Cons: *
1)Majorly, the songs. A movie like this doesnt need songs, when the
theme is such, wheres the ned for a song? It wouldv ebeen better had they just
shown the villains enjoyin themselves at a dance bar or dancing for maybe a
minute and cutting forward, instead of the whole song being blared, except for
maybe "Ganpat" for commercial reasons.
2) **I may sound chauvinistic over here, but fact is in this movie, the
actresess gave the most pathetic performances ive seen a in a male dominated
flick in a long time. At least one feels sorry for the long suffering wife
there, over here you just wish that ACP Khan gets rid of his wife (**Neha
Dhupia**) by maybe asking Maya to bump her off, THAT irritating is she. As
for Diya Mirza, cute as she is, she's made a career out of doing two scene
roles, so there isnt much to be said about her or her lack of performance.
3) The side characters of Shabbir Ahluwalia (RC) and Aditya
Lakhia (Doubling) couldve been developed and made stronger, specially
that of doubling, poor chap just seems to be there.
As an aside, this movie is not meant for female aduiences. There is a HUGE body
and blood count, and the film is violent almost the duration of the entire
length. I enjoyed it, but I doubt families would like to see so much bloodshed
on the screen.
*Direction & Technical Team:
Apoorva Lakhia **as I said before is becoming a more brillliant director with
every movie. If cynics said that he just ripped off "Man On Fire"
scene by scene to make "Ek Ajnabee", here he proves he has the chops
to take a complex topic and make a good movie without using too many cliches.
His treatment, slick style and lack of self indulgence made this movie a crisp
and tightly made movie. Wouldve been better without the songs though, but
nonetheless, he does a great job, surpassing even "Ek Ajnabee". The
camerawork, cinematography and detailing were done brilliantly by **Gururaj
S. Jois, **who brings out the dark and fast feel of the movie perfectly.
Stylishly shot, the Sanjay Gupta trademarks such as the nod to Reservoir dogs
(slow walk with the pounding background music) rule, even here.
*Performances on next page, MS is giving trouble uploading the review:
