Bollywood's fascination with Hollywood movies continues with Milan Luthria selecting a title highly inspired from two cult Western movies of ace director Sergio Leone,known as "Once Upon A Time In The West" and "Once Upon A Time in America".(Interestingly, this also reminds me the tag line of Aamir Khan's "Lagaan" which was again "Once Upon a Time in India".) Apart from its catchy title, the film heavily takes references from the real life of Haji Mastaan And Dawood, two famous names of the Mumbai underworld, which was then called Bambai.
Hence I was expecting a lot from OUATIM and its director Milan Luthria, who gave us two entertaining movies, "Taxi No. 9-2-11" and "Kachhe Dhaage" in the past. But all my expectations were only partly satisfied with few commendable performances in the movie and the rest was nothing great or exceptional. In reality, the movie has everything like seen before and has all easily predictable scenes in its old and overused storyline. In fact quite surprisingly I also found many sequences conceived and shot in a very childish way which was never expected in a project of this stature.
It right away starts with a very questionable smuggling sequence involving a rushing train and a truck crossing the railway lines. In order to hide the truck from the Police Checking, Ajay Devgan and his close associate decide to cross the railway track far away from the check post in a funny style. They just remove two parallel panels of the railway lines taking off all its nut bolts with a simple tool, cross their truck and then easily put the big iron panels back in place for the train to move over them. I really didn't know it was that easy to just rip off the railway lines with a simple tool and then put them back in few minutes. If it can really be done without a blast then its indeed a great and innovative tip from the writer-director for all notorious people out there.
Till the intermission, the film moves at a very slow pace where an Inspector (Randeep Hooda), who has just recovered from a Suicide attempt is actually narrating the whole story of the relationship between the two smugglers. The only saving grace in the first half is Emraan Hashmi, who entertains with his well written one liners and expressive eyes. But again his sequences in the jewellery shop along with Prachi Desai are written very carelessly. Even when he is not related to the underworld at that moment, the Jewellery Shop Owner keeps ignoring or tolerating his unacceptable behaviour with the rich customers and also doesn't take away Prachi's job for having such kind of relationships with illegal elements. A sequence which at once made me search for the names of the writers.
Another important aspect of the movie which falls flat without any long lasting impression is the love angle between Ajay Devgan, a smuggler and Kangna Ranaut, a film actress. The on-location shooting scenes and references of Bollywood which could have been the highlight of the movie prove to be the weakest link in this gangster flick. Post Intermission the Bollywood angle takes a back seat and the story mainly moves into the revolt plot of Emraan Hashmi wherein you can easily predict every next scene and the climax without any extra efforts.
However, one great merit of the movie remains its Background Score which has the required punch and melody, suiting its gangster background like a "T". In other technical departments the Art director tries to replicate the 70s-80s ambiance on the screen and does a good job. Along with the Cinematographer, using only a few things such as the get-ups, cars and currency notes, he manages well to create the magic of that old Bombay. Pritam once again comes with a winning track in "Pee Loon" but his adaptation of two R.D. Burman tracks in a song isn't that enjoyable.
Ajay Devgan, though excels as the Big Don but his performance is just a repeated polished act of what he had already done in COMPANY. Emraan Hashmi is the actual winner here with a brilliant performance presented in style, especially in the first half. Kangna Ranaut looks gorgeous and acts well but I felt like she had recently gone through some lips enhancement surgery, which was clearly visible in her close ups. Prachi Desai tries hard, but doesn't get any author backed role to prove herself. So she remains there in the movie as an unused asset. Randeep Hooda is competent, but again he gets an unexplained kind of role of an Inspector who attempts suicide feeling guilty, after decades of his professional relationship with the gangster. Avtar Gill as the minister is fine but Gauhar Khan goes over the top with her whitish make up and wastes a good opportunity to catch some eye balls.
As a conclusion, Yash Chopra's DEEWAR still remains the most impressive film inspired from the happening life of Haaji Mastaan. Incidentally, "Deewar" also finds a mention in OUATIM itself when Kangna shares an idea with Ajay and says "Let's make a movie on your life with a new actor who is making waves called Amit." It seems like director Milan Luthria sincerely wanted to pay his tribute to the great legend and his DEEWAR with these few lines.
Summing up, you can watch ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI only for its good performances and great background score. But as far as its overall movie experience is concerned, it has nothing exceptional or fresh to offer in the gangster movie genre.
Hence I was expecting a lot from OUATIM and its director Milan Luthria, who gave us two entertaining movies, "Taxi No. 9-2-11" and "Kachhe Dhaage" in the past. But all my expectations were only partly satisfied with few commendable performances in the movie and the rest was nothing great or exceptional. In reality, the movie has everything like seen before and has all easily predictable scenes in its old and overused storyline. In fact quite surprisingly I also found many sequences conceived and shot in a very childish way which was never expected in a project of this stature.
It right away starts with a very questionable smuggling sequence involving a rushing train and a truck crossing the railway lines. In order to hide the truck from the Police Checking, Ajay Devgan and his close associate decide to cross the railway track far away from the check post in a funny style. They just remove two parallel panels of the railway lines taking off all its nut bolts with a simple tool, cross their truck and then easily put the big iron panels back in place for the train to move over them. I really didn't know it was that easy to just rip off the railway lines with a simple tool and then put them back in few minutes. If it can really be done without a blast then its indeed a great and innovative tip from the writer-director for all notorious people out there.
Till the intermission, the film moves at a very slow pace where an Inspector (Randeep Hooda), who has just recovered from a Suicide attempt is actually narrating the whole story of the relationship between the two smugglers. The only saving grace in the first half is Emraan Hashmi, who entertains with his well written one liners and expressive eyes. But again his sequences in the jewellery shop along with Prachi Desai are written very carelessly. Even when he is not related to the underworld at that moment, the Jewellery Shop Owner keeps ignoring or tolerating his unacceptable behaviour with the rich customers and also doesn't take away Prachi's job for having such kind of relationships with illegal elements. A sequence which at once made me search for the names of the writers.
Another important aspect of the movie which falls flat without any long lasting impression is the love angle between Ajay Devgan, a smuggler and Kangna Ranaut, a film actress. The on-location shooting scenes and references of Bollywood which could have been the highlight of the movie prove to be the weakest link in this gangster flick. Post Intermission the Bollywood angle takes a back seat and the story mainly moves into the revolt plot of Emraan Hashmi wherein you can easily predict every next scene and the climax without any extra efforts.
However, one great merit of the movie remains its Background Score which has the required punch and melody, suiting its gangster background like a "T". In other technical departments the Art director tries to replicate the 70s-80s ambiance on the screen and does a good job. Along with the Cinematographer, using only a few things such as the get-ups, cars and currency notes, he manages well to create the magic of that old Bombay. Pritam once again comes with a winning track in "Pee Loon" but his adaptation of two R.D. Burman tracks in a song isn't that enjoyable.
Ajay Devgan, though excels as the Big Don but his performance is just a repeated polished act of what he had already done in COMPANY. Emraan Hashmi is the actual winner here with a brilliant performance presented in style, especially in the first half. Kangna Ranaut looks gorgeous and acts well but I felt like she had recently gone through some lips enhancement surgery, which was clearly visible in her close ups. Prachi Desai tries hard, but doesn't get any author backed role to prove herself. So she remains there in the movie as an unused asset. Randeep Hooda is competent, but again he gets an unexplained kind of role of an Inspector who attempts suicide feeling guilty, after decades of his professional relationship with the gangster. Avtar Gill as the minister is fine but Gauhar Khan goes over the top with her whitish make up and wastes a good opportunity to catch some eye balls.
As a conclusion, Yash Chopra's DEEWAR still remains the most impressive film inspired from the happening life of Haaji Mastaan. Incidentally, "Deewar" also finds a mention in OUATIM itself when Kangna shares an idea with Ajay and says "Let's make a movie on your life with a new actor who is making waves called Amit." It seems like director Milan Luthria sincerely wanted to pay his tribute to the great legend and his DEEWAR with these few lines.
Summing up, you can watch ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI only for its good performances and great background score. But as far as its overall movie experience is concerned, it has nothing exceptional or fresh to offer in the gangster movie genre.