Bollywood has made many movies on Dawood Ibrahims life which include D-Day, Once upon a time in Mumbai etc. But all these films only cover a certain part of Dawood's life. Even a film like Haseena Parker covered the life of only Haseena Parker in brief.
Bambai Meri Jaan however manages to cover the entire life story of Dawood and his family right from the time he was a kid to the time he became the king of underworld .
This means that the story begins from 1960s when Dawood was a kid and his father Ismail was serving the police as an honest cop . I would like to start using the name Dara Quadri instead of Dawood as that's what his fictional name is in this series . During that time , the underworld was ruled by two big gangsters Haji Mastan and Pathan . The entire series shows us how the Qadri family is forced to become involved with these gangsters and how ultimately Dara rises above these two gangsters to become the only one ruler of underworld.
First thing that we must make sure that these kind of series are not meant to be glorified and only meant to be enjoyed as an entertainment series. Dawood was a terrorist and by no means is he supposed to be sympathised with in anyway, no matter how much emotional things are shown in the series.
One thing that really impressed me about the series is how well the family dynamics are captured. None of the Bollywood films that were made on Dawood's life focused so deeply on Dawood's family dynamics. Bombai meri jaan shows us the deep relations between Dara and his father, Ismail and also with his brothers and his sister Habiba (The fictional name for Haseena). In this series, we get to see how as Dara gets involved in the Haji Mastan gang, his father Ismail starts to distance away from him. As Dara gets bigger, we get to see how his brothers also, who were very close to him, start to distance away from him. All these things are beautifully captured by the series.
The series has a lot of blood shed. There are a lot of terrifies sequences as well. There is one particular rape sequence which will make your blood freeze. Apart from this, there are a lot of gang war sequences which are quite interesting to watch.
The set pieces of the series is a hit and miss. While that costume choices and the looks and feels of the series is quite good, in many scenes, the background looks very artificial and looks like a lot of green screen has been used.
Let's talk about the performances. Avinash Tiwari as Dara is quite impressive. Initially he takes time to get into the character of Dara, but once he does, he hit the balls out of the park. K K Menon as as his father Ismail is just terrific. His eyes and facial expressions do a lot of talking. He doesn't speak much towards the end, but it is clearly evident through his facial expressions how he is pained to see his son Dara distance away from him and choose the wrong path. Jiten Gulati plays the role of Dara's brother Sadiq and he does a terrific job. Kritika Kamra plays the role of Habiba and I think she does a better job than Shraddha Kapoor as Haseena Parkar in her film. Saurabh Sachdeva as Haji Mastan is just terrific. Others have done a good job as well.
Since this is Dawood Ibrahim's whole life story, we have a few characters that you might have seen before in Bollywood films as well, one of them being Manya Surve (from shoot out at Wadala) here named as Ganya Surve. His role is played by Sumit Vyas and I did not like his portrayal as his character comes out caricaturish.
We also have at the end is supposedly fictional. Chhota Rajan played by the very talented Aditya Rawal. He does a great job as well.
Many were saying that the pacing of this series is very slow. That's not the case for me. It was quite well paced and the fact that it had such a riveting story telling, it kept me hooked till the end. The series will continue into season two as we get to see more of Habiba and Dara as they extend their terrorist activities.
Overall, if you're looking for some gangster, entertainment series, Bombay meri Jaan should be in your watchlist. Watch it for the riveting storytelling and some terrific performances and detailing.
Bambai Meri Jaan however manages to cover the entire life story of Dawood and his family right from the time he was a kid to the time he became the king of underworld .
This means that the story begins from 1960s when Dawood was a kid and his father Ismail was serving the police as an honest cop . I would like to start using the name Dara Quadri instead of Dawood as that's what his fictional name is in this series . During that time , the underworld was ruled by two big gangsters Haji Mastan and Pathan . The entire series shows us how the Qadri family is forced to become involved with these gangsters and how ultimately Dara rises above these two gangsters to become the only one ruler of underworld.
First thing that we must make sure that these kind of series are not meant to be glorified and only meant to be enjoyed as an entertainment series. Dawood was a terrorist and by no means is he supposed to be sympathised with in anyway, no matter how much emotional things are shown in the series.
One thing that really impressed me about the series is how well the family dynamics are captured. None of the Bollywood films that were made on Dawood's life focused so deeply on Dawood's family dynamics. Bombai meri jaan shows us the deep relations between Dara and his father, Ismail and also with his brothers and his sister Habiba (The fictional name for Haseena). In this series, we get to see how as Dara gets involved in the Haji Mastan gang, his father Ismail starts to distance away from him. As Dara gets bigger, we get to see how his brothers also, who were very close to him, start to distance away from him. All these things are beautifully captured by the series.
The series has a lot of blood shed. There are a lot of terrifies sequences as well. There is one particular rape sequence which will make your blood freeze. Apart from this, there are a lot of gang war sequences which are quite interesting to watch.
The set pieces of the series is a hit and miss. While that costume choices and the looks and feels of the series is quite good, in many scenes, the background looks very artificial and looks like a lot of green screen has been used.
Let's talk about the performances. Avinash Tiwari as Dara is quite impressive. Initially he takes time to get into the character of Dara, but once he does, he hit the balls out of the park. K K Menon as as his father Ismail is just terrific. His eyes and facial expressions do a lot of talking. He doesn't speak much towards the end, but it is clearly evident through his facial expressions how he is pained to see his son Dara distance away from him and choose the wrong path. Jiten Gulati plays the role of Dara's brother Sadiq and he does a terrific job. Kritika Kamra plays the role of Habiba and I think she does a better job than Shraddha Kapoor as Haseena Parkar in her film. Saurabh Sachdeva as Haji Mastan is just terrific. Others have done a good job as well.
Since this is Dawood Ibrahim's whole life story, we have a few characters that you might have seen before in Bollywood films as well, one of them being Manya Surve (from shoot out at Wadala) here named as Ganya Surve. His role is played by Sumit Vyas and I did not like his portrayal as his character comes out caricaturish.
We also have at the end is supposedly fictional. Chhota Rajan played by the very talented Aditya Rawal. He does a great job as well.
Many were saying that the pacing of this series is very slow. That's not the case for me. It was quite well paced and the fact that it had such a riveting story telling, it kept me hooked till the end. The series will continue into season two as we get to see more of Habiba and Dara as they extend their terrorist activities.
Overall, if you're looking for some gangster, entertainment series, Bombay meri Jaan should be in your watchlist. Watch it for the riveting storytelling and some terrific performances and detailing.