Anil Kapoor is still a force to reckon with, his anger and intensity is always so spot on, that any director casting him can pretty much leave him to it. This story is about Manya Surve, so Dawood and his brother do take a bit of a back seat, but it was important that good known actors were cast to play them, as after all they are integral to the history of Mumbai’s underworld.
Manoj Bajpayee and Sonu Sood are perfectly cast as Sabir and Dawood Ibrahim. All credit to Amar Mohile, as the background score sticks to the script throughout.Īcting: Finally to the highlight of the film, the actors. More importantly though is the background score, which has to fit the mood and tones of the film. These songs add to the film’s mass appeal and fit well with the characters and of course one needs Mika Singh to deliver the vocals, which he pleasantly does. A film of this genre needs its item numbers held in bars and brothels and here we don’t have one, but three – ‘Laila’, featuring Sunny Leone], ‘Babli’ withPriyanka Chopra and ‘Aala Re Aala’, filmed on Sophie Choudry.
Soundtrack: A number of music directors were used to deliver the soundtrack, Anu Malik, Anand Raaj Anand, Meet Brothers Anjaan and Mustafa Zahid.
So full credit to Sameer Arya and Sanjay F. It is not kitschy or retro like Once upon a time in Mumbai was, but more real and gritty from the prison scenes, to the shanty towns. The film is set in the 1970s and Gupta’s team has got the look and feel right. Credit for the action sequences must go to Tinu Verma, which form part of the high points of the film. It is no classic, but nevertheless entertaining and a film for the masses. Here dialogue writer Milap Milan Zaveri must be given top stars, as the dialogues fit the genre without being too cliche and pack in a few funny ones along the way.ĭirecting: Gupta has been crowned king copycat in the past, but credit where due he has crafted a good film here, with the right amount of action and item numbers to keep the audience engaged. One aspect which needs to be given credit to is the dialogue and any underworld film needs to be complete with ‘dialgoue-baazi’ and one liners, which need not be crass. As mentioned Zaidi’s book only dedicates 8 pages to Manya, but along with Gupta and his team they have created an engaging, layered and commercial film, humanising Manya along the way. What they all have successfully managed to do is take a lesser known underworld character, but an important one none the less and added his backstory, motivations, love interest, rise and ultimate death. Hussain Zaidi and Sanjay Gupta are credited with the story, with screenwriting credits going to Sanjay Gupta, Abhijeet Deshpande and Sanjay Bhatia. Dawood had avenged his brothers death, whilst Mumbai police had carried out its first official encounter, creating a precedence for many more encounters to follow. He was riddled with 6 bullets, fighting till the very end. The police were led to Wadala, following a rumoured tip off from Dawood. Manya was eventually shot dead on 23rd January 1982, at the age of 37, after a two month police hunt. Manya killed reigning King of Mumbai Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Sabir. What is only 8 pages in Zaidi’s book, under a chapter titled Mumbai’s Hadley Chase and is about a gangster called Manya Surve, becomes a two and half hour film. Bollywood is no different, with every accomplished actor and director attempting the genre. Further, Sanjay Gupta is back after a long hiatus and John Abraham attempts the role of gangster for the first time.Ĭinema has always had a fascination for the underworld and their dons, creating cinematic magic, whenever their stories are told on the screen. If you have not had a chance to read the book, take it from us, it is an absolutely amazing book and having read the book recently, our expectations are sky high for the film. Sanjay Gupta says without it he could not have made this film, Anil Kapoor called it by far the best book on the Mumbai mafia and John Abraham hailed Zaidi as a master storyteller. His most recent book is Dongri to Dubai: Six decades of the Mumbai Mafia and from this book has Shootout at Wadala been created. One of his previous best selling books was Black Friday, which Anurag Kashyap successfully transformed onto screen. Hussain Zaidi is a Mumbai based investigative crime journalist, who has worked for some of India’s leading newspapers.