The Shootout Story!

Movie: Shootout at Lokhandwala

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Arbaaz Khan, Suniel Shetty, Tusshar Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan (guest appearance), Diya Mirza, Aarti Chabria, Neha Dhupia (for the first time... with full cloths.. not exposing at all!)

Director: Apporva Lakhia

Movies goes way back in 1991... Long before Babri Masjid, Riots, Bombay Bomb blasts. Long before 'Satya' and 'Company'. When D Company was spreading it's presence in Mumbai. Started with Gold Smuggling, Drugs, now they were in to extortion. When Chota Rajan was still in Dawood's gang and was among his most trusted men. It was that time when Mahendra Dolas aka Maya Dolas was growing under Dawood's umbrella. He was ruthless and foul mouthed. He had become one of Dawood's top men. He was "Wanted" by Mumbai Police in several extortion and murder cases. It was his gang that was responsible for killing entire gang of Ashok Joshi with the help of a member from Joshi's gang -- Dilip Kokak aka Dilip Buva. Buva later became Maya's right hand.

That's the time when Anti Terrorist Squat (ATS) was brought in to action to clean the city. ATS was led by ACP Altaf Ahmed Khan (A. A. Khan). Well, that's for the history of this whole incident!

Now this film is a true story (or "based on true rumours" as the film title says) about shoothout that was carried out by A. A. Khan led ATS @ Swati Building, Lokhandwala Complex back in November, 1991, killing some of the most wanted gangsters of that time -- Maya Dolas, Dilip Buva and 6 others.

In the movie, Sanjay Dutt plays AA khan, and Vivek and Tusshar play Maya and Buva respectively. Story stats with Flashback showing a news about what happened... And then entire movie is question answers (with flashback) between Amithabh Bachchan who is playing as Private prosecutor Dhingra and 3 ATS officers - Sanjay Dutt (Samsher Khan), Suniel Shetty (Kaviraj) and Arbaaz Khan (Javeed Shaikh). Khan tries to explain why ATS was setup, how it all started with Operation Bluestar, sikh gangsters coming in cities like Mumbai to spread terror, etc. There is a small scene with Abhishek Bachchan in it but we missed that :-( Anyway later I got to know that he was shown as police officer who is killed by Sikh terrorists.

So, rest of the film, 3 of them try to explain Dhingra how Maya had become uncontrollable and how the shootout was necessary. Scenes showing Maya's terror are very graphic. He has been shown as someone with 'no fear'. Vivek Oberoi's acting is pretty good... long time after 'Company' Sanjay, Arbaaz, Suniel all have acted well. Good Direction with a touch of masala. Maya and other's outfit, style is not quite realistic if you compare it to 1991. But that does add masala and stops the film from being boring with only "khoon kharaba".

The actual Shootout is the entire second half of the movie and is very well filmed. Fighting sequence are very "filmy" :-) with a scene where both Khan and Maya are out of bullets at same time and start street fighting. But they keep the rhythm going. Maya and Buva's end scenes are again, very graphic. Not recommended for weak hearts!

Ladies have very less role and very less acting to do. Diya Mirza looks ok as reporter. She should stick to side roles :-) Neha Dhupia has not exposed at all!!! Not good! Instead, Aarti Chhabria has exposed for both of them :-)

Songs are OK. Most of them filmed in Dance bars, hence loud. "Ae Ganpat" is good one with a Rap touch...

All in all, a good flim, after long time! I would not say "Must Watch" but you can give it a try! :-)

Additional Links:

Midday Article on real shootout
http://www.mid-day.com/smd/play/2007/May/156781.htm

Indian Express Article
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=237186

Wikipedia Articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Dolas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftab_Ahmed_Khan

Just Married

Movie: Just Married

Cast: Fardeen "Charsi" Khan, Isha "doesn't look like her mother" Deol, Satish Shah, Kiren Kher, Perizaad Zorabian(!!) and may more... I don't even remember!

From the Makers of "Pyar ke Side Effects"! Thats what the teaser for this movie showed. Had high hopes with this one... but yet again, yet another Saturday evening, yet another bad movie.... what a rip-off!! It's sad how they can make such movies. Spending all that money. Complete waste! They should give all that money to charity and record that event... that will be a much better movie!! They 'tried' to show how difficult it in, in arrange marriage for a couple to get used to eachother, get close to eachother. It's suppose to be funny, but instead, it becomes boring... minute by minute.

Story: These 2 people meet eachother in 1 marriage. Their parents decided to fix the 'Rishta' and boom... they are married! And then the rest of the story is what happens on their honeymoon. The movie looks similar Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. at times (or vice versa, I am not sure which one was released first) Both are stupid movies. There can be no comparison between bad and worst). Anyway, so Fadreen wants to do s*x, she is not ready, they try to 'Understand' eachother, they couldn't. So they fight n fight, n cry and fight again. Finally, they start loving eachother on their journey when an accident happens almost throwing their bus in a deep "khaee". And on that balancing bus (a scene very similar to the one on "Raja" -- starring Madhuri, Sanjay Kapoor) they say "I Love U" to eachother, hug eachother... how Original!

On scale of 1 to 5... I would rate it as 1.5 max!

Cine Of The Times - Movies That Defined India Down the Years

A lovely article in Times of India on 27/8/2006. luckily, I had a PDF saved that time! Here it is... for every one!



OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT | SHREE 420 (1955)
Plot: Idealistic youth led astray. Honesty triumphs

Sometimes a man’s life tells the story of a nation. Few Bollywood characters encapsulate the moral dilemmas of a generation as Raju, the protagonist of this Raj Kapoor movie. When crooked glamgirl Nadira lures him with the song, Mud mud ke na dekh, she is actually telling him: Let me show you the way to success and riches. Raju’s predicament — the easy, immoral way or the honest, hard path — was a dilemma for many in Nehruvian India as post-Independence hopes slowly gave way to disillusionment. Corruption was already creeping into public life. In the movie, an unscrupulous capitalist gets Raju embroiled in a housing scam. Is it any surprise that India’s first major financial scam emerged two years later when LIC shares were manipulated by Delhi businessman Haridas Mundhra? The scandal also involved then Union finance minister T T Krishnamachari who resigned later. But in Shree 420, Raju forsakes Nadira (aptly named Maya or illusory wealth) and finally returns to Nargis (named Vidya or learning). You decide what happened to the generation.

INDIA INVISIBLE | MOTHER INDIA (1957)
Plot: Indomitable rural woman battles fate’s rough cuts

If Shree 420 explored the urban pangs of Nehru’s India of Five-Year Plans, Mehboob Khan’s Mother India was rooted in Gandhi’s hinterland Hindustan. If Raj Kapoor’s movie explored changing values, Mother India hung on to time-tested values and proclaimed that dignity is non-negotiable even if it meant gunning down your own son as leading character Nargis does in the climax. Mother India is the story of 1950s’ India Invisible: of impoverished honest farmers, of mounting debts and the lifelong struggle to stay afloat. In a country where farmers’ suicides continue to dominate Page 13, who would say that this tribute to rural India is outdated? Sometimes a woman’s life also tells the story of a nation.

GEN WITHOUT A YEN | JUNGLEE (1961)
Plot: Rude alpha male tamed by virginal beauty

In pre-Independence India, mainstream Bollywood usually wallowed in timid romantic denial. The mood blended smoothly with Gandhi’s abstemiousness and Nehru’s idea of India. But by early Sixties, the anti-pleasure lobby was under siege. One primeval scream — Yaaahooo! — by Shammi Kapoor from the snowy slopes of Kashmir changed the texture of Bollywood love and got hardwired into young consciousness. Romantic ardour, both on and off screen, was never the same again. “With Junglee,” says filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, “Bollywood unshackled itself from self-imposed seriousness.” Romping on ice, not stolen glances, became the new foreplay. Coming at a time when the youth was tiring of sermons, Junglee’s mindless fun became its strength. The hero offers no perspective on life; he has no cause barring Saira Banu (admittedly a decent cause), yet he is cast as a rebel. The new hero also wanted to enjoy life to the full. And a generation attaining adulthood in early Sixties India couldn’t agree more.

TIME OUT | WAQT (1965)
Plot: Three brothers lost and found

At first glance, Waqt appears to be the first of the lost-and-found movies that later became Manmohan Desai’s core competence. The outsider Raja (Rajkumar) also carries the seed of Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man in the Seventies. But a closer inspection shows how this Yash Chopra-directed movie was also an acute observer of the evolving social reality. The three brothers grow up separately: one is a criminal, another a lawyer, the third ends up as a driver. Their life stories are representative capsules of India growing up and going in different directions. Waqt is also unapologetic about affluence. The flashy cars, the plush interiors, the private parties — as Bhatt points out, even the on-screen crooner of Aage bhi jaane na tu is phoren — offer a peepshow to the good life. As Bollywood academic Rachael Dwyer writes, “The film set the style for a whole new look for Hindi films, away from the drama of feudal riches to upwardly socially mobile groups.” The Waqt landscape dominates Hindi films today; its attainment a middle-class goal.

THE ANGRY YEARS | DEEWAR (1975)
Plot: Two brothers — a cop and a smuggler — fight for Ma

When Deewar was released, the discontent against Indira Gandhi’s regime was already being articulated by JP’s student movement. Rising unemployment and corruption had left the youth frustrated.Deewar captured this angst against the unfair system. The enraged outsider Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) became the doppelganger of many. Unlike other Big B superhits of the same period — Zanjeer (1973) and Sholay (1975) — Deewar also had a social resonance: it was the right film at the right time. In his dialogues with copbrother Ravi (Shashi Kapoor), one finds Vijay redefining right and wrong. That the audience clapped for him, not for his righteous sibling, showed he had found affirmative echoes in their hearts. Released 20 years after Shree 420, Deewar showed how dramatically we had changed as a people. The wrong way had become the right way.

RISE, SUBALTERNS! | HIMMATWALA (1983)
Plot: Villainous village rich set right by shehri babu

In the early Eighties, the family stopped going to cinema halls, thanks to the VCR revolution. Consequently, until Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) kickstarted the reversal,movie halls were the domain of the underclass. Himmatwala was one of the first movies that internalised this change to suit the new audience. The crass dialogues, the thunder thighs, the asinine lyrics — Ladki nahin tu lakri ka khamba hai, bak bak mat kar nak tera lamba hai — became the prototype for many other Jeetendra, Mithun and Govinda movies that front benchers patronized. Himmatwala could actually sixth-sense the changing social equation in a way politicians couldn’t. After all, the Mandal Commission report was submitted in 1980. V P Singh acted on it in 1990. It was the revenge of the underclass.

WEDLOCKED | HAHK (1994)
Plot: Musical romance in family setting

By the Nineties, the great Indian family was under threat: divorce rates were going up, newly married sons wanted to move out. Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Aapke Hain Koun both reinvented and celebrated the great Indian family. Many thought the movie was a prolonged marriage video. But its impact was tsunami-like. Weddings were never the same again. “The film came when consumerism was beginning to rise,” says adman and social observer Santosh Desai, “HAHK showed that it is possible to balance tradition and consumerism. See the number of times Madhuri Dixit eats ice-cream and chocolate in the film.” The film also shows how the early fruits of globalisation were creating a happy upper middle class that had a sense of laughter. But the film also fed on nostalgia. “It told us the way we were,” says Bhatt. Many of us continue to be like that.


MERA GAON, MERA VIDESH | DDLJ (1995)
Plot: NRI kids fall in love. Parents object

This Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer from the Yash Chopra stable anticipated the future. It brought the diaspora into our consciousness. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and dual citizenship for NRIs followed in the coming years. As an idea, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge sold the illusion of breaking new ground in the celluloid love game. But it was actually making an old plea. As Desai says, “It argues that modernity is nothing but tradition in a purified form. Shah Rukh’s method of winning Kajol in the second half is like a modern satyagraha.” The film also looks at NRIs as the repositories of tradition, rather than those who abandon it. A comforting thought for desis abroad.

YUPPIEDOM GETS A VOICE | DCH (2001)
Plot: Three cool buddies grow up

Farhan Akhtar’s debut film came at a time when India was in the midst of the call centre revolution that ensured jobs to thousands of the young and restless.With pocket money plentiful, attitude became everything. Smart, slick and with-it, Dil Chahta Hai touched the pulse of this cool-talking generation and stole its heart. The film’s triumph though lay in its storytelling. DCH had a fresh sensibility; it became both a date movie and a buddy movie. By 2001, new millennium trendwatchers had already pronounced that friends are the new family. DCH’s newness, says social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan, was underlined in the way it looked at friendship. “Earlier the notion of friendship was weaved around loyalty. DCH shifted the focus to companionship, laughter and remembrance.” According to Desai, the film also doesn’t demand any new choices from any of its lead players. In the end, the young guys take the conventional option. Attitude, and that includes the haircut and the goatee, is only skin-deep. Many would say that Gen-Next is exactly like that. Whatever it pretends to be, it is ultimately conservative at heart.

GEN NEXT REVOLUTION | RDB (2006)
Plot: Carefree gang finds life’s mission after pal’s death

Where political science lectures and student unions failed, Rang De Basanti succeeded: it introduced political imagination as an idea into the heads of an apolitical generation. Cool dudes too care for their country was the message. Even if it meant gunning down the home minister and getting shot in return. Aamir Khan’s RDB was fantasy fulfilment for an entire generation. “Both patriotism and angst were packaged in a consumable way,” says Desai. The film had spontaneous cool. It also showed, as Vishwanathan says, how a generation is at ease with the colonial past: the just-arrived white heroine easily blends with the crowd. In real life, RDB keeps showing up in candlelight protests, online blogs and the spunk to face water cannons.

Vivah!

Movie: Vivah
Director: Sooraj Barjatya

Actors: Shahid Kapoor, Amruta Rao, Alok Nath, Seema Biswas, Anupam Kher, plus many more!


I was forced, again and again, by my better half :-) to watch this movie. So one fine evening, I rented the DVD of this movie for 30 bucks... 4 hours... thats 240 mins of torture! sheer torture!! for 30 Rs! Thats 8 mins of torture for 1 Rs!!

Probably one of the worst movie in the recent times... the movie has NOTHING! Poor acting, meaningless songs like "Milan abhi adha adhura hai", heavy, pure hindi dilogues, like, "Hamari beti ki Vivah ki tithi nischit karni hai, panditji!" (WTF! who talks like that these days?) and hero with name "PREM"!


I am glad that this film was a duper duper ultra flop! People like Sooraj Barjatya, Karan Johar and folks at Rajeshri and Yashraj Films think that they can show anything "sugar dipped" with loads of glycerin and people would come running in theaters. Well...thats not the case anymore!

Back to the film... per the promoters, it talks about "Journey from Engagement to Marriage"! Well, it surely doesn't do that very well... :-) The whole movie looks so 'False' and 'untrue'.

Here is this one guy, searching for a groom for his dead brother's daughter, bingo! First shot gets a marriage proposal from the son of a CEO of a big company! (Should be Import/Export firm, coz in hindi movies, if they don't tell you what business that company does, its Import/Export by default.!) Bingo! engagement in the first meeting! and then the pain begins for next 3 hrs 40 mins!

Forgot to mention... this guy (Alok Nath) who is searching for a groom for his niece (his dead brother's daughter) also has his own daughter (a good looking model purposefully and professionally made black with makeup... yes! literally black!) and he loves his niece more than his daughter (racist!?) Not a single dialogue in entire movie with his own daughter! And yes... you also have his wife (Seema Biswas), who is another raciest... she hates Amruta Rao the whole movie coz she is fairer than her own daughter.

Anyway... so the breakup remaining 3h 45m is: Once they get engaged, then for 3 hours, they just 'try' to talk to each other, songs in dreams, Important project overseas and no one to go but the hero himself, sugar dipped talking over the phone, "hame sirf bahu chahiye... aur kuch nahi", shadi ka joda, "Tumhari awaj sunke bla bla bla"etc etc...

And then this poor, unfortunate accident happens... a fire in the house! A day before the wedding! Run! Run!!! But no... Amrita goes back in the burning house saves her sister and she herself is heavily burnt in the due course... BUT thankfully (thanks to the director) nothing happens to her face and they still get married to eachother. Nothing great!

But it's Sooraj Barjatya... so the Shahid marries her, puts 'sindur' in her 'maang' and that's when when she is in damn ICU... and icing on the cake -- he changes her dressing on their 'Suhagraat' where in fact what he should be doing is 'undressing' ";-) ;-) ;-)

So... a total wastage of 4 hours. On scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being highest, I would rate it -2.