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
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