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A tale of a city
JUL 30 -
Seen through the eyes of a police officer, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai is the story of the rise of Mumbai’s celebrity criminals. More specifically, it concentrates on the rise and fall of Sultan (inspired by the 1970’s smuggler Haji Mastan) and Mumbai’s journey into the world of crime and bloodshed as Shoaib (inspired by Dawood Ibrahim), Sultan’s protégé,
outplays Sultan and leads the city into a state of carnage.
Sultan’s character resembles Haji Mastan—the smuggler-cum-messiah of the poor. He works at the docks as a child and learns to love and worship the sea. He is shrewd but not ruthless, romances a Bollywood star just like Mastan, and his shirt is always white. The difference between Sultan and Mastan is that Sultan decides to change his ways for Rehana, while Mastan gave up smuggling after being released from jail. Sultan is obviously India’s Don Corleone: someone who follows his own rules but has a set of morals he will never exceed. His fan-turned-foe, Shoaib, on the other hand is ruthless and unethical.
Despite being centred on violence, director Milan Luthria manages to assert his theme with a grace that illustrates the violence without terrifying the audience. The elegance in the movie is complemented by the soothing musical numbers by music director Pritam.
Although the old Mercedes cars, leather jackets, silk shirts and Kangana Ranaut’s hairstyle will remind you of the old Bollywood days, the film lacks in its consistency of approach. It seems to be set
in the 70’s going by the looks of the characters, but the sets otherwise are anachronistic.
Ajay Devgn seems to have mastered
the art of portraying the criminal- politician role with this film after Yuva, Shikhar and Rajneeti.
This Ekta Kapoor production stitches the history of crime in Mumbai in a well-packaged story with value additions of good music, performance and dialogues. At the end of the day, it’s worth the watch.
Posted on: 2010-07-31 09:08
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