In a nutshell, it was very nearly perfect but as with most Bollywood films somewhere in between, something went horribly wrong. The good thing about Shootout at Lokhandwala is that it is very engaging. It grips the audience from its very solemn beginning until the last bullet is fired at the very end. That plus the fact that there were some very memorable performances in the film. But before I dive into that, let me just give you a quick background regarding the film itself, which is basically that the film is a fictional account of a now very infamous shootout between Mumbai police (specifically the now defunct ATS - Anti Terrorist Squad which can be likened to America's SWAT team) and a pack of goons in 1991. The film is told from the perspective of the three main officers involved with the decision making on that now infamous day (characters played by Sanjay Dutt, Arbaaz Khan & Suneil Shetty) as they related their story to their lawyer (Amitabh Bachchan) who is about to defend them in court.
Now onto the great performances starting with Vivek Oberoi. Now what can be said about this guy that hasn't already been said when he brought the house down with his breakout performance in Company? Here Oberoi takes it up a notch as the goon leader Maya Dolas, an outlaw since age nine when he saved his mother the grips of domestic violence by stabbing his abusive father to death. Oberoi has a penchant for playing bad guys and playing them to the very bone. In two words, Oberoi was "very good" in this film. Suniel Shetty and Amitabh Bachchan were almost too comfortable in their respective roles as officer as advocate but one cannot blame them too much as their roles were perhaps a tad-bit too basic considering the roles these two men have essayed in their impressive Bollywood careers. Amrita Singh shows that she is not to be forgotten with a most unforgettable role as Maya's feisty mother. While all the female roles in this film were severely underwritten, Singh managed to emblazon her character with such dynamic cinematic presence. I really enjoyed her performance as a force to be reckoned with. Blink and you'll miss Rakhi Sawant's cameo as herself, Abhishek Bachchan as a legendarily foolish cop, blink twice and you'll miss Dia Mirza's token pretty reporter role as well. The film is jammed packed with a who is who list of heavy hitters but somehow it still failed at the box office. Perhaps due to the strong language and gory violence, just take your pick.
Very good as well is the film's soundtrack (a special applause goes out to the writers for fitting two item numbers into such an action packed drama) which would have been perfect except for the horribly unforgivable 'Ganpat' which has the pack of goons singing and dancing on tables bragging about their way of life and controlling the likes of Bipasha Basu and Aishwarya Rai. Now if that not only sounds wrong, I think someone should have asked the writers if they somehow forgot that this was based on real life events? Stick to the script and stop getting carried away. Aishwarya Rai wasn't even famous in 1991! She was a 17-year-old unknown model, hello! Anyway, let us be thankful that they didn't picturise the part of the song pertaining to "Aishwarya Rai" on Oberoi's character. Sheesh! Other great performances include Rohit Roy as Fattu, Sanjay Dutt as Shamsher Khan & Arbaaz Khan Javeen Shaikh. If you can take the sight of Bollywood style gore, bad language and a shaky script, then I recommend that you see this film. B-
Now onto the great performances starting with Vivek Oberoi. Now what can be said about this guy that hasn't already been said when he brought the house down with his breakout performance in Company? Here Oberoi takes it up a notch as the goon leader Maya Dolas, an outlaw since age nine when he saved his mother the grips of domestic violence by stabbing his abusive father to death. Oberoi has a penchant for playing bad guys and playing them to the very bone. In two words, Oberoi was "very good" in this film. Suniel Shetty and Amitabh Bachchan were almost too comfortable in their respective roles as officer as advocate but one cannot blame them too much as their roles were perhaps a tad-bit too basic considering the roles these two men have essayed in their impressive Bollywood careers. Amrita Singh shows that she is not to be forgotten with a most unforgettable role as Maya's feisty mother. While all the female roles in this film were severely underwritten, Singh managed to emblazon her character with such dynamic cinematic presence. I really enjoyed her performance as a force to be reckoned with. Blink and you'll miss Rakhi Sawant's cameo as herself, Abhishek Bachchan as a legendarily foolish cop, blink twice and you'll miss Dia Mirza's token pretty reporter role as well. The film is jammed packed with a who is who list of heavy hitters but somehow it still failed at the box office. Perhaps due to the strong language and gory violence, just take your pick.
Very good as well is the film's soundtrack (a special applause goes out to the writers for fitting two item numbers into such an action packed drama) which would have been perfect except for the horribly unforgivable 'Ganpat' which has the pack of goons singing and dancing on tables bragging about their way of life and controlling the likes of Bipasha Basu and Aishwarya Rai. Now if that not only sounds wrong, I think someone should have asked the writers if they somehow forgot that this was based on real life events? Stick to the script and stop getting carried away. Aishwarya Rai wasn't even famous in 1991! She was a 17-year-old unknown model, hello! Anyway, let us be thankful that they didn't picturise the part of the song pertaining to "Aishwarya Rai" on Oberoi's character. Sheesh! Other great performances include Rohit Roy as Fattu, Sanjay Dutt as Shamsher Khan & Arbaaz Khan Javeen Shaikh. If you can take the sight of Bollywood style gore, bad language and a shaky script, then I recommend that you see this film. B-