Monsoon Shootout

While most of the seasoned movie buffs would have heard about the Rashomon effect, Monsoon Shoutout explores a single perspective butterfly Rashomon effect, and one without anything at all. Written and directed by Amit Kumar this movie is a rare treat for audiences for its treatment and workmanship. Great acting performances with refreshing new faces makes the movie punch above its weight. Watch out for Neeraj Kabi as Khan for some great smooth acting lessons.

Monsoon Shootout is aided by a spectacular screenplay, one that will be remembered for ages. Cinematography and the choice of lenses used by Rajeev Ravi depending on the mood of cinema is excellent. Production design, costumes, make up and Music is very good for a movie that is on a very low budget. The choices of shooting locations used, couldn't be any better, just like the casting of the Monsoon Shootout which is perfect. The editor too has excelled in keeping the movie under 90 minutes.

Overall Monsoon Shootout is a must watch movie for seasoned movie buffs for its excellence in almost all departments of filmmaking, which is pretty rare in Indian Cinema. Mass movie audiences please stay away, this one is not for you.

#MonsoonShootout takes a fresh look at the cop vs criminal story. What if a newly-recruited cop comes face to face with a suspected criminal? Does he shoot him? Or does he let him escape? What happens to the criminal's family thereafter? Does his young son turn into another criminal? We get to see different versions of the same situation. Hats off to director Amit Kumar n cinematographer Rajeev Ravi for their efforts. They ensure that the viewer is completely involved in the proceedings. Performances by Vijay Varma, Neeraj Kabi, Siddiqui, r first-rate. Definitely worth watching. Rating 3.5/5.

In our everyday life, we take many decisions. Some are of great importance and some are casual, some may prove right while same may lead to a disaster. This movie gives you a understanding of such dilemma and the possible outcomes of the decision taken.

A cop equipped with a gun, faces an encounter with a local gangster after a very long chase. Not sure whether the man standing in front of him, whom he chased so long is the actual gangster he is looking for. And a prompt choice has to be made either to shoot and kill or try to persuade him to surrender. And the entire film is upon the thought process of the consequences of either of the choice made. But the biggest challenge is the given time which is just fraction of seconds.

Every course of action gives birth to a fresh new situation which might be favourable or may not be. But one who takes the decision should also have guts to face the consequences. Need of the time is the biggest factor that influences our decision making ability and the course of action. Whatever one feels right is the correct choice for the time being, no matter what the consequences are.

Human race has transformed from primitive man to a socialised and civilised man today. We might have chosen not to develop ourselves and save us from the natural disaster we have created today. But the call was to get upgraded and evolve ourselves with technological advancement, despite of knowing that we are planning our own end.

Living life itself is a big challenge. In the road of life, one has to choose amongst the available paths to move on. And with one's intellectual smartness choices are to be made and one has to struggle hard to keep up on the chosen road and make it to the destiny. Remember, you don't have your lifetime to make a choice!

Now, moving back to the film, you should watch it once. Plot is different, which is not commonly available in any Bollywood movie. The idea of the film is great but the execution was not up to the mark. But I really appreciate the efforts of the director for undertaking a project with such a unique concept!

This film was made in 2013 and premiered in some film festivals but sadly it only got a release in Indian screens in 2017 December hence very few could witness this amazing film.

The concept of this film according to 2013 was way ahead of that time in bollywood, a time loop film crafted pretty well which shows Vijay Verma as a young cop in a situation to kill Nawaz, a suspected goon and he needs to decide what to do, to leave him or kill him or is there a 3rd way? Or is even the 3rd way gonna help?

Watch till the end to witness a shocker of a climax honestly I never saw that coming whatever happens at the end. "Life gives us choices but the time given to us to select one of the right choices is very less" is the message of this film , it's not even a spoiler you still need to watch till the end to figure out why this message holds true at the end.

One of the best from Vijay Verma who was little known that time but now is quite well known. Nawaz is just the usual Gaitonde type goon here as well. Neeraj Kabi too has done a decent job.

Overall, this film is available for free on Zee5, do give it a watch , absolutely worth it.

MONSOON SHOOTOUT at the 12th Indian FIlm Festival of Los Angeles LAIFF Reviewed by Alex Deleon-Sinha, April 29, 2014. --- Monsoon Shootout", a brilliant multi-layered debut feature by Amit Kumar is, among other things, a dazzling noir thriller drenched in rain starring Nawaz Siddiqui as a serial hatchet killer (!). It was really the main event of the 2014 IFFLA, but was inexplicably programmed as a throwaway on the last day and not given much attention while a dumb movie in the main hall pulled in the biggest crowd of the week.

Director Amit Kumar of Monsoon Shootout did show up on the very last night, in and out ~ to accompany his film and hold a Q & A. after which, over a drink in the lobby, he revealed to me that he was very impressed by the Polish film "Blind Chance" (Przypadek) a 1981 masterpiece by Krzysztof Kieslowski -- and that the basic idea for Monsoon Shootoot came from the Kieslowski picture. In both pictures -- both classic mindbenders -- the same story is told three times over with different outcomes each time. In this one you see normally lovable Nawaz Siddiqi as a psychotic ax-killer in two versions, but the last one makes you question which one was reality, and which ones were fantasy. Did the rookie cop who was stalking him all the time really have to shoot him as he was clambering over a wall? -- and Maybe he wasn't really the killer after all ....Huh?

This was a revelation to me because I too was greatly impressed by "Blind Chance" when I saw it in Poland years ago, and subliminally caught the parallels between the two films as I watched the current "Monsoon Shootout", but the Indian details as worked out by Kumar are totally different. It would make a remarkable evening of film watching to pair these two films up -- among other things to see the contrasting cultures and the contrasting acting styles of two fantastic actors-- Nawazzudin Sadiqi and Polish actor Boguslaw Linda who, in 1981, was the most popular film star in Poland. The film title is itself multi-resonant, suggesting an imploded version of "Monsoon Wedding" engaged to a Watery vision of "Shootout at the O.K. Corral" -- with the latter of which it has far more in common. A terrific movie that needs to be seen several time to pick up on all the nuances and counter- themes -- but do Bring an umbrella!