Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI – CATCH IT ( A- ) Once Upon a time in Mumbaai is quite different take on the Mumbaai Don world… which is less brutal and hardcore then Company or Satya… An amazing movie with amazing performances by all the leading actors… Ajay Devgan yet again proved that he is par excellence… his portrayal of Sultan Mirza is effortless and complete natural… Imran Hasmi in his Bad Boy Avatar again proved he is the best Bad boy Around in Bollywood. Gangana Ranaut looks drop dead gorgeous and exquisite… Prachi Desai looks innocent and extremely pretty... Randeep Hoda proved that he has abundant of talent… Gauhar Khan's item number was Classy and looks Hot as Always. The music of the movie is really enchanting…. Overall a great movie by Milan Luthria, who didn't mess up the movie with hardcore violence & scenes…, must watch it!

It is a well researched movie, the movie is in a flash back narrated by the inspector Agnel. Its about the story of 2 young boy in Mumbaai with the dream of ruling the queen city. The movie is directed keeping in mind the era when the story would have happened and that is what adds reality on celluloid. The background score of the movie is just awesome and after watching it people may get mad about it ,as I am searching all over internet to get that music. It gives the feeling of olden era's music with the new instruments and that will give you a great effect.

The movie is power packed with good one-liners and any one who has interest in dialogs will just love it. Ajay Devgn acting is just superb ,he is well suited for the character that he is portraying .Emraan Hashmi is a bit disgusting because of the dialog delivery,yet he is good.

Overall , the movie is watchable and it will surely remind you the era of olden Indian Cinema.

Surprising movie, and a good surprise ! The Bollywood style takes a bit of time to get used to (I never watched a Bollywood movie before), but once you start to get used to it you really get into the story.

The story itself is good, the actors as well, Ajay Devgn and its character making me think of a Danny Trejo, but subtler. The set and mood are very refreshing, far from the usual European, American or East Asian cinema we get used to. The soundtrack, nicely mixing Indian pop and electro/rock, is right on.

Last but not least - Bollywood targeting the huge Indian market before the rest of the world - this movie gives the action and standards we are used to without loosing its spirit, making it feel like an 80's movie, in a good way, more mature than the latest American and European productions.

I enjoyed it and recommend if you come with an opened mind !

Ajay Devgan rocks in this movie. a must watch movie. Excellent. You seldom get period dramas in Bollywood which are not about historical characters. This year that way has been very lucky that way. Couple of months ago we had Badmaash Company and now we have Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. Of course both are completely different from each other, the first being set in the fast 90s and the latter being set in colorful 70s. And director Milan Luthria makes enough efforts to make OUATIM look very authentic and worth a watch for its settings.

Settings apart the film has its pluses with some superb performances and great dialogs. However the problem with the film is the not so new storyline and the very slow screenplay. Though the characters are well established and well rounded the writer takes the entire first half to do that without much movement in the story. And then as you expect fireworks in the second half it fizzles out too fast.

OUATIM is the story of two gangsters. While one was ethical the other was reckless. It has inspirations of the characters of infamous smuggler Haji Mastan and now infamous don Dawood Ibrahim. The film is about Sultan (Ajay Devgn) who labored through his childhood and became a smuggler as he grew up completely ruling the sea routes. He however always preferred keeping the city clean and never smuggles which was against his conscience. Shoaib (Emraan Hashmi) is inspired by Sultan's life as a child and wants to it as big. He is a son of a police officer but has no inclination towards the law. As he grows up he makes his way to Sultan's gang and proves himself good enough to go up the ladder fast. However his reckless ambitions soon outgrew Sultan and he decided to take over the city on his own.

The story is built on the line – 'behind the myth is the city's greatest betrayal story'. The screenplay does not give much importance to the betrayal. The slow pace of the first half could be a put off. Also funnily Sultan and his girlfriend Rehana never seem to age as they continue to look the same even as Shoaib grows from a child to rustic young crook.

The film has its pluses. Luthria has taken care of everything – right from trains to cars to sunglasses to shoes to buildings! Everything takes us back to the 70s. Luthria handles the dramatic moments well and great use has been made of dialoguebaazi. All actors have come up with some memorable performances. Ajay Devgn's overpowering presence is matched by Emraan's charm. Kangna Ranaut and Prachi Desai do their bits well though they don't bear many consequences on the story itself. Randeep Hooda is effective as the police office.

Overall, 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai' is an entertainer. It does not need any effort to be understood of liked. It is the mere magic of characters created that makes this film worth watching.

If you like storytelling, you are going to enjoy it. Once Upon a Time in Mumbai is all about the rise two smugglers / gangsters in Mumbai i.e. Sultan Mirza (played by Ajay Devgun) and Shoaib Khan (Emraan Hashmi). Movie begins with ACP Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) narrating the life stories of these two smugglers. Sultan Mirza, a poor boy, who enters into this business at a very small age becomes very strong and powerful man of mumbai due to his strength, bravery & wisdom. He also divides mumbai into different zones and allocates each of them to different smugglers and chooses the seashore of mumbai for himself. Sultan soon becomes messiah of mumbai by rescuing poor from difficult situations and giving charity to needy.

On the other hand, Shoaib Khan, spoiled son of a police inspector, becomes a thief. Shoaib's father requests Sultan Mirza to help him in this regard and Sultan helps shoaib in establishing a electronics shop which shoaib in unable to continue due to his temperament & reputation. Shoaib requests Sultan Mirza to let him work with him in smuggling business to which Sultan agrees. Here the plot of the movie resembles with that of film Company in which Ajay Devgun inducts Vivek Oberoi as his worker and The Company gets more strengthened. Shoaib Khan soon proves that he is fully capable of working for Sultan Mirza and Mirza's reliance on him increases till a time comes when Sultan goes out of city to execute his future plans and makes Shoaib the caretaker in his absence. This is the point where the problem starts between the two.

Director (Milan Luthria) has done a wonderful job by recreating the era of 70's & 80's. First half of the movie is better than the second half due to well-balanced comedy, romance, action; nonetheless, movie does not loses grip in the second half. Rajat Arora (writer) has also done a good job with good dialogues; nevertheless, end of the movie could have been made better. Idea of Sultan Mirza's character seems to have been inspired from life of Haji Mastan Mirza who was a smuggler of Mumbai and had nothing to do with underworld (that is drug, narcotics etc). Ajay Devgun has been given the same look which Haji Mastan Mirza was famous for i.e. white dress, chauffeur driver Mercedes car, imported cigarettes in hand, big donor / charity worker. Haji Mastan also married a bollywood actress and so does Sultan Mirza in the movie who marries top actress of his time Rehana (played by Kangana Ranaut). Although roles of both ladies Rehana and Mumtaz (Shoaib's love played by Prachi Desai) are very small; both actresses have fulfilled their duties. Here, credit also goes to costume designers who were successful in giving the actors & actresses the accurate 70's / 80's look.

As far as acting is concerned, this is one best movies of Ajay Devgun's career (performance wise) and its seems that this role could not have been suited on any other actor apart from Ajay Devgun. Two negatives of the movies are 1) Emraan Hashmi - who gave his best in the movie but (unfortunately) couldn't break his lover boy's image 2) Randeep Hooda - who has not been utilized properly. It would have been better if Shoaib Khan's role was given to Hooda due to the arrogant, anger look on his face.

Pritam's music is one of the strengths of the movie. All the tracks have been composed wonderfully and according to the moment at which they have been placed in the script. Singing great Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's "Tum Jo Aaye" & "Pee Loo" by Mohit Chauhan was splendid.Last but not the least, apart from the songs, superb background score was the biggest plus of the movie especially in the latter half.

Conclusion: Highly recommended to all the cine goers especially to gangster / mafia movie lovers.