Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

Milan Luthria is not a big director in Bollywood, but he's done very well here. The direction is brilliant, as is the cinematography. It recreates the 70s era perfectly.

The film tells the story, from the point of view of a police officer, about Sultan Mirza (Ajay)who went from nothing to the ruler of Mumbai, and Shoaib Khan (Emraan),the only son of an honest police officer who wants to make it big so badly.

The performance by Ajay Devgan is simply superb as Sultan Mirza; there isn't a role he cannot do. Emraan is good as Shoaib Khan, but I think his serial kisser/lover boy image just got the better of him here. Kangana Ranaut is good as one of the female leads, as is Prachi Desai as the other one. The problem is that Prachi is that she isn't as convincing in the movie in her role as Kangana is in her role. Still, Prachi has made a mighty good effort.

The film is full of good dialogues; a lot of them are one liners. I can tell you one thing for sure: you won't forget them that easily after you've seen it.

The music of the film is great. The song 'pee loon' stands out from the lot.

Verdict: A good gangster flick providing wholesome entertainment. One of the best films of 2010. I give it 9/10

There used to be a time when Bollywood was overly glamorous, the middle class always in awe of the rich, law that was still being written and order that was established by the ruling underworld mafia and when, a crore of rupees really meant a lifetime's wealth. Lives were less valuable back then and nobody lit candles for the fallen. This was when the city was called 'Bombay'. Director Milan Luthria takes us to 'Once upon a time in Mumbaai' in the era of a smuggler who sought control of the seas and his apprentice who changed the meaning of crime altogether.

The inspiration for the character of Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgan) was certainly derived from the erstwhile RobinHood Smuggler Haji Mastan Mirza. Sultan's attire, his background, his occupation, his interest for the welfare of the poor, his love for a Bollywood heroine and production of movies are obvious parallels to Mastan. Devgan portrays his character with ease and familiarity but makes a remarkable impression with the dialogues written by Rajat Arora. The movie is a bible for the man on the streets in Bombay. Each one as if a quotation by a philosopher and yet dramatic in effect when combined with a sharp screenplay. The result is what you would relate to as a Salim-Javed penned underworld drama. Sultan's love interest is the glamorous looking Rehana (Kangana Ranaut) who falls for his one-liners and cleanly ironed white outfits. Kangana looks gorgeous and performs naturally in a role that also is familiar territory for her. She even over-shines the beautiful Prachi Desai who could do with a meatier role next time.

In the aftermath of the '93 serial blasts, a despondent ACP Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) regretfully narrates the tale of how two criminals shaped the future of the city and how he trusted the wrong one among the two to turn away from the underworld. His mistake resulted in just one of them surviving the decades of criminal dominance when the ghoda was the law and Shoaib Khan's apathy to the city, was the order. Although Emraan Hashmi has portrayed similar negative roles in the past, he adds some sleekness to a reckless character who would shape up to be Dawood Ibrahim. Shoaib's ambition makes him greedy, zealous and rash. Eventually, his ways diverge completely from the more humble, loop-hole smuggling approach of Sultan's who, as everyone acknowledged, never caused harm to the city but instead, bestowed it with generosity towards the masses. This disparity in attitudes is supremely entertaining. Here we have Sultan enraged over Shoaib's management of his business in his absence, ordering his men "Shehar Saaf chahiye mujhe!" The combination of such screenplay and dialogues is essentially the strength of this film and the reason why it has its place in the hallmark of crime sagas.

Pritam's two romantic tracks make up whatever good there is in the album. Mohit Chauhan's melodious Pee Loon and the combination of Tulsi Kumar and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan make Tum Jo Aaye a hummable track in the romantic rains.

Milan Luthria directs his best after the promising 'Kachche Dhaage' with some powerful writing by Rajat Arora. Numerous scenes are packed with metaphorical dialogues that will build the required tension without any drama. The background music, cinematography and the crisp editing also make this a commendable thriller. Perhaps there hasn't been a more worthy tribute to the real Dons of yesteryears and even though, the climax does not bear any resemblance to characters or events in real life, the end-note pays a serious tribute that sums up the story and leaves us with a helpless grasp of events that have taken place in real life, due to a real person. "Beyond the myth, lies Mumbai's greatest betrayal."

8.148 on a scale of 1-10.

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.

This movie is excellent. The drama in the movie is pulsating and very gripping. Direction, Acting, Story and Songs all of them are very well done. The story line is very strong as it relates to Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim. There are very few songs but all of them are superb.

The only bad part I would say is the romance in the middle was little dragging and Prachi does not fit the role of a gangster girl. She does her acting well but you can tell she does not feel very comfortable with some of the roles.

This is definitely one of the good Indian movies in a long, long time. Not to be missed.

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.