Movie review: Shootout At Wadala

Shootout At Wadala
Cast: John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Kangna Ranaut, Tusshar Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Jackie Shroff, Ronit Roy
Direction: Sanjay Gupta
Rating:

Guns, gore and blasts. Toss the item bombs into the mix and you have the good old seeti bajaao stuff going. Shootout At Wadala (SAW) marking the return of director Sanjay Gupta does not reveal much ambition beyond pleasuring the larger audience with a loud spectacle of sex and violence, but it works.

The film borrows from S. Hussain Zaidi's book Dongri To Dubai to account the Mumbai police force's first recorded encounter killing - of gangster Manya Surve at the Wadala junction on November 1, 1982. In that sense, the events in this film precede the timeline of Shootout At Lokhandwala (SOL), Gupta's 2007 production narrating the Maya Dolas encounter of 1991. SAW is definitely more gripping than SOL.

Gupta has picked a sliver of an account from Zaidi's book and mixed it with liberal doses of fiction to get the drama going in SAW. Adapting original tales to suit desi tastes has always been the director's forte. In the past, he has lifted ideas from sources as diverse as Hollywood, Korean and Japanese films. This time, he officially draws inspiration from Zaidi's book. You won't miss the Tarantino-esque edge in treatment, too.

SAW is entertaining fare if you are willing to overlook authenticity, and the fact that the pace is sluggish in portions of the second half. Overall, it is a gangsta trip throbbing with adrenaline rush and Gupta does well to underplay the melodrama so as not to dilute the impact. Lovers of hardcore action should lap it up. The violence in the film is strong but it never gets extreme.

John Abraham was designer perfect as Manya, hunk of an antihero who is emotionally vulnerable but shrewd as a goon. John gives his best to this film, making most of the action hero avatar at hand.

The film benefits from a stellar supporting cast. Anil Kapoor's top cop is a delight to watch, scoring with sheer screen presence. Manoj Bajpai's role bearing shades of Dawood Ibrahim's brother is a prime attraction. Sonu Sood continues evolving with each new role.

SAW is a toast to machismo and heroine Kangna Ranaut does not get much scope as Manya's lover, beyond the steamy lovemaking grind. Any resemblance her look may bear to Rekha's in Ijaazat is purely coincidental, we guess.