***1/2
The current situation in Maharashtra state wherein police, politics and crime is in the limelight reminds one of the films of eighties-nineties wherein gangster-politics-cops nexus used to be prevalent. Looking at the Sanjay Gupta directorial, Mumbai Saga, which is inspired from the true events of eighties and nineties, nothing much seems to have changed. It’s again a cops and gangster movie just like his earlier Shootout at Wadala with John Abraham and not to forget Shootout at Lokhandwala. In 80s and 90s, it is believed, criminal gangs used to operate the city, of course with the blessings from the authorities and their political masters. The same is depicted in Mumbai Saga which is allegedly based on the life of the Maharashtrian gangsters who was known for his daredevilry and had Mumbai, then Bombay, in his pocket. Obviously the socio-political undercurrents helped him and brought his down fall too.
Our audience loves anti heroes and in mumbai Saga John Abraham plays one. In the mid-eighties, when Mumbai was still Bombay, Amartya Rao (John Abraham) is interested in body building, carrom and spending time with his ‘Tapori’ friends (Rohit Roy and others). His father (Rajendra Gupta) sells vegetables on a railway bridge for which he, like all other vendors, has to shell out ‘hafta’ (bribe) to the local goons who are under the shelter gangster Gaitonde (Amole Gupte). Amartya’s brother Arjun (Prateik Babbar) is thrown down the bridge by the very goons. When Amartya comes to know of this his blood boils and he chops off the hand of the goon who threw Arjun down. There are massive fights and Amartya is jailed with a pressure on the police from Gaitonde. After another massive fight in the jail he is bailed out by local politician Bhau (Mahesh Manjrekar) who takes him under his wings and allows him to flourish in the underworld. He marries his girl friend Seema (Kajal Agarwal) and packs his brother to London, away from the Mumbai gangsters. Meanwhile mill owner Sunil Khaitan (Sameer Soni) gives ‘supari’ (contract killing offer) of Amartya to Gaitonde, because he wants to seel the mill, after killing his father, and make loads of money, instantly. He is assassinated by Rao and his gang and Khaitan widow (Anjana Sukhani) offers Rs10 reward for eliminating Amarta Rao. In comes Inspector, who is an encounter specialist, Vijay Sawarkar (Emraan Hashmi) and the gangster-cops drama take another interesting turn. What happens next is best to watch on big screen in theatres.
Sanjay Gupta is an expert in this genre and packs punch in the storyline. The screenplay is elaborate but there aren’t many dull moments in the film. It’s been smartly directed and reminds viewers of the nineties ‘Dhishum-Dhishum’ films. Action encompasses the major premise of the film and the action, though not novel, is neatly desighned which’ll get ‘Sities’ (whistles) in single screens. Cinematography is good and the art director has ably created the ‘period’ settings. Music is okay and background score helps the drama and action in the film. Special mention should be made for the dialogues of the film. They are exceedingly good and make the film more watchable and entertaining. John Abraham’s physique is noticeably excellent and helps his character. His action scenes are highlight of the movie and performance wise too he has dished out nicer portrayal. He gets brownies points with author-backed dialogues and Emraan Hashmi too has encashed his well written lines. He too performs well, though he enters the scene after interval. But John Emraan’s one liners’ ‘jugalbandi’ will cater to the masses abundantly. Others, Kajal Agarwal, Rohit Roy, Anjana Sukhani, Sameer Soni, Gulshan Grover, Prateik Babbar do good job. Mahesh Manjrekar’s portrayal reminds one of a political heavyweight of 80-90s and he has done a superlative job.
Mumbai Saga is an action-loaded entertaining gangster-cop drama, fit for big screen.
