Once upon a time in mumbai--Review

ashdoc

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
2,980
Likes
3,682
Country flag
my own review ( original )

Finally saw the movie in a jam packed house.....jam packed even at such a late date....... its a DAMN GOOD MOVIE

I saw it because so many people around me were praising it ,and could not resist the pressure to see it from them.

Its a movie in which action has been mixed with some doses of emotion ,a combination that has delivered past success in bollywood.

Ajay Devgan certainly well suited for the role of Haji mastan ( called sultan mirza in the movie ),the good-hearted smuggler ( the word DON is reserved for dawood ),who loves bombay like his sweetheart.........but still has the space in his heart to accomodate his real life sweetheart ,to the extent of marrying her when he learns that she has a heart problem ,something that he is reluctant to do earlier.

Emraan Haashmi plays his role of the invincible dawood confidently ,and certainly looks like him in many scenes ,especially when he puts on goggles......and when he smokes....... .Like many people ,I too dont like him ,but his air of supreme confidence and crooked looks and acting see him through.

The relationship between kangana and devgan is beautifully built and kangana looks good as the actress turned gangsters moll.

Prachi Desai looks lovely .

Randeep Hooda is well positioned as the lean and handsome cop who has the unenviable job to choose the lesser of the two evils........and as teller of the tale he regrets to tell.......as he has made the wrong choice........

The music and songs are not just truely hummable ,but also sentimental ,and perfect for the situations.

The ' innocent 'era of the seventies is well created ,with bell bottommed trousers ,and old hundred rupee notes shown .........also seventies hairstyles........and above all ,when the goons were relatively reasonable people who did not interfere in each others territories...........and smuggling meant gold , not drugs........and pakistan was as foreign to muslims as to hindus.

I particularly liked the way emraan hashmi's betrayal of mumbai is juxtaposed with devgan's love for it ,and devgans attempt to keep its streets safe for its citizens.

At the end of it all ,I really wished that a man as gallant ,and above all ,as large-hearted as sultan mirza had been really alive to save my city......
 

ashdoc

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
2,980
Likes
3,682
Country flag
of course , the movie errs greatly and heartbreakingly in potraying vardarajan mudaliar as the person who instigates dawood to kill haji mastan...........for nothing could be farther from the truth...........

in fact both mastan and vardarajan ,both from tamil nadu ,were best friends who had divided territory in mumbai , and never interfered in each others domains..........they regularly met for drinks and food........

When vardarajan died , haji mastan chartered a flight to carry his body from madras to mumbai to carry out its last rights there..........for it was vardarajans last wish that he should be consigned to the flames in mumbai..........like mastan ,he was in love with the great port city he loved to call his home...........

also dawood never killed mastan ,haji himself withdrew from smuggling........he later devoted his life to trying to wean youth away from the scourge of drugs ,carrying out a campaign with doctor yusuf merchant for this purpose.........

he also started the dalit muslim suraksha mahasangh for rights of dalit muslims.

he was the first person from the smuggling world to be associated with bollywood.... he hobnobbed with film stars like dilip kumar ,amitabh and feroz khan.

his greatest mistake was that he married a madhubala lookalike from bollywood called sona .........she was considerably younger to him ,and as his sexual powers faded due to old age ,she grew sexually frustrated and had a number of affairs with men younger than her..........thus subjecting him to ridicule by dons like dawood.

inspite of this ,people like him and vardarajan will be remembered as patriots , and movies like nayakan, dayavan, coolie and once upon a time in mumbai will be made celebrating their lives , the way dawood's life will never be celebrated...........
__________________
 

Yusuf

GUARDIAN
Super Mod
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
24,324
Likes
11,757
Country flag
I was kinda disappointed with the movie. It was all dialogue bazi. The script could have been stronger.
 

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top