‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’ gets good reviews
| July 31st, 2010 | By: Celina Jimo | Category: Entertainment
Friday’s release about climbing the ladder in gangland, “Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai,” directed by Milan Luthria and backed by soap queen Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms, has drawn generally positive 
reviews.
The film tells the story of the gangster overlord Sultan, played by Ajay Devgn, and his protégé Shoaib, played by Emraan Hashmi, and the rivalry to rule the underworld that unfolds between them over time. The film is based on the real-life gangster lore surrounding mafiosi Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim, many reviewers say, although they add that the movie carries a disclaimer at least with regard to Mr. Mastan.
Like many Bollywood films, this one too had to overcome legal challenges, in this case from the Mastan family, the Times of India said.
The Times of India’s Nikhat Kazmi gave it one of her most positive reviews for a Bollywood movie in recent months, saying the film set in 1970s Bombay portrayed the infighting with “an elegance and an intensity that keeps you glued to your seats, despite the fact that you know where the drama is headed.”
“Refreshingly, the film goes low on violence and focuses more on the emotional quotient,” added Ms. Kazmi.
“Luthria rightly recreates retro from the ’70s. And this is not just in the low angles of the shots; strange prints on expensive nylon shirts; or trumpets for a background score,” writes Mr. Shekhar. “It’s most importantly in the sense of the big screen occasion, and a throwback to smart, terse dialogue.”
In a review that appears to have been written at breakneck speed, Syed Firdaus Ashraf tells readers he plans to go back and see this film twice this weekend and gives it four out of five stars. Mr. Devgn is in “top form,” he says and Mr. Hashmi performs “brilliantly.”
Film critic Taran Adarsh writing on film Web site bollywoodhungama.com calls the movie a “compelling watch.”
Mihir Fadnavis offered a dissenting voice though, and seemed particularly put off by what he saw as an incoherent plot in an “anemic urban drama.”
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