After series of lesser known films or severe failures (Like ‘Hattrick’, ‘Deewar’ and ‘Chori Chori’) Milan Luthria hit the note of a high point in his career in with ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’ (2010), a period gangster film or rather folklore depicting Mumbai’s growing underbelly based in the 60s and 70s, apparently inspired from real life individuals like Haji Mastan (Aka Sultan Mirza played by Ajay Devgn) and Dawood Ibrahim (Aka Shohaib played by Emraan Hashmi). Inspite of being an imperfect film ‘OUATIM’ was appreciated enough owing to the catchy dialogues and one-liners, the upbeat plot, the well justified performances and the music, some of which still refuse to fade from our memory.
Three years later, Mumbaai has moved 12 years ahead (Reel time), with Shohaib being the most powerful man in the city (Controlling it overseas), after killing his benefactor Sultan Mirza, in a fit of rage and lust for power over whole of Mumbaai. Here’s the best part, 12 years from Sultan’s Killing Shohaib (Emraan Hashmi) becomes Akshay Kumar and Mumtaaz (Prachi Desai), who plays Shohaib’s lady love in the first part become Sonali Bendre. Some age miracle formula I must say!!
Apart from such liberties regarding casting issues, the makers of ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai AGAIN’ (Yes, I like to call it by its name prior to the change because it sounds linguistically correct) have literally exploited the saying ‘Let your imagination run wild’ by exposing us to the unimaginable, like a Tiku Talsania having ‘Something’ (Say a fling, affair, or just ‘cordial’ relations) with… with… wait for it… Vidya Balan!! That’s like the film maker’s assurance policy for all the guys (no age bar) that well, if Tiku Talsania can get Vidya Balan, ANYTHING can happen, so be positive. In keeping with such awesome hyperboles, in a particular scene Shohaib, the most wanted man in India, with only macho juice flowing in his veins, walks into a Mumbai Police thana sees a photo of himself being the most wanted criminal, laments about its quality stating that a new one must be sent to replace the old one and walks out. It not only takes the audience for a ride but also badly reflects on the Police force and their quality of work.
‘OUATIM Again’ fails as a film because of the drastic shift in genre from a period gangster film to a love triangle set in the backdrop of a gangster environment. It’s an out and out love story, with bloodshed, deceit, breaching of trust and so on.
Milan Luthria as a director fails for me completely, with not being able to live up to the standards of his baby and doing no justice to anything from the first part. What really irks me is his inability as a director to trust his own actor to live to his expectations and shoulder the responsibility of a second film. Had Emraan Hashmi still played Shohaib, almost 50% of the film would have been better there and then.
Akshay Kumar as Shohaib is a complete let down, close your eyes and listen to him talk and you can’t tell a difference between Rowdy Rathore / Khiladi 786 and now this one. He is totally unable to convince you as Shohaib. Sonakshi Sinha and Imraan Khan make you indifferent to their performances with having done nothing different from what they have been doing in each and every film. (Except Lootera which worked great for Sonakshi and well… Nothing for Imraan)
After a point of time the entire film felt like a Kavi Sammelan, Having Rajat Arora back on board with the dialogues, no character was able to put forth a simple sentence without a ‘Saying…’ or an analogy or an idiom to convey a particular message. In keeping with his previous work from ‘OUATIM’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’ (Which got him several accolades and the dialogues of which are still remembered time and again when a particular situation arises) Rajat Arora has gone overboard this time. In their individual capacity the one-liners used are bang on!! But if every dialogue is a one-liner then it loses the impact its set out to create. Even the usage of Bura maan jaaega… seems deliberate and simply to keep in tone with the first film.
With no exceptional music, Pritam has let down all those who highly appreciated the tracks from ‘OUATIM’, especially with a newer rendition of Tayyab Ali (From ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’) and a controversial track, Allah Hoo (edited from the film) he has portrayed complete inability to produce anything new and worthwhile. Except for the background ‘theme’ score, which continues from the first film and is used as effectively in ‘OUATIM Again’ as well.
The film starts off on a note saying ‘Thank you to Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi – for starting the journey’. All through the film I was hoping that the end would have a note saying ‘Sorry to Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and all you viewers for letting you down’. But then again, not all hopes are always fulfilled in life.
The Seventh Sense 