**Shootout At Wadala - Hits Bull’s Eye**. Review on Shootout At Wadala

Shootout At Wadala - Hits Bull’s Eye

In Shootout At Wadala what unfolds is a hard hitting story of people who live by death. The killing fields of Bombay where gang wars, encounters, extortion and murder are a way of life. The underworld saga in Bollywood continues with filmmaker Sanjay Gupta's Shootout At Wadala

Shootout At Wadala is an action thriller that depicts the crime scenario in Mumbai during the 70s and 80s. It is the sequel to the 2007 film “Shootout at Lokhandwala,” & partially based on the book Dongri to Dubai written by journalist & author Hussain Zaidi. This movie is based on the life of the 80s' gangster Manya Surve, encountered on 1st November 1982 by the Mumbai Police.

Director Sanjay Gupta proves that brilliance without morals and ethics is quite literally a deadly weapon. Shootout Aa Wadala is one of the best Sanjay Gupta movies I have seen after a long time.

The movie is all about John Abraham (Manya Surve) a decent student with a bright future who turns against the system after being wrongly framed in a murder case. In jail he befriends with Tusshar (Sheikh Munir) and flees from the prison to form a new gang. The Mumbai cop ACP Ishaque Baghwan (Anil Kapoor) want to curb Manya Surve’s dominance. On the other side underworld don Dilawar Imtiyaz Haskar (Sonu Sood) and his brother Zubair Imtiyaz Haskar (Manoj Bajpayee) want to kill Manya & in between the movie revolves around Vidya ( Kangana Ranaut) Manya's love-interest. Rest of the movie revolves around the police and the criminals play the usual cat and mouse game.

Few words about,

Performances:

As far as the Performance goes John Abraham is tremendous as Manya Surve. Besides carrying the look to perfection, he adds depth to the character & has shown marvelous improvement in his acting skills. This is John Abraham’s finest performances of his career. He plays the dark character to perfection.

Anil Kapoor is like an old wine that gets better with age. He adds so much depth to the character of ACP Ishaque Baghwan, which only goes to prove his range and versatility.

Kangana Ranaut (Vidya) is natural and performs well. She brings sensuality and glamour to her character. Talented actress proves her mettle yet again.

Even though the film belongs to John Abraham, Tushar (Sheikh Munir) makes his presence felt with a powerful performance. This film should prove to be the turning point in his career.

Performances of other supporting characters are real & believable. Especially Manoj Bajpayee (Zubair Haskar) Sonu Sood (Dilawar Haskar) Siddhant Kapoor (Gyanchod) delivers magnificent performance. Rest of the cast which includes Ronit Roy, Mahesh Manjerekar, Jackie Shroff and Ranjeet in guest appearances are equally good.

Direction:

Sanjay Gupta has very well directed & extracted wonderful performances out of his actors. Every single character in Shootout at Wadala has been portrayed so well. There is not even one character that has overacted or has been underused. Sanjay Gupta has made such good use of his actors, even the ones with small roles, that they remain etched in the memory for a long time. This is the most accomplish work by Sanjay Gupta.

Screenplay:

Screenplay by Sanjay Gupta, Sanjay Bhatia & Abhijit Deshpande is powerful & engaging. Every detail attended and every character depicted with depth. Sometimes it may compel to draw parallels with real life, but talking strictly from the cinema point of view it satiates completely & there's no time to think whether it's factual or loosely based on someone's life or a work of fiction.

Dialogues:

Milap Zaveri’s dialogues are crude but suit the rawness of the film. Some of the most compelling conversations heard of late on screen. The dialogues are hard-hitting in several parts.

Cinematography, Action & Editing:

Sameer Arya & Sanjay Gupta’s cinematography is absolutely mind blowing & deserves all Brownie points solely because of the natural style with which it is shot. Special appreciation to action master Allan Amin, hardcore action is easily amongst the high points of the movie. Bunty Nagi’s editing is sharp & moves with smooth flow. In technical departments, Annu Malik’s background music, Ahmed Khan’s choreography is the other attractions of the movie. Production values are just outstanding.

Item Songs:

Today’s Bollywood films have now become accustomed to item songs & of course Item songs are in huge demand. This movie also has some interesting item songs specially Babli Badmaash Hai featuring Priyanka, Laila with Sunny Leone and Aala Re Aala filmed on Sophie Choudry provide enough entertainment for the audiences.

Music:

Music by Anu Malik, Mustafa Zahid,  Anand Raj Anand,  Nadeem Saifi & Anjjan Meet is good & are in sync with the theme.  Most of the songs provide a different flavour to the film and situation. All the songs are an interesting compilation & they don't really hamper the film's narrative. Although the item songs may have a short shelf life but they are already big chartbusters.

Final word:

Shootout at Wadala is one of the most entertaining movie which delivers on almost all the counts and one cannot ask for more from a commercial film like this. With powerful performances by magnificent stars, the movie hits the bull’s eye. A cinematic treat for the action movie buffs, strongly recommended.

My Rating is 3.5/ 5