Really Surprised!

Excellent but underrated film

A Disappointing Continuation

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

So they are making a sequel & I watched the prequel first to have that flow. I am impressed by Apoorva Lakhia & Sanjay Gupta for creating a very good thriller plot. Do not listen to these IMDb board members, they seriously despise Bollywood movies.Set in the 90s, the drama involving gangsters & Mumbai Police is a very fine watch and when it reaches the crescendo, the enjoyment triples. Performances are great by the whole cast & specially by Vivek Oberoi. Music is chunky & screenplay is amazing with special mention to the scene where it all the gangsters are involved with different policemen. Simply superb!If you are a die-hard action fan, go for it, because this one has cylinder explosions, gun fires & RPG.Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NOProfanity: Strong | Sex: No | Nudity: Mild | Violence: Infinity | Gore: Infinity | Smoking: Strong | Alcohol: Critical | Drugs: No | Vulgarity: Mild Traumatizing Factor: Critical

In a nutshell, it was very nearly perfect but as with most Bollywood films somewhere in between, something went horribly wrong. The good thing about Shootout at Lokhandwala is that it is very engaging. It grips the audience from its very solemn beginning until the last bullet is fired at the very end. That plus the fact that there were some very memorable performances in the film. But before I dive into that, let me just give you a quick background regarding the film itself, which is basically that the film is a fictional account of a now very infamous shootout between Mumbai police (specifically the now defunct ATS - Anti Terrorist Squad which can be likened to America's SWAT team) and a pack of goons in 1991. The film is told from the perspective of the three main officers involved with the decision making on that now infamous day (characters played by Sanjay Dutt, Arbaaz Khan & Suneil Shetty) as they related their story to their lawyer (Amitabh Bachchan) who is about to defend them in court.Now onto the great performances starting with Vivek Oberoi. Now what can be said about this guy that hasn't already been said when he brought the house down with his breakout performance in Company? Here Oberoi takes it up a notch as the goon leader Maya Dolas, an outlaw since age nine when he saved his mother the grips of domestic violence by stabbing his abusive father to death. Oberoi has a penchant for playing bad guys and playing them to the very bone. In two words, Oberoi was "very good" in this film. Suniel Shetty and Amitabh Bachchan were almost too comfortable in their respective roles as officer as advocate but one cannot blame them too much as their roles were perhaps a tad-bit too basic considering the roles these two men have essayed in their impressive Bollywood careers. Amrita Singh shows that she is not to be forgotten with a most unforgettable role as Maya's feisty mother. While all the female roles in this film were severely underwritten, Singh managed to emblazon her character with such dynamic cinematic presence. I really enjoyed her performance as a force to be reckoned with. Blink and you'll miss Rakhi Sawant's cameo as herself, Abhishek Bachchan as a legendarily foolish cop, blink twice and you'll miss Dia Mirza's token pretty reporter role as well. The film is jammed packed with a who is who list of heavy hitters but somehow it still failed at the box office. Perhaps due to the strong language and gory violence, just take your pick. Very good as well is the film's soundtrack (a special applause goes out to the writers for fitting two item numbers into such an action packed drama) which would have been perfect except for the horribly unforgivable 'Ganpat' which has the pack of goons singing and dancing on tables bragging about their way of life and controlling the likes of Bipasha Basu and Aishwarya Rai. Now if that not only sounds wrong, I think someone should have asked the writers if they somehow forgot that this was based on real life events? Stick to the script and stop getting carried away. Aishwarya Rai wasn't even famous in 1991! She was a 17-year-old unknown model, hello! Anyway, let us be thankful that they didn't picturise the part of the song pertaining to "Aishwarya Rai" on Oberoi's character. Sheesh! Other great performances include Rohit Roy as Fattu, Sanjay Dutt as Shamsher Khan & Arbaaz Khan Javeen Shaikh. If you can take the sight of Bollywood style gore, bad language and a shaky script, then I recommend that you see this film. B-

The star cast is huge. The director is decent. The production house is creative. The claim is that it is based on true rumors. All these appeals to audiences, and I too was! The story is based on so called true events that lead to a broad day light shootout in a residential area flat named Lokhandwala of Bombay; of underworld mafia by Bombay police lead by Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS). The movie is clearly divided into two halves. The first half showcases the emergences and development of all key characters and their past through several flashbacks and recollections. The second half is more engaging with the actual shoot-out taking place in the last 40 minutes.The ATS squad is lead by Shamsher Khan (Sanjay Dutt) who selects several officers for the task (Suniel Shetty and Arbas Khan are the key two). The underworld mafia is remotely controlled by Dawood Ibrahim from Dubai through a small gang led by Maya Dolas (Viviek Oberio) of four other members (one of them is Tushshar Kapoor). The character of Lawyer Dhingra is played by Amitabh Bachchan who cross examines the ATS squad (that leads to several flashbacks) and finally wins the case for them.As the movie is based on research the directors have tried to show all the sides of the story and the key one is of Shamsher Khan getting the tip off of the mafia hide out from Dawood or a local informer – both the events are shown for the audience to judge the truth.The movie is too loud and noisy with continuous action scenes, chases and gun-fire. Apart from that there are too many song and dance sequences that are specially made for the front benchers. The first half of the movie is boring, whereas the second half holds good attention. Three songs before interval are lousy and one song after the interval (Ganpat Chai La) is excellent – music and choreography are good.All the actors have performed well. Amitabh overacts a lot during cross examination. The movie belongs to Sanjay Dutt. He performs the role of Shamsher Khan to the hilt – the personality, the emotions and the sway of his walk steals our heart. Daringly his counter part role has been performed brilliantly by Viviek Oberio, who puts his heart and soul into this black role of Maya Dolas. After Company, Viviek would be remembered again for this portrayal for a long time. Viviek is ably supported by Tushshar Kapoor who too has acted well.There is too much of guns and violence. The camera angle is journalistic and at times jarring. The music is over the top and loud. The overall direction is not up to the mark. The Director – Apoorva Lakhia could have done a wonderful job with this volcanic subject. But there are no second chances! (Stars 5 out of 10)

An amazing film that is based on true rumours although most films that are based on actual events are crap. Shootout at Lokhandwala was so well written & directed and had riveting performances from a first-rate cast, every actor did a fantastic job even Amitabh & Abhishek Bachchan in their special appearances. I never heard about the incident before and I don't know if it's true or not but the film is made so dark & sinister that gives the tensive mood also it is emotionally & psychologically thrilling, the whole movie is charged with pulse pounding suspense and seems like it's really happening. A Sanjay Gupta film but the director is Apoorva Lakhia the one who made Ek Ajnabee which was also good that's why I wanted to watch the movie because both of them are terrific filmmakers and the title is eye catching. Overall it is just great how they managed to make a film on a very simple story about five criminals in a flat surrounded by hundreds of policemen. Just a few more words about the cast:AMITABH BACHCHAN: Simply the number 1 in Bollywood.SANJAY DUTT: One of my favourite actors.SUNIEL SHETTY: No matter what role he doe's action or romantic it will suit him.ARBAAZ KHAN: Good actor but hardly appears in any film.VIVEIK OBEROI: Did really well as a bad guy after Company.TUSSHAR KAPOOR: Good to see him in action after so many romantic roles.DIA MIRZA: Soooooooooo beautiful that I don't need to say anything else about her.NEHA DHUPIA: Her best performance will always be in Qayamat.ABHISHEK BACHCHAN: Doing really well now keep up the good work.