OUATIMD - Review + BO Thread - Page 20

OUTAIMD (once upon a time in Mumbai dobara ) picks up where OUATIM left off with Akshay Kumar taking over the reins from Emraan Hashmi as Shoaib, the defacto controller of the Mumbai underworld. The obvious allusions to Dawood Ibrahim and the D Company through the cricket match in Sharjah cannot be missed. The PR team should get full marks for promoting the film, it has been one of the most talked about films for over a year now.

The story begins with Shoaib taking Aslam (Imran Khan) under his wing to help him control Mumbai. Cut to 12 years later and as all self respecting mafia dons must, Shoaib has now relocated to Dubai. In a meeting with other dons who Shoaib wants to take over from there is a passing reference to Vardharajan Mudaliar, a passing of the baton so to speak. The only person who disagrees with Shoaib, Rawal(Mahesh Manjrekar) is absent and makes an attempt at Shoaib's life in Dubai. This angers him and he heads to Mumbai for revenge.

In comes waltzing Jasmine (Sonakshi Sinha) who catches the eye of Shoaib by being the girl next door. She in turn meets Aslam who does a horrendous rendition of the classic Tayab Ali (Imran Khan is no match for Rishi Kapoor) and sparks fly between them. This tussle forms the crux of the film.

Akshay Kumar looks like he is sleepwalking through his role and Imran Khan in the role of a gangster is out of place. The latter had tried the village boy act in Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola and failed ; he should indeed stick to the young romantic city boy image that he has been portraying to good effect. The film seems oddly placed on the timeline, a confusing mix of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

An interesting angle is the relationship is that of Rubina (Sonali Bendre, reprising the role of Prachi Desai) Aslam's moll. This is reminscent of the relationship between Amitabh Bachchan and Parveen Babi in Dewaar that should have been explored further, but is left hanging like a loose thread.

Someone in the audience remarked that the film being written around the dialogues but not the vice-versa. The cheesy one liners that are funny initially like 'Doodh main joh nimbu nichode, paneer uska.' get on your nerves later, asinine to say the least.

The plot is quite formulaic and the only time Akshay Kumar seems like he is acting is when he is raving mad at being spurned by Jasmine. The scenes where he is filled with rage and bent on taking revenge are the most riveting ones, beyond which, the film falls flat at many places. Imran Khan again seems like a misfit in most of his scenes except for his comic timing, which is still quite good. Sonakshi Sinha is the ornamental girl next door.

The police like in the Bollywood films of yore is clueless and always arrives late. The most wanted criminal ganglord of Mumbai walks into a police station, takes his picture off the wall and walks out. Stupidity to the extent of being unintentionally funny.

An almost 3 hour runtime seems dragging in these times of crisply edited films with the ending being comical to be fair. Packed with so many cliches, the film should have instead been renamed Once Upon A Cliche in Mumbai.

Rating : 1/5