Once upon a time...

It is a bizarre train of events that led me to watch 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'. I was watching an old episode of Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate'. It was the Devil's interview of that maverick daddy of all criminal lawyers - Ram Jethmalani. Karan Thapar questions Jethmalani about choosing to defend the then-prime accused in the Jessica Lal murder case, Manu Sharma. He questions Jethmalani's motives for picking some of the most notorious figures of all time. Of those, two names caught my fancy. One was that of Afzal Guru, the convict in the Parliament House attack case, and the other, was the infamous Mumbai gangster, Haji Mastan. There is something about that name that grabbed my attention. I looked him up on the internet, and then a chain of websites informed me that Haji Mastan has inspired Ajay Devgn's character in 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'.

I've always had an unhealthy and ill-advised fascination for Gangster films. The Godfather trilogy, Scarface, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas.... the list goes on.

But, Haji Mastan is the only reason I watched "Mumbaai", a movie that I otherwise would have religiously avoided, as it stars Emraan Hashmi - a man I really wish was born as a Jew in World War II Germany.

Anyhow, thanks to a post-midnight impulse, I booked myself a ticket and watched the film. And what a film it was, too!

The film shows the arrival and the rise of Sultan Mirza in Mumbai underworld. the character is played in fantastic fashion by Ajay Devgn, who apart from his signature brooding intensity, also brings undeniable charm, and old school style to the table. Style that was in vogue in 1970's Bombay. Milan Luthria, the director, has pulled off an amazing feat when he recreated the look, and the feel of Bombay, as it was then called.

Ajay Devgn, with his mind ruling his business, and his heart ruling his mind, starts conquering Bombay. And by "Conquering", I don't mean a bloody, "guns-and-knives" take over of Bombay. I mean conquering the hearts of people of Bombay. 'Sultan bhai', becomes the champion of the poor, the down-trodden, and the disenfranchised people of Bombay. his rise to the top is swift, and telling. Kids want to be like Sultan Mirza, and that, like nothing else, tells us about the kind of impact Sultan has had on Bombay.

And as is inevitable, Sultan starts attracting young men, of a shady persuasion, like moths to flame. Sultan, much like Don Vito Corleone, refuses to deal in drugs or anything that destroys the constitution of a man. He is that ultimate paradoxical cliche - the Honest smuggler.

Now, coming back to that young men of shady persuasion. I'm talking, of course, about Emraan Hashmi's "Shoaib Khan", a character that is, and at the same time, is said to be not, inspired by Dawood Ibrahim. Shoaib Khan has starry and heady dreams of ruling Bombay, and he is willing to take any dirty short cut to reach the top. he starts off as one of Sultan's low rung lieutenants, and works his way up until the inevitable falling out with his mentor, much like Dawood Ibrahim fell out with Haji Mastan.

Simple in terms of story, and powerful, in terms of execution. Milan Luthria extracts some of the best performances seen from his cast in recent times. Ajay Devgn, though he has played the king of the underworld, and other leader-like figures in the past, gives a completely fresh, and spell-binding performance. Kangana Ranaut, as mentioned earlier, plays the role of a 70's glam-doll slash gun moll with superb elan, which is something of trademark. Prachi Desai is serviceable, though she gets a little whiney towards the end. And Emraan Hashmi has given one of his best performances ever, but it is still a bad performance. While Hashmi shows impressive restraint during moments of quiet intensity, he falters when that intensity becomes spontaneous rage. His dialogue delivery becomes strained, his expressions struggle with each other to break out on the face. On the whole, while Emraan Hashmi isn't terrible he isn't convincing either.

A special mention must be made of a cameo put in by Randeep Hooda, who plays his role of a steely eyed cop going after the underworld with brilliance. It is ironic that it was Hooda that played Dawood in 'D-Company'.

And another special mention has to be made of the background score of the film, which is nothing short of gooseflesh-inducing. It is brilliant. It is fantastic. And I love it. The last three sentences hold good when applied to the movie as a whole, too.

Once Upon a Time... is one of those movies that is surely going to have a lot of replay value. No one's complaining, too. Don't miss this movie.