Movie:
Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara
Cast:
Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonali Bendre, Pitobash Tripathy, Sophie Choudry, Tiku Talsania, Mahesh Manjrekar
Direction:
Milan Luthria
We are back to once upon a time when Mumbai was still Bombay. We are back dobaara!, the exclamation in the title probably suggesting you should automatically be more excited because they have a bigger cast to flaunt. For all the hoopla, Milan Luthria's follow-up to 2010's Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai struggles all along to recreate the magic. Twice, you realise, ain't always nice.
Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara! (for the lack of print space and in order to avoid the embarrassingly goofed-up spelling of the vowel, we will go with OUATIMD hereon) attempts to celebrate the wanton colours of a bygone era once again. Luthria continues with his fetish for recreating a distinct period milieu, which worked wonders for the first film as well as The Dirty Picture. The trademark thrust of the franchise on bombastic dialogues is intact too (it remains a redeeming feature if you like that kind of masala).
You would imagine the scope for a whole lot of interesting spins to the life of Shoaib Khan, screen gangster clearly based on Dawood Ibrahim. Akshay Kumar takes over as Shoaib from Emraan Hashmi after all, and the stakes are bigger.
If Emraan's Shoaib was impressively a slimy snake, the sequel wastes no time in underlining that Shoaib has scaled the summit in the mafia world. He is now the lord of all he sets his eyes upon, soaked in the heady cocktail of women and wealth. Akshay adds flamboyance to the act, living up the sinister avatar.
Yet, Rajat Aroraa's writing simply does not give the star enough to work with. Aroraa takes chunks from gossip headlines of the eighties about the alleged Dawood-Mandakini affair to set up the story. Sonakshi Sinha is cast as Bollywood starlet Jasmine who catches Shoaib's fancy. (Fact for trivia: Mandakini's real name was Yasmeen Joseph; Sonakshi's name in the film was originally Yasmeen but the makers changed it to avoid hassles.) Jasmine flips for Aslam (Imran Khan), a young gangster from the slums Shoaib has been nurturing over the years, and trouble is in store.
A standard love triangle set against a gripping mafia backdrop would sound like a cracker. But such an idea needs ample drama. OUATIMD crumbles because of shoddy script.
The narrative sporadically runs out of ideas and pace. Also, for a very basic storyline, the runtime seems stretched. Luthria takes a good 140 minutes to wrap up a story that could have been said in two hours.
A formulaic cop-versus-don showdown subtext is added to set up the essential old-school action. This is prompted by Shoaib's rival (Mahesh Manjrekar) joining hands with the police to eliminate him. Like everything else, the action is too much of cardboard cutout stuff to impress.
If OUATIMD stands a chance, it is solely because of its glam cast. While Akshay toasts a larger-than-life cinematic style of yore, Sonakshi is beautiful in the way she projects her vulnerable (though heavily flawed) protagonist. Imran struggles with his job as the good bad guy in the mush equation, though you spot the stray moments of chemistry between Aslam and Jasmine.
OUATIMD should remind Bollywood what we all always knew: Never make a sequel just for the heck of it if you don't have a genuine idea to entertain.
Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara
Cast:
Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonali Bendre, Pitobash Tripathy, Sophie Choudry, Tiku Talsania, Mahesh Manjrekar
Direction:
Milan Luthria
Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara! (for the lack of print space and in order to avoid the embarrassingly goofed-up spelling of the vowel, we will go with OUATIMD hereon) attempts to celebrate the wanton colours of a bygone era once again. Luthria continues with his fetish for recreating a distinct period milieu, which worked wonders for the first film as well as The Dirty Picture. The trademark thrust of the franchise on bombastic dialogues is intact too (it remains a redeeming feature if you like that kind of masala).
You would imagine the scope for a whole lot of interesting spins to the life of Shoaib Khan, screen gangster clearly based on Dawood Ibrahim. Akshay Kumar takes over as Shoaib from Emraan Hashmi after all, and the stakes are bigger.
If Emraan's Shoaib was impressively a slimy snake, the sequel wastes no time in underlining that Shoaib has scaled the summit in the mafia world. He is now the lord of all he sets his eyes upon, soaked in the heady cocktail of women and wealth. Akshay adds flamboyance to the act, living up the sinister avatar.
Yet, Rajat Aroraa's writing simply does not give the star enough to work with. Aroraa takes chunks from gossip headlines of the eighties about the alleged Dawood-Mandakini affair to set up the story. Sonakshi Sinha is cast as Bollywood starlet Jasmine who catches Shoaib's fancy. (Fact for trivia: Mandakini's real name was Yasmeen Joseph; Sonakshi's name in the film was originally Yasmeen but the makers changed it to avoid hassles.) Jasmine flips for Aslam (Imran Khan), a young gangster from the slums Shoaib has been nurturing over the years, and trouble is in store.
A standard love triangle set against a gripping mafia backdrop would sound like a cracker. But such an idea needs ample drama. OUATIMD crumbles because of shoddy script.
The narrative sporadically runs out of ideas and pace. Also, for a very basic storyline, the runtime seems stretched. Luthria takes a good 140 minutes to wrap up a story that could have been said in two hours.
A formulaic cop-versus-don showdown subtext is added to set up the essential old-school action. This is prompted by Shoaib's rival (Mahesh Manjrekar) joining hands with the police to eliminate him. Like everything else, the action is too much of cardboard cutout stuff to impress.
If OUATIMD stands a chance, it is solely because of its glam cast. While Akshay toasts a larger-than-life cinematic style of yore, Sonakshi is beautiful in the way she projects her vulnerable (though heavily flawed) protagonist. Imran struggles with his job as the good bad guy in the mush equation, though you spot the stray moments of chemistry between Aslam and Jasmine.
OUATIMD should remind Bollywood what we all always knew: Never make a sequel just for the heck of it if you don't have a genuine idea to entertain.
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