Shootout At Wadala
Year: 2013
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Cast: John Abraham, Tusshar Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Sonu Sood, Anil Kapoor

Sanjay Gupta has this special fascination for gangsta flicks. It is quite evident from his previous films such as Kaante, Musafir and Shootout at Lokhandwala. Even for his multi-directorial multi-episode venture Dus Kahaniyan, he had chosen to present a gang-war story as his personal signature.

So it comes as no surprise that for his latest film Shootout at Wadala he has chosen the real life story of Manya Surve, a dreaded gangster, who incidentally became the first ever official Mumbai police ‘encounter’ on january 11^th, 1982.

What’s the plot?

The Mumbai- underworld scene in the late seventies and early eighties was dominated by Mafia-dons like Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. It is said that Mumbai police, in order to check these dons, encouraged activities of another crime syndicate, which was led by the Kaskar brothers (Shabbir and Dawood).

Manohar aka Manya Surve became an important player in this crime-game. As a youth, he was a distinction-holder college student who apparently got framed for a murder that he never committed. A life-term sentence at Yerawada jail then turned him into a cunning, hard-core criminal. He escaped from jail and with his key accomplices established his own gang, which operated in Dadar- Prabhadevi-Agar Bazar area. Dacoit, robber, extrortionist, contract killer…. Manya Surve had many crime identities. By killing Shabbir Ibrahim Kaskar and making an attempt on Dawood’s life, he made Mumbai’s already raging gang-war reach a boiling point. Finally Mumbai police formed a special squad and killed him in a public shootout, which is acknowledged as the first-ever ‘police encounter’ in Mumbai’s crime history.

Shootout at Wadala is a highly fictionalized version of this real-life story, where names of characters other than Manya Surve have been changed.

What’s hot?

·         Within his limitations, John Abraham delivers an excellent performance, perfectly capturing the good guy-turned into –a menacing villain persona of Manya Surve. His physique, his body language and his dialogue delivery- everything gels well.

·         Anil Kapoor, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ronit Roy, Manoj Bajpai and Sonu Sood are good in their supportive roles. Kapoor, Manjrekar and Roy play the cops who shot Manya; and Bajpai and Sood play the characters based on Kaskar brothers.

·         The deliberate 70s-80s feel works well.

What’s not?

·         A tacky titillating treatment relying on overt violence, sex and item songs.

·         No finesse; no emotional appeal and no novelty.

·         Cheesy dialogues.

·         There is an obvious attempt in the movie to glorify Surve’s role in Bombay’s crime-scene.

·         Tusshar Kapoor is a misfit in Manya’s key aide’s role.

·         Kangna Ranavat is ordinary in Manya’s girl-friend’s role.

·         The music, full of item songs, does not make much impact.

Verdict

The natural drama behind Mumbai’s gang-war; coupled with Manya Surve’s colorful life-story makes the film an interesting watch. The film studiously follows every trick of the trade to turn itself into a crowd-pleaser and does a fair job of that. But thanks to its overall crude treatment, it never rises above being an average potboiler. Its on-screen violence and sex lose their edge without the finer portrayal of underlying human emotions and interactions.