Shootout at Lokhandwala
Ex-cop A.A. Khan, the leader of the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) that killed Maya Dolas and his gang of sharpshooters in the Lokhandwala shootout, is going about giving interviews about how real is the depiction of the encounter in the film. He also acts in it as the then Mumbai’s Police Commissioner Rammurthy.
He is, in fact, authenticating the film including the allegation that he was on the payroll of Dawood and had performed hit jobs for him. How come the High Court did not take this into cognisance while delivering its order on the petition of Maya’s mother? Her lawyers seem to have failed her.
It is time to reopen the case and charge sheet A.A. Khan afresh under MCOCA on two counts: 1. For blatant self- admission, as an official authenticator of a Bollywood feature based on True Rumours, that the gangsters were shot dead in cold blood after having been captured under instructions from Dawood. 2. For being a paid accomplice of Sanjay Gupta and Apoorva Lakhia in a scam that involved fooling cinema-going audiences into believing that Shootout At Lokhandwala is an authentic encounter film.
The film is a real headache, with clichéd characterisations, performances, and dialogues. And who takes the biggest portion of the rotten cake in this idiotic endeavour? The Big B, who hams all the way like a Ramleela actor performing the role of Ravana. His megalomania is back, a definite indication of the impending doom.
What was the Bachhan family’s favourite director doing while canning those shots? He should have pointed out the flaws to this ‘going over the board’ thespian of the millennium. Obviously he could not dare to do it. Who would have liked to miss the Abhiash wedding party, arguably the biggest event in the history of civilisation? And to invite the wrath of the shahenshah, would mean the end to the career of a worthless and mediocre filmmaker. Who would bother about Apoorva Lakhia, if he cannot get the bulk dates of the Bachhans?
Now, a few words about the Nikhat Kazmi’s four-star publicity piece in the Times of India about this film. It stinks of the lowliest kind of ass licking act, giving serious competition to Subhash K. Jha. Kitna aur aisa kya khilaya hai Sanjay Gupta ne Nikhat ko ki bhakti ras mein sarabor hain mohtarma? Her ability to review a film is getting suspect now. She had also rated an insipid Raqeeb better than Ek Chalis.
One also wonders why were these gangsters performing dangerous odd jobs for big daddys like Dawood and Chota Rajan? Going by their depiction in the film, they should have been into film choreography or into essaying style bhai roles in the films of Ram Gopal Verma and numerous other Indian avataras of Scorsese and Tarantino.
In one aspect the film is very real when it shows the gangsters dancing atop an open double decker bus all over the city while the Mumbai police is looking for them everywhere else. It is as real as the recent case of Dawood's sister Haseena Parkar, who was very much in the city while the Mumai police was looking for her in Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP, and on the moon and the mars. And suddenly not one but six of them appeared before a generous metropolitan magistrate who granted her the bail instantly. Maya and his gang was not smart enough to do that. And the filmgoing audiences have to suffer for their follies fifteen years later.
One feels sad for Apoorva Lakhia and Sanjay Gupta kind of filmmakers. They are so unintelligent, unimaginative, blockheaded, and mentally handicapped. Even a dead donkey could have become a better director after having watched all those DVDs of Taiwanese, Korean, Mexican, and Hollywood films these guys regularly refer to for instant inspiration. Yes, a dead donkey; a better director. It is not a true rumour. It is the hard fact based on tell all evidence as exhibited in films like Shootout.
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