Hi All,
It started with Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbai’, then we had Manya Surve in ‘Shootout At Wadala’ and now Retro comes back loud with Shoiab a.k.a Akshay Kumar and Aslam a.k.a Imran Khan in ‘Once Upon Ay Time In Dobaara’ (OUATIMD). Like its predecessor, OUATIMD is grand in replicating the grandeur of the 80’s-90’s but sadly falls short of a strong plot.
While the Devgn starrer was more on the mafia raj and the rise of the gangster, the Akshay-Imran-Sonakshi starrer is more like a gangster love triangle. Shoiab (Akshay Kumar) is the reigning don of Mumbaai and hires a young Aslam to work for him. Least he expects, twelve years later Aslam (Imran Khan) will fall for the same woman, Jasmine (Sonakshi Sinha) that he yearns for. Meanwhile there is Rawal (Mahesh Manjrekar) who is trying to attain kingship and tries to pit Aslam against Shoiab. But Aslam stays loyal to his master only until Jasmine comes and plays havoc in the men’s life and love takes a turn for the bad. Like the title says, “It’s Personal”, OUATIMD is more personal rivalry between Akshay and Imran Khan.
Ekta Kapoor, Milan Luthria seem to be riding on luck and that’s precisely where OUATIMD fails. Sadly in spite of changing the movie title, almost 4 times prior to the release, OUATIMD remains quite shallow as compared to the duo’s previous outing, which was powerful, impactful and full of twists and turns. The luck factor doesn’t seem to work in Ekta’s favour!
The first half of ‘Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbaai Dobaara’ just takes too much time to build up and is more heroism than taking the story forward. The initial romance between Akshay-Sonakshi, Imran-Sonakshi do provide a relief with the smart lines and two soulful and foot-tapping numbers ‘Yeh Tune Kya Kiya’ and ‘Tayyab Ali’ (Rishi Kapoor was better though, this doesn’t set the standard and there’s Vidya Balan too!). But the end (like a dialogue in the film) is far far away. The second half manages to pack the punch but that too it is only in the penultimate moments. It’s just the one twist in the end that lifts up the film which is otherwise shallow.
Recreating Mumbai of the retro age has always been a task. But Ayananka Bose has visually captured the essence of the city well. Borrowing a leaf from the films of that era, Rajat Arora packs a punch with the fiery dialogues that are best-suited to that age. Like ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbai’, the dialogues are razor-sharp and that is the biggest strength of OUATIMD.
The dialogues also stand because they are delivered well by the cast. Of the performances, it is purely Akshay Kumar’s show all the way as the entire film has focused on his heroism, his style. Akshay Kumar as Shoiab lifts up the character and is powerful as the ‘Villain’
Imran Khan as Aslam is again in terrific form, especially in the comic area. While he still is stiff in the action sequences. Sonakshi Sinha is getting stereotypical with her characters, but she is evolving as an actress. Be it her performance in ‘Lootera’ or now in OUATIMD, she surely has accolades coming her way.
Sonali Bendre makes a comeback, but gets little scope except for the climax. Abhimanyu Singh, Mahesh Manjrekar are okay.
With ‘Chennai Express’ on a record-breaking spree, it is but obvious that luck is riding on SRK’s side. But I (having watched Chennai Express) also say that OUATIMD is equally entertaining, if not better. I must say a word on the critics that have slammed OUATIMD and been a little generous (giving an additional star or more to the SRK film).
“Agar STORY na dikhaun toh CRITICS bura man jayegi…
Agar ENTERTAIN na karun toh AUDIENCE bura man jayegi!!!”
And Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara, manages the latter in abundance. In the coming weeks, in spite of being a little weak than the prequel, OUATIMD will surely rake in the moolah. If Chennai Express managed it (without a story), OUATIMD still has a little on its side!
Rating: ** 1/2
Random Reflections and Random Thoughts 