The film is set in the underbelly of Mumbai, between the infamous by-lanes where ‘Greed is a Culture’ and ‘Deceit becomes a Compulsion’. It revolves around gangs of Mumbai who have embraced pick-pocketing as an art and a means of earning a livelihood. They use their intelligence as a canvas and their spontaneity as a brush to survive in this dangerous profession.
It is the story of a pawn and his calculated moves to reach the other end of the chess board. Revolving around vicious crime syndicates, the film starts with a game of chess being played between two characters; ‘Shroff’ (Kay Kay Menon) and ‘Tez’ (Gautam). Their each move unfolds the mystery and eventually the motive of their meeting. It is based on the quest of a small time pick-pocket ‘Fateh’ (Prashant Narayanan) and his ambitions to become a ‘Mamu’ (local area don).
First time director Ankush Bhatt chooses a difficult subject to deal with in his very first film; but achieves success only to some extent. Story by Kapil Gulati and screenplay by Ghalib Asad Bhopali underlines the gritty politics, feared hierarchy, unspoken rules, authoritative commands, shrewd intelligence, crafty wit and cold blooded betrayals, within the business.
While the first half has precious little to offer, the second half has various twists and turns which keeps your interest alive. The dialogues are strictly pedestrian; but in a way justifies the film of this genre.
Talking of performances, Kay Kay Menon appears in a brief role and although he does a fine job as usual, one would have expected him to be throughout the film. Prashant Narayanan plays to the gallery and looks his part convincingly.
Pawan Malhotra and Piyush Mishra are terrific as always and the confrontation scenes between them create a high voltage drama. Deepti Naval gets limited scope while Shilpa Shukla is completely wasted. Vedita Pratap Singh does full justice to her role. Newcomer Gautam is inconsistent. While in some scenes he does well, in most others he is stiff. Shweta Verma has precious little to offer as her track is not developed fully.
Music by Sandeep – Surya is of fast forward variety and does nothing to elevate the proceedings. Even a raunchy item number by Caterina Lopez fails to grab attention. Editing by Faizal is loose in the first half as the scenes drag and look repetitive; while it does improve in the latter half though. The action scenes are soaked in blood and may not be viewable for the weak hearted. Cinematographers Ramshreyas Rao and Viraj Singh capture the by-lanes of Bhindi Baazaar well on camera and you get a feel of it.
It is the story of a pawn and his calculated moves to reach the other end of the chess board. Revolving around vicious crime syndicates, the film starts with a game of chess being played between two characters; ‘Shroff’ (Kay Kay Menon) and ‘Tez’ (Gautam). Their each move unfolds the mystery and eventually the motive of their meeting. It is based on the quest of a small time pick-pocket ‘Fateh’ (Prashant Narayanan) and his ambitions to become a ‘Mamu’ (local area don).
First time director Ankush Bhatt chooses a difficult subject to deal with in his very first film; but achieves success only to some extent. Story by Kapil Gulati and screenplay by Ghalib Asad Bhopali underlines the gritty politics, feared hierarchy, unspoken rules, authoritative commands, shrewd intelligence, crafty wit and cold blooded betrayals, within the business.
While the first half has precious little to offer, the second half has various twists and turns which keeps your interest alive. The dialogues are strictly pedestrian; but in a way justifies the film of this genre.
Talking of performances, Kay Kay Menon appears in a brief role and although he does a fine job as usual, one would have expected him to be throughout the film. Prashant Narayanan plays to the gallery and looks his part convincingly.
Pawan Malhotra and Piyush Mishra are terrific as always and the confrontation scenes between them create a high voltage drama. Deepti Naval gets limited scope while Shilpa Shukla is completely wasted. Vedita Pratap Singh does full justice to her role. Newcomer Gautam is inconsistent. While in some scenes he does well, in most others he is stiff. Shweta Verma has precious little to offer as her track is not developed fully.
Music by Sandeep – Surya is of fast forward variety and does nothing to elevate the proceedings. Even a raunchy item number by Caterina Lopez fails to grab attention. Editing by Faizal is loose in the first half as the scenes drag and look repetitive; while it does improve in the latter half though. The action scenes are soaked in blood and may not be viewable for the weak hearted. Cinematographers Ramshreyas Rao and Viraj Singh capture the by-lanes of Bhindi Baazaar well on camera and you get a feel of it.
