Antonio Gramsci , the Italian Marxist thinker of WW2 era came up with the theory of ‘Cultural hegemony’ which he believed was the root cause why communist revolutions didn’t occur in industrialized Europe, where the conditions were ideal for the same. In simple words, the reason why marginally paid industrial workers didn’t raise against the oppressive managements was because the hegemonic (ruling) culture indoctrinated workers to a ‘false consciousness’ through hegemonic instruments like schooling, mass media, and popular culture.The movie ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’ would have had wider implication on the collective psyche of Indians if it had a stronger script, better direction and some element of acting talent in its lead actors. For the first time in my life I was thankful for the absolute lack of those skills in some of our venerated directors/script writers and actors, as a successful S@L (Shootout at Lokhandwala) would have become handy in the ‘War of positions’ favouring the extremists who wants to convert India into another.
Is it a mere coincidence that this movie was released at this very same time when a lot of questions are being raised on the extrajudicial encounter killings in Gujarat? Though the director tried a couple of times in the course of the movie to see the whole incident in a different light, from beginning to end it was portrayed as the story of ‘Good cops Vs bad elements’ and how difficult it was for the good cops to follow the frameworks set down by the constitution. The movie is a kind of appeal to the masses to accept the extrajudicial liberty taken by the state and what is more dangerous in this glorification is that the masses are told that the basic constitutional right ‘Right to live’ is taken away in their own interest.
We can understand the fact that law takes its own time and course and in some cases law is subverted to aid the powerful. But that should never serve as a cause to give absolute power – the power over life to any state machinery. As the adage goes, power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately! Again, is it again a mere coincidence that all the encounter specialists glorified by media later turned out to have wealth beyond their means?
From the articles/ review and the official website, S@L is based on the story of A A Khan and his team’s encounter with Mahindra Dolas (the aid of the Dubai based don Dawood) and his henchmen in an apartment in Lokhandwala housing complex. I don’t have many a facts regarding the incident and hence I would like to believe that A A Khan , who was exonerated by the court must be innocent. However in the movie, he is portrayed as a trigger happy cop. In one of the scenes, he shoots a wounded aid of the Dolas' gang member after he was captured – The assumption we as audience has to make here is that these law breakers are anyway going to go scout free and only way before Shansher Khan to save the country was to exterminate him! So much for the Indian Constitution!
The film moves in 2 tracks. In the main one, Shansher Khan (real life A A Khan) and his officers are interviewed by retired Chief Justice turned private prosecutor (Can a Chief Justice become a private prosecutor post retirement? I am not sure) Dhingra played by Amitabh Bachan before representing them and the main story of the shootout is told through the flashbacks they share.
The shocking part is that the only argument Dhingra, puts before the court to redeem the officers is the question “Whom do you want armed standing outside your door – the gangsters or the police?” By acquitting them on the strength of this argument, indirectly Apoorva Lakhia & Sanjay Gupta is implicating that extra power in the hands of state is justifiable.
The best part about the movie is that everything stands out as a sore thump (and hence the final product is a badly bruised body, a la victim of ATS post interrogation). Tussar Kapoor tries his best to come out as a rough and tough gangster and fails miserably in that. He is as menacing as a 4 year old kid. Vivek Oberoi is as good as he was in any other movie and he has proved that he was a one film wonder. Amithab Bachan’s character lacks depth and nowhere in the film is his defending the accused despite his convictions justified.
The flow of the movie is disrupted frequently by the songs and item numbers. I don’t know when bollywood will grow out of its ‘Bar girl’ fantasy. In fact if you take a survey of the hindi films released last year, a good percentage of the lead actresses in them were bar dancers. If this percentage is true in real life, Manjit Singh Sethi (President, Dance Bar Owners' Association) should seriously think of converting his organization into political party! Imagine with so many MLAs/MPs how powerful would that party become?
The whole movie is a standard masala hindi flick, with sentiments for the sake of sentiments, family crisis for the sake of it, tons and tons of flesh, and songs at every 15 minute interval. Did arms drop happen just in Purulia? It seems the rounds fired in the encounter scene were enough to win Kargil war twice! In fact I firmly believe that Apoorva Lakhia and Sanjay Gupta need to apprentice at least for 10 years to Anurag Kashyap before attempting any movie on real life incidents.
I have nothing against Masala flicks but it sucks when a ‘Bangalore Times’ article is praised as noteworthy as the works of the bard from Avon!
Verdict: 2/10. You won’t lose anything by missing this movie.
