Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a man named Sultan Mirja, who ruled the sea of Mumbai and he had a say in all the illegal trade across Mumbai by virtue of being the king of the sea. He was a visionary, because he knew the rout to smuggle anything inside Mumbai is the sea. He also had a heart of gold, helping every needy person around, or may be he always felt guilty about the things he did and wanted people to pray for his well beings. Anyways, people believed that he was their savior. He falls for a starlet Rehana and she is impressed by his power. The fact that both of them had a tragic past brought them closer and the promise of a brighter future kept them together.

There was a young man Sohaib who, so impressed by Sultan's life, wanted to be like him. He kept himself busy committing petty crimes and gifting the winnings from those to the pretty sales girl next door, Mumtaj. Of all the ugly things he did all his life, while dreaming to be the King of Mumbai, Mumtaj was the only pretty thing in his life. By fate he manages to get into the gang of Sultan and manages to win his trust.

Then there was an ACP Agnel, who vows to put an end to the rule of Sultan Mirja and in order to do so he ends up ignoring the crimes committed by Sohaib, believing that he is the answer to the question named Sultan. In the end, he puts it appropriately, it's easy to choose between good and evil but it's really difficult to choose between two evils. By the time he realizes that he chose the worse of the two evils, it's too late.

So that's the story of what happened many years ago in Mumbai, which changed the face of the Mumbai underworld for time to come. In the movie Ajay Dvgan plays to the role of Sultan Mirja, a role similar to that he perfected in Company. The only difference being he wore black in company and white in OUTM. Emran Hashmi plays Sohaib, but is not able to show the rawness required to play the dreaded don. Kangna and Prachi play the two leading ladies Rehana and Mumtaj. While Kangna's role is vital for the story Prachi's story seems to be forced into the proceedings of the story, however both the girls have performed well. The name that requires special mention is Randeep Huda, playing ACP Agnel Wilson, who proves that given a chance and a role, he can deliver. The story is simple and everyone knows how it unfolds. The only thing that really disappointed me where the dialogs, it sounded more like philosophy lessons than real life conversations. Don't understand why everyone has to talk in metaphors all the time. The costumes and music has the needed feel of the 70's.

I would rate this movie 6 out of 10. You can go and watch it on a lazy Sunday without being disappointed.