Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007)

Director:

Apoorva Lakhia

Writers:

Apoorva Lakhia (writer)
Suresh Nair (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

25 May 2007 (India)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Based on true rumours

Plot:

On a calm summer day in 1991, in the bustling Lokhandwala Complex, five criminals including Maya and Dilip were counting 70 lakhs in flat no...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Police Officer | Summer | SWAT | 1991

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sanjay Dutt	...	Shamsher Khan
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Ex-Justice Dhingra
Arbaaz Khan	...	Inspector Javed Khan
Sunil Shetty	...	Inspector Kaviraj 'Kavi' Patil
Vivek Oberoi	...	Maya 'Mayabhai' Dolas
Tusshar Kapoor	...	Dilip 'Buvabhai' Buva
Ravi Gossain	...	Aslam Chikna
Rohit Roy	...	Fatim 'Fattoo'
Diya Mirza	...	Mita Mattu
Neha Dhupia	...	Rohini S. Khan
Aarti Chhabria	...	Tarannum 'Tanu'
Shabbir Ahluwalia	...	RC
Amrita Singh	...	Mrs. Dolas
Aditya Lakhia	...	Doubling
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Sub-Inspector Abhishek Mahatre
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aditi Bhatia	...	Heena S. Khan
Pramatesh Mehta	...	Fattoo's Father
Akhilendra Mishra	...	Tripathi
Daya Shankar Pandey	...	Ostiya
Nirmal Soni	...	Wadhwani's son
Shri Vallabh Vyas	...	Wadhwani
Rakhi Sawant	...	Pooja Bedi (uncredited)

Directed by
Apoorva Lakhia

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Apoorva Lakhia		writer
Suresh Nair		writer
Raj Vasant		Dialogue

Produced by
Sanjay Dutt	....	associate producer
Sanjay Gupta	....	producer
Ekta Kapoor	....	producer
Shobha Kapoor	....	producer
Laxmi Singh	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Anand Raj Anand
Biddu
Euphoria
Shibani Kashyap
Mika Mehndi		(as Mika)

Cinematography by
R.J. Gururaj

Film Editing by
Bunty Nagi

Production Management
Baylon Fonseca	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Shawn Aranha	....	first assistant director
Aditya Mandke	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Mihir Shah	....	graphic designer

Sound Department
Baylon Fonseca	....	dialogue editor
Baylon Fonseca	....	foley editor
Baylon Fonseca	....	production sound mixer
Baylon Fonseca	....	sound designer
Baylon Fonseca	....	sound effects editor
Baylon Fonseca	....	sound effects mixer engineer
Baylon Fonseca	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Anand Nayak	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Lalit Sahoo	....	camera operator

Music Department
Anand Raj Anand	....	playback singer
Biddu	....	playback singer
Sunidhi Chauhan	....	playback singer
Palash Sen	....	playback singer
Sukhwinder Singh	....	playback singer

Other crew
Nabeel Abbas	....	publicity designer
Gautam Kohli	....	senior manager of publicity & promotions

Production Companies

• Balaji Motion Pictures
• White Feather Films

Distributors

• Bharat Entertainment International (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• MG Distribution (2007) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Raksha Entertainment (2008) (India) (all media)
• White Feather Films (2006) (India) (all media)

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA (2007) | India:A

Company:

Balaji Motion Pictures

Trivia:

Sanjay Dutt's character was based on the real life Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Aftab Ahmed Khan Head of the ATS who was leading the gun battle with gangsters.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Kaviraj Patil (Sunil Shetty) returns after making a telephone call from the phone Booth, at Bakri Adda, a Tata Indigo car was seen passing by. Tata Indigo was launched in 2000s while the movie was supposedly showing events during the late 80s and early 90s.

Quotes:

Javed Shaikh: Ah, the f-word. As usual used with an utter lack of relevance or context to that most basic of human acts, which it so explicitly and yet so succintly describes. A sad but unavoidable linguistic travesty in these modern times!

Shootout at Lokhandwala

The star cast is huge. The director is decent. The production house is creative. The claim is that it is based on true rumors. All these appeals to audiences, and I too was! The story is based on so called true events that lead to a broad day light shootout in a residential area flat named Lokhandwala of Bombay; of underworld mafia by Bombay police lead by Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS). The movie is clearly divided into two halves. The first half showcases the emergences and development of all key characters and their past through several flashbacks and recollections. The second half is more engaging with the actual shoot-out taking place in the last 40 minutes.

The ATS squad is lead by Shamsher Khan (Sanjay Dutt) who selects several officers for the task (Suniel Shetty and Arbas Khan are the key two). The underworld mafia is remotely controlled by Dawood Ibrahim from Dubai through a small gang led by Maya Dolas (Viviek Oberio) of four other members (one of them is Tushshar Kapoor). The character of Lawyer Dhingra is played by Amitabh Bachchan who cross examines the ATS squad (that leads to several flashbacks) and finally wins the case for them.

As the movie is based on research the directors have tried to show all the sides of the story and the key one is of Shamsher Khan getting the tip off of the mafia hide out from Dawood or a local informer – both the events are shown for the audience to judge the truth.

The movie is too loud and noisy with continuous action scenes, chases and gun-fire. Apart from that there are too many song and dance sequences that are specially made for the front benchers. The first half of the movie is boring, whereas the second half holds good attention. Three songs before interval are lousy and one song after the interval (Ganpat Chai La) is excellent – music and choreography are good.

All the actors have performed well. Amitabh overacts a lot during cross examination. The movie belongs to Sanjay Dutt. He performs the role of Shamsher Khan to the hilt – the personality, the emotions and the sway of his walk steals our heart. Daringly his counter part role has been performed brilliantly by Viviek Oberio, who puts his heart and soul into this black role of Maya Dolas. After Company, Viviek would be remembered again for this portrayal for a long time. Viviek is ably supported by Tushshar Kapoor who too has acted well.

There is too much of guns and violence. The camera angle is journalistic and at times jarring. The music is over the top and loud. The overall direction is not up to the mark. The Director – Apoorva Lakhia could have done a wonderful job with this volcanic subject. But there are no second chances! (Stars 5 out of 10)