Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwary, Hussain Dalal, Farida Jalal, Rahul Deshpande & Nana Patekar Music & Dir...
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwary, Hussain Dalal, Farida
Jalal, Rahul Deshpande & Nana Patekar
Music & Directed by: Vishal Bhardwaj
Director Vishal Bhardwaj adapts Hussain Zaidi’s novel of the Mafia Queens of Mumbai into O’ Romeo. This time, though, Bhardwaj stuffs the audience
with too much of gore, bullets and guns. He also borrows sequences straight out
of Kill Bill: Vol.1 (2003) & Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). Rather
this time he takes a leaf out of Tarantino and also has the damsel without any
distress. Pure raw and excessive bloodshed all around. There are some
uniqueness in the form of settings (ship) and the use of ‘ustara’ as the main
weapon of the protagonist. Yes a lot of cinematic liberties have been taken and
the climax is convenience based. This is where Bhardwaj falters. His music too
is not upto the mark.
Set in 1995 in Bombay now Mumbai, Ustara (Shahid Kapoor) resides with
his grandmother (Farida Jalal) and his gang members. He works on the payroll of
Inspector of Intelligence Bureau Ismail Khan (Nana Patekar). Khan takes Ustara
under his protection after the latter’s fallout with his partner and gangster
Jalal ( Avinash Tiwary), a fugitive settled in La Linea in Spain and enjoys
bullfights. Ustara eliminates criminals for Khan. One day a mysterious woman
named Afshan (Tripti Dimitri) comes with a proposal to Ustara for eliminating
three people for her- a cop Pathare, Jalal & a lawyer Ansari. Why and what
follows forms the rest of the story.
Shahid Kapoor as usual is the heart and soul of the film and puts in a
powerful performance. He is there from start to finish. Tripti Dimri gives an
impactful and restrained performance. Nana Patekar is as usual reliable.
Avinash Tiwary, despite having a lesser screen-time than the others, makes up
with a high octane and dynamic performance. Farida Jalal is likeable and as
Chhotu, the right hand man of Ustara, Hussain Dalal is adorable. Rahul
Deshpande as the classical singing bad cop Pathare is too good and leaves a
mark. Vikrant Massey, Tamannah Bhatia, Aroona Irani, Disha Patani and ‘ANL’
Arasu all appear in cameos.
The ‘adults only’ 178 minute long O’Romeo is not for the faint-
hearted as there is gore galore. The second half drags but the performances
lift the film up.
No comments