Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai
Tags: romantic, murder

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a suicide attempt by Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) on the pretext of the Bombay Bombings in 1993. When questioned by his superior over his actions, he breaks down and claims that the recent tragic events are his own fault. Wilson recounts that 18 years ago, when he was posted as the ACP in the Mumbai crime branch, his inability to take the necessary action led to the rise of Shoaib Khan (Emraan Hashmi) a dreaded gangster, who played a central role in the bombings. Throughout the film, Wilson narrates the story of 1970s Bombay, when it was ruled by a kind hearted smuggler Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgn), and how Mirza's eventual downfall led to Shoaib's rise to power.
After being hit by a flood in his hometown in Madras, a young Mirza arrives in Mumbai, where he lands a job as a coal shoveller. In spite of his meager earnings, the boy never fails to help the poor and needy, which soon gains their respect and admiration. Mirza is given the nickname of "Sultan."
As a grown man, Sultan Mirza becomes the kingpin of Mumbai's smuggling underworld. Through his influence, Mirza peacefully divides the city among four gangsters, thus thwarting police efforts to curb illegal activities. Despite being a criminal, Sultan Mirza is portrayed as a man of principle with a heart of gold and a godfather-like figure to the people. He even refrains from smuggling contraband, as it is against his Muslim faith.
Mirza has a crush on Bollywood actress Rehana (Kangana Ranaut) and eventually the two begin dating. Sultan invests black money in her upcoming films. ACP Wilson moves to stop Rehana's films funded by Sultan. Later, Sultan and Rehana frame Wilson to make it look as if Wilson is accepting a bribe, which damages his credibility.
Meanwhile, Shoaib is even in childhood a very ambitious person with a dark and daring character. He is frequently involved in petty theft. His father, Hussain Khan (Asif Basra), who is a sub-inspector with the Bombay Police, tries in vain to guide and control his son, his anger against Shoaib began years ago when Shoaib and his best friend Javed were stealing money and got caught red handed by a man, by teaching his son a lesson, Khan slaps him 5 times. Khan locks Shoaib in jail but Shoaib angers him as both Shoaib and Wilson make a deal saying that Shoaib wants to follow another path. Worried, the father turns to Sultan for help. Sultan agrees and helps the young man set up an electronics shop. But Shoaib is unsatisfied, as his only real ambition is to become rich and powerful, like Sultan Mirza who is his idol.
Shoaib's beautiful girlfriend, Mumtaz (Prachi Desai), works in a local jewellery shop, which Shoaib visits often, to the aggravation of the girl's boss. Shoaib gives her a beautiful necklace, which, unbeknownst to Mumtaz, Shoaib had stolen from a lady during a home robbery. Later, that lady comes to the shop with her husband to buy more jewellery. The lady soon recognises her own necklace being worn by Mumtaz; she then admits to the outraged customer that her boyfriend had given the item to her. The lady and her husband demand she take them to her boyfriend's shop, where they confront him. This enrages Shoaib, who beats up the husband and destroys his own shop.
Shoaib goes to Sultan and asks to be a part of his crime ring. Seeing his potential, Sultan agrees to take him under his wing. Shoaib learns the tricks of the trade and soon becomes Sultan's trusted aide. ACP Wilson hatches a plan to use Shoaib's reckless ambition for quick money and power as a way to cause the downfall of Sultan. Wilson even refrains from killing Sultan and Shoaib when he has the opportunity. Wilson's plan backfires, however. Finally, when Shoaib becomes invincible, Wilson blames himself for the subsequent catastrophe as he now cannot stop Shaoibs rise to power.
Sultan decides to hand over his power to Shoaib, and opts to enter state politics. He travels to Delhi to meet the Home Minister of India. Shoaib's unscrupulous ambitions lead him to carry out trades and acts which Sultan himself would strongly condemn and abhors. Shoaib starts manufacturing illicit liquor, accepts contract killings, invests in drug peddling and runs extortion rackets. When Sultan returns to Bombay, he learns of Shoaib's misdeeds and is outraged. He finds Shoaib at a party and slaps him in public for his unethical activities and states he can never really be like Sultan. This infuriates Shoaib and he plots revenge as he now knows that Sultan and he cannot possibly rule Mumbai together due to Mirza's strong principals and moral ethos. The next day, as Sultan campaigns for his new party, Shoaib appears and assassinates Sultan Mirza whilst he is addressing the people at the rally as a horrified Wilson looks on, thus ending the reign of the smuggler who was loved by his people.
In his narration, Wilson laments that he and the police are responsible for the bombings because of their lack of forethought, Wilson also says that Shoaib now rules Mumbai despite living abroad and the people are now forever at his mercy – as Mumbai's new underworld kingpin – he has since established a global smuggling empire. No government or force can reach him now.

Review: ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI – CATCH IT ( A- ) Once Upon a time in Mumbaai is quite different take on the Mumbaai Don world which is less brutal and hardcore then Company or Satya An amazing movie with amazing performances by all the leading actors Ajay Devgan yet again proved that he is par excellence his portrayal of Sultan Mirza is effortless and complete natural Imran Hasmi in his Bad Boy Avatar again proved he is the best Bad boy Around in Bollywood.
Once Upon a Time in Mumbai is all about the rise two smugglers / gangsters in Mumbai i.e. Sultan Mirza (played by Ajay Devgun) and Shoaib Khan (Emraan Hashmi).
Movie begins with ACP Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) narrating the life stories of these two smugglers.
Haji Mastan also married a bollywood actress and so does Sultan Mirza in the movie who marries top actress of his time Rehana (played by Kangana Ranaut).
Here, credit also goes to costume designers who were successful in giving the actors & actresses the accurate 70's / 80's look.As far as acting is concerned, this is one best movies of Ajay Devgun's career (performance wise) and its seems that this role could not have been suited on any other actor apart from Ajay Devgun.
It would have been better if Shoaib Khan's role was given to Hooda due to the arrogant, anger look on his face.Pritam's music is one of the strengths of the movie.
Singing great Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's "Tum Jo Aaye" & "Pee Loo" by Mohit Chauhan was splendid.Last but not the least, apart from the songs, superb background score was the biggest plus of the movie especially in the latter half.Conclusion: Highly recommended to all the cine goers especially to gangster / mafia movie lovers..
Director Milan Luthria takes us to 'Once upon a time in Mumbaai' in the era of a smuggler who sought control of the seas and his apprentice who changed the meaning of crime altogether.The inspiration for the character of Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgan) was certainly derived from the erstwhile RobinHood Smuggler Haji Mastan Mirza.
She even over-shines the beautiful Prachi Desai who could do with a meatier role next time.In the aftermath of the '93 serial blasts, a despondent ACP Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) regretfully narrates the tale of how two criminals shaped the future of the city and how he trusted the wrong one among the two to turn away from the underworld.
Here we have Sultan enraged over Shoaib's management of his business in his absence, ordering his men "Shehar Saaf chahiye mujhe!" The combination of such screenplay and dialogues is essentially the strength of this film and the reason why it has its place in the hallmark of crime sagas.Pritam's two romantic tracks make up whatever good there is in the album.
And director Milan Luthria makes enough efforts to make OUATIM look very authentic and worth a watch for its settings.Settings apart the film has its pluses with some superb performances and great dialogs.
It gives the feeling of olden era's music with the new instruments and that will give you a great effect.The movie is power packed with good one-liners and any one who has interest in dialogs will just love it.
Ajay Devgn acting is just superb ,he is well suited for the character that he is portraying .Emraan Hashmi is a bit disgusting because of the dialog delivery,yet he is good.Overall , the movie is watchable and it will surely remind you the era of olden Indian Cinema..
It talks about the chic retro look which was the trademark of that era.The plot does resemble with lives of Haji Mastan(allegedly played by Ajay Devgn) and Dawood Ibrahim(allegedly played by Emraan Hashimi) but whatever is, the screenplay is engrossing and keeps you hooked until you feel about complaining for the length when things get slow in the second half and gradually in the end.
It recreates the 70s era perfectly.The film tells the story, from the point of view of a police officer, about Sultan Mirza (Ajay)who went from nothing to the ruler of Mumbai, and Shoaib Khan (Emraan),the only son of an honest police officer who wants to make it big so badly.The performance by Ajay Devgan is simply superb as Sultan Mirza; there isn't a role he cannot do.
In Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, writer Rajat Arora and director Milan Luthria bring us back to the 60s to 80s Mumbai, with the city having to taste the onslaught of the Mafia operating from within, carefully carving territories amongst themselves so that they can each operate in their own spheres of influence as mooted by a certain Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgan), with him forsaking land to his peers and opting for control over the sea routes for his smuggling activities.So begins the tale of a much respected gangster, well known throughout the city for his no- nonsense approach and honour amongst thieves, yet possessing that heart of gold and compassion in his willingness to help impoverished folks where the authorities can't, himself having started from an almost impossibly poor beginning and working his way up through a variety of con jobs.
But one gangster alone doesn't make this the blast from the past tale it got touted to be, with the story enveloping two other key characters, with Shoaib Khan (Emraan Hashmi of Tum Mile) the protégé gangster wannabe who looks toward Sultan as a source of inspiration, but possesses a hungrier and larger ambition and an obsession to emulate his idol, and on the other side of the law, ACP Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) who at first thought that taming the city will be a piece of cake, but soon finds himself embroiled in a battle larger than what he alone thought could handle.It is the intertwining of the lives of these three characters that propel the narrative forward, with the two gangster characters Sultan and Shoaib finding parallels with real life mobsters Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim who reigned over the Mumbai underworld during the same era.
The story takes pains to tell how each possesses a certain amount of ingenuity in their dealings as gangsters to make up for the lack of action sequences, while also highlighting their differences that will eventually see them cross paths into foes, with the police willing to take a backseat to see how it will all play out.As with a typical Hindi film, romance is never left far behind, and ample time is given to mirror the kind of relationships each man develop with their lady love.
Kangana Ranaut glams up for her role as the superstar actress Rihana who sweeps and got swept off the floor by Sultan in their fairy tale like whirlwind romance, while that between Shoaib and Mumtaz (Prachi Desai) is almost the exact opposite with a more down to earth relationship riddled with issues since Mumtaz cannot reconcile Shoaib's desire to rise to the top through whatever means possible.
Emraan Hashmi too holds his own against the heavyweight actor, and his emulation in wanting to be Sultan goes well thanks in part to the costume designers, who work wonders in decking all of them in retro garb, and credit too to making Kangana Ranaut quite the clotheshorse here, whose character unfortunately got forgotten midway.Randeep Hooda perhaps got the role that elicit the most laughter, because his ACP Agnel has a penchant of speaking through idioms, which of course in a way exaggerates speech.
For a while, Shoaib goes to work for Sultan but, not surprisingly, there's a falling out and I really don't want to tell you more...just see the story.This film has a lot going for it.
He is unscrupulous and corrupt who smuggled not only gold but drugs, guns, started contract killings and emerged as most powerful threats, wanted by Interpol and whose net worth is in billions today.I liked Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, Milan Lutharia's 70′s retro mafia flick more of origin story of a master and his protégé alliance and their fall out.
The movie is really very good and enjoyable from start till end.This movie deserves a 10 on 10.The story is awesome.The direction by Milan Luthria is is just outstanding.The screenpay is nice.The editing as good.The dialouges were really very awesome and gruesome.The songs were beautiful.And now comes to the acting.Just brilliant acting from Ajay devgan.Now I can say about him much than this.And Emraan Hashmi was superb and terrific and romantic in his role.The role of his character is brilliantly played by him.Kangana and Prachi also acted good.So guys this movie is a must watch.The ending was terrific..
The Bollywood style takes a bit of time to get used to (I never watched a Bollywood movie before), but once you start to get used to it you really get into the story.The story itself is good, the actors as well, Ajay Devgn and its character making me think of a Danny Trejo, but subtler.
The soundtrack, nicely mixing Indian pop and electro/rock, is right on.Last but not least - Bollywood targeting the huge Indian market before the rest of the world - this movie gives the action and standards we are used to without loosing its spirit, making it feel like an 80's movie, in a good way, more mature than the latest American and European productions.I enjoyed it and recommend if you come with an opened mind !.
Dialogue writer should be woken up to the real world.Poor Direction: Once upon a time I watched "Kachhe Dhaage" and so I was expecting a lot from this movie but I guess Mr. Luthria showed us how can we rape a good story.
Ajay Devgn always rocks even Prachi's acting looked better in front of those 2 I mean 3 adding another waste who was playing agnell Wilson!
4th: U just can't make a good film based on some one-liners and front- line action scenes, If u just wanna show them, then make the movie as small as 1hr 10 minutes maximum!I think my review is enough in these 4 points!
Refreshingly, the film goes low on violence and focuses more on the emotional quotient, throwing light on how Sultan Mirza (an awesome Ajay Devgn) rose to his Shahenshah-esquire status in the underworld and how he tried to tame the roguish new team member, Shoaib Khan (an edgy Emraan Hashmi).
Once again, done with a delicate finesse which creates memorable mush on screen as Sultan serenades the actress Rehana (Kangna Ranaut) and Shoaib tries a Bobby with his shy showroom girl Mumtaz (Prachi Desai).After the innovative and experimental Love Sex Ur Dhoka, producer Ektaa Kapoor once again scores with a complete entertainer which boasts of almost everything: a compelling story, crisp and absolutely state-of-the-art duologue's (Rajat Arora), an artistic period piece ambiance (Aseem Mishra), a lilting music score (Pritam) and some riveting performances.
Both Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi breathe fire and brimstone in to their portrayal of the two disparate gangsters and come up with two of the most mesmeric acts of the year, while Kangna Ranaut and Prachi Desai pitch in as perfect and picturesque molls.
Direction-wise Milan Luthria does a good job, looking at his first movie 'Kachche Dhaage' Something BAD:LOOOOONNGGG...
Good Camera work (except the fight Scenes) The movie takes place during 80s and the directors succeeds in creating that feel.
Bollywood's fascination with Hollywood movies continues with Milan Luthria selecting a title highly inspired from two cult Western movies of ace director Sergio Leone,known as "Once Upon A Time In The West" and "Once Upon A Time in America".(Interestingly, this also reminds me the tag line of Aamir Khan's "Lagaan" which was again "Once Upon a Time in India".) Apart from its catchy title, the film heavily takes references from the real life of Haji Mastaan And Dawood, two famous names of the Mumbai underworld, which was then called Bambai.
If it can really be done without a blast then its indeed a great and innovative tip from the writer-director for all notorious people out there.Till the intermission, the film moves at a very slow pace where an Inspector (Randeep Hooda), who has just recovered from a Suicide attempt is actually narrating the whole story of the relationship between the two smugglers.
A sequence which at once made me search for the names of the writers.Another important aspect of the movie which falls flat without any long lasting impression is the love angle between Ajay Devgan, a smuggler and Kangna Ranaut, a film actress.
Post Intermission the Bollywood angle takes a back seat and the story mainly moves into the revolt plot of Emraan Hashmi wherein you can easily predict every next scene and the climax without any extra efforts.However, one great merit of the movie remains its Background Score which has the required punch and melody, suiting its gangster background like a "T".
Incidentally, "Deewar" also finds a mention in OUATIM itself when Kangna shares an idea with Ajay and says "Let's make a movie on your life with a new actor who is making waves called Amit." It seems like director Milan Luthria sincerely wanted to pay his tribute to the great legend and his DEEWAR with these few lines.Summing up, you can watch ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI only for its good performances and great background score.
When you watch a movie about Mumbai being from mumbai the first thing one would want is the dialogues to be in the local language or at least the manner in which they are delivered to be of some semblance but sadly our own "Bollywood" filmmakers have done a bad job at it than someone like Danny Boyle in SDM.To expect once upon a time in mumbai to rise to the level of Slum Dog Millionaire in terms of the story telling and the reality would be a big mistake but these days Bollywood is reaching out much wider than before and has a lot of investment flowing in as well from all quarters.
So Once upon a time does deliver a lot of substance and entertainment but it still lacks the feel of being anywhere near reality as its title purports it to be.By now everyone is aware of the story of this movie about the rise of a Robinhood like gangster inspired from Haji Mastan played by Ajay Devgan and his ardent follower turned henchman turned enemy inspired from Dawood played by Imraan Hashmi.
If that weren't enough Shuaib's differences with Sultan are more visible to an outsider like the police inspector than Sultan himself which would make no sense at all.The dialogues and their delivery is no doubt very powerful and at times thought provoking but it severely lacks any realism or conveys the context of the story or the intelligence of the characters.
All of this weakens the story a bit along with the slow pacing of events.I think Ajay devgan redeems this movie from a downward spiral which brings out a memorable performance in him, He completely excludes command and domination in every scene.
It seems like he was chosen for the lover boy side more than the gangster side of the role as most of the time he is seen pursuing a love interest than doing anything worthy of a crime head.In summary this movie is more bollywood than a historical drama and the filmmakers did no justice to the inclusion of the name of Mumbai in the title in terms of the atmosphere.Watch it for Ajay Devgan's best performance!.
The film begins well, and the characters of Sultan Mirza & Shoaib Khan have appeal, but it's the writing in the second hour, which pulls down the momentum.
Gangster plot was wasted, and character of sultan mirza was too sugar coated to give movie a real story feel.
) Emraan Hashmi was ridiculous in his performance .The only good thing , the KID who played young Shoaib was nice in the tiny role he appeared in .All in all , please stay away ..
Once upon a Time...., set in 70s, shows Sultan Mirza's (Ajay Devgan) rise to power and his ultimate demise after his opponent Shoaib (Emraan Hashmi), defies to oust him.
I am thrilled to see these kind of movies from my childhood.We never get tired of stories of Underworld Dons in India.This one is a fabulous effort to recreate the golden era of Mumbai...the 70's and the director Milan Luthria successfully does that.Basically it is the story of a Smuggler Sultan Mirza and His Confident Shoaib khan.Running parallel to this is the romantic tracks of both of them..Sultan is a man of the people.having reached Bombay during the floods, he had smuggled Gold and watches from his childhood and on the other hand Shoaib, the spoiled boy of a police constable, was interested in Stealing.
the Film progresses with the Sultan's Reign in Bombay, His eventual fall and Rise of Shoaib khan.It is told from the viewpoint of a police officer .Ajay Devgn gives a Rock solid performance as Sultan Mirza.He portrays the role with ease......even though its similar to his role in Company.
The movie portrays rise of smuggler Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devegan) in the Mumbai crime scenario.
It was finally nice to see Emraan cast with an A-Lister (Ajay Devgan)This movie depicts the rise and fall of Mumbai's greatest Robin hood, Sultan mirza.The Pluses: Depiction of Mumbai, Kangana and Prachi's beauty, Emmi's, Ajay's and Randeep Hooda's acting.
Ajay Devgan has given a decent performance and Kangana looks good in some scenes.
Randeep Hooda and Emraan Hashmi are at their wasteful best.The movie is full of crappy dialogues reminiscent of Mithun's "Goonda".
And besides that, makers had their reasons to make it.Set in 70's era, its the story of two gangsters, Sultan Mirza by Ajay Devgan & Shoaib Khan by Emran Hashmi and the paths they chose.