Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara Movie Review

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara arrives in theatres today after undergoing half a dozen spelling changes in the title, a few casting changes and the most important of them all – a change in the release date from the lucrative Eid day to the almost equally lucrative Independence Day. A lot of promotion has been done for the film with Ekta leaving no stone unturned to get the audiences to see her film and justifiably so, since this is the biggest film of her banner. So does the sequel of the 2010 smash hit Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, come together? Does it work? Let’s see.

Story: The movie picks up from where the first part ended. Shoaib (Akshay Kumar reprising the role of Emraan Hashmi from the original) is now a major gangster-cum-don in the middle east. He chances across an upcoming gangster called Aslam (Imran Khan) and grooms him to become his man friday. Aslam meanwhile meets a struggling actress Jasmine (Sonakshi Sinha) and falls in love with her. The problem arises when Shoaib lands in Mumbai to deal with his enemy and instead also falls in love with Jasmine. The story moves forward with the two men looking to out maneuver each other. The whys, hows and whens of the rest of the story should be discovered by the viewer. Watch out for the surprising climax!

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara
Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara Review

Screenplay, Dialogues, Direction: The director-writer combo of Milan Luthria and Rajat Arora achieved tremendous success recently with OUATIM and The Dirty Picture so when they decided to team up again, massive fireworks was to be expected on the screen. To be honest, the flare seen in their past outings hasn’t diminished completely but their effect in OUATIMD is not even nearly as potent. The dialogues are applause worthy and seeti worthy (especially for the aage ke teen row wali audience). But where the film lags in, is dealing with the storyline. The screenplay falters in places where it was expected to rise and even though the climax acts like a last minute CPR, the damage has already been done. The film drifts and struggles to find its true calling and manages to end up neither as an intense love triangle nor as a revenge gangster flick. I came out of the film thinking that they had written the dialogues first and then chose to make the film around it. And Milan Luthria must take blame for the haphazard way this film was made.

Miscellaneous: The technical aspects of the film are top notch, though. The period setting is almost spot on and credit must be given to the set and costume departments. The finer details in the production design give that edgy raw feel to OUATIMD. Another aspect of the film that stands out is the cinematography by Ayananka Bose. The film looks stylish due the slick frames this ace cinematographer churns up in regular intervals. The editing is also of noteworthy quality with no scenes and shots being stretched more than required.

Music: Pritam’s music in OUATIMD is a dampener. Much was expected from the music of the film for a variety of reasons. The music of the first part has become cult, and Pritam has been in fine form recently delivering commercial chartbusters almost regularly. So when you come out of the theatre after watching OUATIMD, you’d expect yourself to be humming a few of the songs. Alas, only “Yeh Tune Kya Kiya” stuck with me afterwards with the other songs being just bearable. The new age “Tayyab Ali” was a big disappointment too. Having said that, let me mention that the background score is scintillating.

Performances: OUATIMD would have been a much better film if the actors were chosen carefully. Heck, it would have worked if the actors had chosen to actually ‘act’. All the three main protagonists give stale performances. Akshay Kumar as Shoaib doesn’t create any aura in his personality or mannerisms that a Don like him should have. There are only fleeting glimpses of his off screen charisma and that too few and far between. His dialogue delivery also leaves a lot to be desired. Imran Khan just doesn’t cut it as the street smart Aslam. Casting Imran in OUATIMD could very well turn out to be one of the biggest casting guffaws of the year. His acting is, bluntly put, bad. Sonakshi Sinha who delivered one of the finest performances of the year in Lootera is back to her normal self with this film. She delivers her dialogues in a mostly one note tone and ruptures ear drums with her screaming in the climax. Mahesh Manjrekar delivers a jarring performance but that’s mostly down to the all black shade the writers penned down for the role. Sonali Bendre was a pleasant surprise and I wish she had a bigger role.

Conclusion: OUATIMD is another example of commerce taking over art. The only reason this film was sanctioned was probably to cash in on the cult following of the previous film. I can only hope that Milan and Rajat get back to tackling original ideas and don’t follow the herd. They are simply too talented for that. OUATIMD does have its moments, but overall the film doesn’t work. It doesn’t come together as fluidly as it could and should have.

Box Office: OUATIMD faces tough competition at the box office from Chennai Express and will only see a full release on the 16th. Competition, less screens wouldn’t have mattered if the film had content good enough to back up the hype. I see the film taking a very good opening and then audience response will carry the film forward.

Positives:

  • Dialogues
  • Cinematography
  • Production Design
  • Background Score

Negatives:

  • The screenplay falters
  • Direction not up to the mark
  • None of the 3 main actors are in form
  • Music is a disappointment

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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78 Comments

  • @noname noam Get on the train as many times as you want baby but it wont make any difference in the final figures…! Chennai Express is not getting close to 3 idiots record and if it does get close then so what? Aamir made a record with Ghajini and just 1 yr later not only broke but almost doubled it. lol poor srk took 5 yrs and 5 crappy films to finally get past Ready for instance and still he hasnt got close to Aamirs record despite holiday release after holiday release and extortionate inflated hikes in ticket prices…! :-P
    Akshays Rowdy Rathore is a classic compared to all of Srks last 5 horror/ comical/ depressing disaster filled movies rolled into 1. Saw OUATIMD and it was rocking and appreciated by 90% of the audience. A large male dominated audience granted but it was being lapped up- reviewer no doubt feels Srks OTT goatish Don avatar in those 2 comical DON movies was ‘realistic and superb’ acting but to me Akki played it well and upped the tempo when needed. Imran didnt disappoint me- I wasnt expecting anything from him in the first place so I hardly could complain now could I? Sonakshi was pleasing on the eye- what can I say I love the desi avatar and to hell with acting- if I want acting from a heroine then I would watch a Tabu film but I dont so not bothered eitherway. ;-)

    So in summary Mr No Name Noamy- 3 out of 5 stars and the film will rock Chennai Depress so Stick that in your pipe and smoke it…! ;-)

  • i think jeetu consider CE and postponed to release movie after week of CE is wrong decision now the screen is less and who will pay the money? ask SRK in business no sympathy or friendship.

  • OUATIMD was well worth the wait. Amazing movie and better than what I was expecting because I became a huge fan of the original and held that in high esteem. My expectations were met and though Imran lacked substance, it shouldnt detract anything from the movie as a whole. Ending will leave you gasping for breath but on the whole it was worth every last dime. Well done Team Balaji. :-)

    3.5 out of 5 as I got Bismillah playing in the background so thats gotta be worth an extra mark/ half credit. ;-)

  • @aki My sentiments too. Surely this was one instance where the ‘head strong’ daughter should have ‘overruled / disobeyed her father’ and went ahead with her original plans. Lesson to all fathers- family comes first and business acquaintances/ professional relationships should take a backseat…! Jeetu Sir your kind heart and compassion for a grovelling Srk wanting to save his sinking career could end up costing your daughter/ company a small fortune. :-(

  • i will not comment much about this review.i saw the movie n it was a paisa vasool movie.and all the reviews r biased becoz of chennai express.if ouatimd became hit then i will never open this website again.and please give a neutral review.seems review is given by a die hard srk fan..very happie for chennai express.it was also an awesome movie.bt m sure this website is run by srk fan.ouatimd was just faboulus.akshay kumar steals the show.

  • Aki…

    It could have been bad for both movies. If SOS was a solo release it could have bee collect more than 125 crs and with JTHJ more than 150 crs was simply possible. Now they know that. Balaji is not immature in film production like ajay devgan(no offense). For the good sake of business it is good not to release two biggies on same day. Both Balaji and UTV-RC are maestros in this business. So what balaji is done is good and no one expected CE to run like this and Independence day is better than EID for movies.So cant blame Balaji.

    • @Anwar, incorrect. Son Of Sardar last year benefitted from the clash with Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

      In my opinion, the best release date for OUATIMD was Eid i.e 8th August. For a couple of reasons. One, a clash even with a big film on a holiday is better than a normal non-holiday release. Two, if OUATIMD had released during Eid, Chennai Express wouldn’t have been record-breaking and lost out on free-publicity it got for breaking all opening weekend records.

      Releasing the film just 6 days after meant exhibitors were reluctant to release the film on Thursday and distributors bargained for a better price. The momentum was also clearly with Chennai Express, and now it’ll be difficult to stop the SRK film.

      Still haven’t been able to make sense of Ekta’s decision. Heard there is a political angle to it too. Either way, the next best thing to do was, release your film on 23rd August. But instead, Ekta opted for 15th, lost out on Eid and Independence Day due to limited release.

  • @anwar ur such dumb….ouatim,company is ajay’s comfort zone? oh really it is much better thn srk performance in MNIK where overacted just by playin himself lik if srk gets asperger syndrome how he will be in real life….

  • Indicine Team…

    I agree with you in one point and disagree with 2 points.

    1.The best thing to do was, release OUATIMD film on 23rd August. But Ekta would have thought her movie should get atleast 2 weeks befor the next big release Satyagraha. And Independence day is just like a paid preview show for OUTIMD . May be she was over confident about her product. But since the WOM is not good for her product it seems difficult to compete with CE. But who knows it could start fresh from tomarrow because “Dont underestimate the power of a common man”.

    Disagree
    1.Son Of Sardar last year benefitted from the clash with Jab Tak Hai Jaan. It could have done a better buiceness if it was a solo release. It benefited only after making such dramas and contrivercies. Ajay was litterely crying like a baby whose toy was taken by someone else. He lost his respect by doing those dramas. Thank god ekta is mature than him. And JTHJ lost its screen space due to SOS and lost some money by sharing audience.

    2. Records are creating to break. If CE is breaking all the collection records then its good for industry. Its seems like you dont like CE breaking all the records.

    I thought Ekta is very arrogant. That is none of my business and she is a very good producer and she didnt go for all those cheap publicity stunts and dramas over screen count. I respect her for that. Good luck for her new product.

  • Emraan Hashmi was good as Shoaib and he had done a marvelous job as an actor.
    But Alas! People still consider him as a downgrade actor.

  • @Indicine: peoples were saying this site is biased to srk, it feels the same now… U say DIalogues are top notch and WORTH SEETIS!!!! so let me tell u, if the dialogues not said as per their aura, nobody will applaud o give a seeti…. and i saw the movie, the dialogues by far was in akshay’s kitty and he stood up to those…. he was no doubt outstanding.

    n i dont understand r u giving reviews as u r from masses o a class public???

    If this was not a good performance, what d hell did u like in SRK for CE!!!!! u r turning a taran adarsh kinda thing now…

  • Saw it today at cinema.. a very nice film and for first time I liked Imraan Khan in his role and he did a good job.. Akshay, Sonakshy, all of them did a good job.. Loved the songs too. A film about 2 villains but with a love story and humour.. enjoyed watching it although it was 2hrs and 35 minutes in the length but I didn’t feel the time. For me.. this film is better than YJHD which didn’t have any content and better than Chemnai Express which was a pastime film., I think that I wl go to see it again at cinema and hope that it does well at the box office coz it deserves to be a hit film

  • manish i heard rani is doin an item song in HF2btw from the looks of it HF2 looks like Blockbuster material to me i just hope Joker aint bad film even if its not a hit i dnt care but bad film is what sercas me

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