Movie Review: Once upon a time....once is enough

Genre: Crime/ Action
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Kangna Ranaut, Prachi Desai and Randeep Hooda

Now, I know the title I've given to this review makes this movie look really bad...that was not the intention. Once upon a time..is a decent attempt at a movie with smart dialogues intermingled with some really cheesy ones and a predictable, yet watchable performance overall. If there was ever a movie which got screwed due to the over-emphasis on dialogues and smart one liners..Once upon a time..would definitely be a part of that list.

Set in the 70s the movie focuses on the dark underbelly of Mumbai at its most nascent stages wherein smuggling was the route to overnight fortune and easy money. The movie starts with a narration from Ranbir Hooda (as per the credits he's supposed to have a guest appearance, though he seems to have as many dialogues and visibility as the other mainstream actors.) as a police officer who is repentent over a gross error in judgement he made and is willing to take his own life for it. After this, the movie gets into flashback mode as he recounts the lives of the two main characters, Sultan Mirza (Devgn) and Shuaib (Hashmi) and the paths they are willing to choose to realize their dreams.

Sultan Mirza, perfectly portrayed by Ajay Devgn is perhaps the most complex character in the plot and the director spends a good amount of time familiarizing us with the various facets of the character. He is a gangster, a smuggler yet there are some endearing qualities that put him into that grey zone, where one is not so sure what to think. His courtship of Rehanna (Ranaut) provide the lighter and more enjoyable moments of the film.

Shuaib, the other character, is easier to understand and he is your proverbial black sheep who is bent on becoming the biggest and greatest in the shortest time possible. While I've never been a fan of Hashmi, he has put in a decent performance, though in some scenes you wish there had been a more competent actor.

The song and dance routine is present but thankfully, only in patches and doesn't slow the movie down. With a plot line like this, too many songs would have completely ruined it but thankfully, that isn't the case

What the movie misses desperately is the underlying menace, the invisible tension of movies like Sarkar, Khakee or the more recent, Rajneeti, which had you watching each and every frame with rapt attention. While the background score does complete justice to the theme and pulse of the movie, the movie fails to be really gripping, even while attempting to be so.

All in all, its decent movie fare for this weekend. Ideally would like to watch this flick at home on a DVD but a visit to the cinemas wouldn't be a complete waste of your money.

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