Mumbai ka Raja kaun?. Review on Company

Before you blurt out “Bhiku Mhatre!”, watch this movie. There’s a very good chance that you might be forced to change your opinion. Ram Gopal Varma just seems to thrive on making brilliant movies that explore, study, analyse and pass a conclusive verdict on the fetid underbelly of the Metropolis that is Mumbai.

“Company” is a semi true-to-life and semi fictional account of the current generation of the underworld. Inspite of his vehement denials to the contrary, the movie is a crystal clear celluloid reflection of the life and times of two of the most famous underworld dons of Mumbai in recent times – Dawood Ibrahim (Mallik/Devgan) and Chhota Rajan (Chandu/Vivek Oberoi).

The Plot

Varma toes a cinematic line that depicts the movie as something between a documentary and a relation of real life incidents. The first half sticks to showing the friendship and strong bond of trust between Mallik and Chandu. It also takes a “Godfatherly” look at the betrayal of trust, fight for power, money and business and how the tentacles of the underworld have reached and grabbed the very fibre of the society that we live in. The first half sticks religiously to what all of us already know…the once staunch friends who start from scratch and become dreaded names by decimating all those who dare to cross their path. Varma does his homework well of showing how exactly the underworld exercises its vice-like grip inspite of the dons operating out of other countries in the Middle East, Kenya, Malaysia, Australia, etc.

Varma takes more liberties in the second half and lets his imagination loose. However, this is also the place where he fumbles and stumbles. All the pace and interest built up in the first half comes crashing down with a thud in the second half. I will not say what happens in the second half for that would only take away whatever interest is left before watching the movie. Inspite of the unimaginative script, the movie still holds your attention all the way till the end.

Performances

Ajay Devgan as Mallik and debutante Vivek Oberoi and Malyalam Superstar Mohanlal (as the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime), give sterling performances. Devgan has this innate capacity to communicate a lot of feelings and emotions with those glaring eyes and droopy looks. He plays his role with aplomb – no loud dialogues nor any excessive acting…just a cool performance that perfectly settles into the skin of the character.

Oberoi is very impressive, considering that this is his first movie. His role demands of him to be “The angry young man” and he is tailor made for that role. He has a great talent for timing..both dialogues as well as expressions and we should be seeing much more of his acting prowess in the years to come.

Mohanlal’s character has been modelled upon the former Joint Director (Crime), Mr. D. Sivanandan, who was largely instrumental in breaking the backbone of the criminal syndicate in Mumbai. Considering that both are south Indians, Mohanlal is the ideal choice for this role. His accent and dialogue delivery perfectly complement the character that he plays. Seema Biswas as Chandu’s mother, Antra Mali as Chandu’s wife and Manisha Koirala as Mallik’s wife do an able job.

Technical Gloss

Varma is one of the more accomplished technical whiz kids around and all his movies never fail in this department. The undeniable penchant for using the camera as a roving eye is not difficult to miss…be it to zoom in on the actor’s faces or to make us feel that we are virtually running behind someone in those Byzantine alleys in hot pursuit of someone. The music has been composed by Sandeep Chowta and he does a great job, especially on the background music. At the great risk of failing to whet the appetite of the “junta” , Varma, thankfully, has not decked the movie with more than 2 songs. Apart from slowing down the pace of the movie, they would have struck out like sore thumbs anyway.

My Opinion

if you liked watching “Satya”, you’ll definitely like this one too…if you have the appetite to digest the alarming rate of dead body count that is. The movie is certainly hard hitting and at times so direct and brutal in its appearance that it really makes us wonder if the underworld is really so organised, ruthless and efficient! The characterization of the main leads is wonderful for the director tells us everything about them in a very smooth manner and without disrupting the flow of the movie.

As with “Satya”, Varma gets his message across this time around too – Crime doesn’t pay in the long term. As one character says, “You either kill or get killed. In the first case, if you survive, your time will come at one time or the other”. That, very aptly sums up the movie as a whole.

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