*ing: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpai, Kajal
Aggarwal, Jimmy Shergill
Neeraj
Pandey, the director of the cult hit A
Wednesday, is back with Special 26 after a hiatus of almost 5 years. Special 26 is a crime caper set in 1987
and inspired by real events.
The
movie is about four con men, Ajay Singh (Akshay Kumar), P.K. Sharma (Anupam
Kher), Joginder (Rajesh Sharma) and Iqbal (Kishor Kadam), who pose as CBI officers/Income
Tax Officers and loot the politicians and businessmen in the guise of raids.
All is well till they dupe Senior Inspector Ranveer Singh (Jimmy Shergill) and
involve him in the raid of a politician, which results in his suspension. After
his suspension, Ranveer approaches a fiery CBI officer Wasim Khan (Manoj
Bajpai), seeking help for investigating into the matter. The first half is
focused on the building up of characters, whereas the entire second half is the
buildup to the climax where Ajay and his men are to perform the final heist.
Ajay and his men are working toward committing the perfect crime with the aid of 26 (special) recruits. On the other
hand, Wasim is waiting to nab them as they commit the impending crime since he
does not hold “thinking about committing a crime” as a crime.
The
movie boasts of good performances from its principal cast as well as the
supporting cast. Anupam Kher does a fine job, playing a man who puts up
confident show during the con but is a nervous fellow in real. Manoj Bajpai,
after GoW-I, again gives a great
performance. Rajesh Sharma, Jimmy Shergill, Kishor Kadam and Divya Dutta do not have much to do but are good
nonetheless. Akshay Kumar shines, delivering a knockout act in an understated
role. He oozes every bit of coolness and confidence required to play the
character of a suave operator and mastermind behind the heists. Akshay is a
befitting reply to Hollywood’s Danny
Ocean.
What
sticks out like a sore thumb is the romantic track involving Akshay Kumar and
Kajal Aggarwal and the songs. Avoiding the romantic track and the songs altogether
would have made movie even crisper. M.M. Keervani, better known as M.M. Kreem
to hindi film audiences, has however given two good songs in Dharpakad and Mujh Mein Tu.
The
writer-director Neeraj Pandey, along with his art director, has worked
meticulously to the minutest of details to create the era of 1980’s. From Vimal Suitings shops to Nagina posters to Ambassador cars to Thrill hoardings
to roads with less traffic, everything has been used to give the feel of 80’s.
It
is good to see the director paying so much attention to smaller things and
creating good scenes out of them. Akshay Kumar taking off his shoes before entering
the worshipping area to rummage through the idols or Manoj Bajpai asking his
wife to put on her dupatta when in public are two instances of such scenes.
Such scenes, other than adding charm to the movie, also etch details about the
characters.
Neeraj
Pandey has blended good amount of humor into the narrative. The dialogues are
witty and the humor, tongue-in-cheek. The opening scene, where Akshay and
Anupam are interviewing a girl, itself sets the tone for what is coming up. The
most hilarious dialogue of the movie is surprisingly delivered by an extra
which goes like “…I want to do my country….I wanted to do my country since
childhood…” Not to forget the catch phrase of the movie Asli Power Dil Mein Hoti Hai, which is … well … catchy.
Neeraj
Pandey is the director to watch out for. With Special 26, he has hit another sixer ala Sunil Gavaskar in the
final minutes of the movie. Book your tickets ASAP for the thrilling fun-ride
that is really special- Special 26. Highly-recommended.
My rating:
