Screened at the Mumbai Film Festival, BMW – Bombays Most Wanted is an upcoming cop-underworld thriller, presented by Devi Entertainment and the The Basu Bhattacharya Co.
The man who directed ‘Raakh’, the thriller starring Aamir Khan has returned from his hybernation from Bollywood mainstream with BMW – Bombay’s Most Wanted – Every city needs its hero.
This one is a thriller, yet another offbeat film on the Mumbai cops and doesn’t glorify the ‘Encounter specialist’ cop nor the underworld. Flow of the story is kept simple and a couple of times goes back and forth explaining the narration of the witnesses of the murder of a wanted gangster. Repeated versions from different characters appear confusing initially or say conflicting, but then as the events unfold, the incidents becomes self explanatory.
For her Tv special, ‘Bombay’s Most Wanted – Crime and the City’ Nivedita Nath (Sarita Choudhury), NY-based journalist, returns to her native city. She chooses three subjects – a Rogue-Cop (Jaaved Jaaferi), an Informer (Chandan Roy Sanyal) and the city’s most famous ‘Bar-Dancer’ Vanilla (aTannistha Chatterjee.
Dance-Bar’s are now illegal, the cop, once the city’s best-loved hero, is on the run and the informer is attempting to invent a new life and ways to survive.
Unknown to Nivedita, the lives of her three subjects are fatally connected. As their and her story unravels, fact and fiction blur and she spirals into the dark heart of India’s most vibrant megalopolis and underworld mecca – increasingly unsure about who her protagonist is and what her story is about…
Javeed Jaaferi underplays and thankfully isn’t loud in his role as a cop (like the cops in recent megahits). Chandan Roy Sanyal as the informer ‘khabri’ is very impressive. Tannistha Chatterjee convincingly plays the bar dancer. Sarita Choudhury is apt as the American reporter. What puts off is her narration throughout the film which appears like a person having sore throat and going through the oration job quickly. Deliberate or otherwise, it not friendly to the ears.
A fine film, and just hope that before its release, if the right kind of buzz is created, and marketed well, this one could be another addition to the non-mainstream mega hits like the recent ones – Gangs of Wasseypur and Kahaani
Credits of Bombays Most Wanted:
Produced by Asif Noor, Jaaved Jaaferi, Aditya Bhattacharya
Banner- Maximum Media Pvt Ltd., Black Pepper Entertainment Pvt. Ltd and deviEnt
Director Aditya Bhattacharya
Story – Aditya Bhattacharya
Screenplay – Aditya Bhattacharya, Naman Ramachandran, Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Kumar
Director of Photography – Lisa Rinzler
Film Editor – Chandan Arora
Music Director – Udyan Sagar
Cast of Bombays Most Wanted:
Jaaved Jaaferi
Sarita Choudhury
Tannistha Chatterjee
Chandan Roy Sanyal
Adil Hussain
Vijay Raaz
John Ventimiglia
Bombays Most Wanted movie review
The Director
Bombays Most Wanted’s director Aditya Bhattacharya’s debut film in Bollywood was RAAKH – Ashes to Ashes (Drama / 1989) and then he has also directed internationally acclaimed films Senso Unico – One Way (Drama /2000) and then Dubai Return (Comedy/2005).
His award winning films have played internationally at the Rotterdam, SXSW, Cairo and Seattle Film Festivals. He has been an actor, a chef in Rome, Italy and a photojournalist. His directorial debut RAAKH starring, Aamir Khan is today considered a cult-classic. Recently called “one of Bollywood’s brightest directorial stars” by Screen International.
Aditya is currently in development on a slate of films including a Los Angeles-based adaptation of his RAAKH, and on KALAGHODA, a Bombay-based homage to Johnny To’s PTU.
This creative, down to earth and outspoken director is the grandson of Bimal Roy and the son of Basu Bhattacharya and lives between Europe and India.