Aazam, Review: “I want to be the next Don, and stop me if you can”

Aazam, Review: “I want to be the next Don, and stop me if you can”

Ministerial power often stems from a ‘healthy’ give and take with underworld Dons. There is a popular belief that legislators play one gang against the other, and like to work with just one Boss, rather than a multitude of Mafiosos. Then, there is the power and succession struggle between gang members, often resulting in brutal killings. Choosing these elements as its theme, Aazam builds a narrative that has a good dose of suspense and an equal dose of blood and gore. At one stage, gang members seem to be falling like nine pins, but each with a creatively different modus operandi. Not the run-of-the-mill, gang bang saga, Aazam is film that will make you feel that you spent an engaging, stimulating two hours.

Aazam (no relation of Mughal-e-Azam) revolves around the succession battle of mafia Don Nawab Khan, who is suffering from blood cancer, and has only 10-15 days to live. Nawab Khan controls the syndicate of five partners in ‘governing’ the underbelly of the city. Kader, Nawab's son, is his legitimate heir in business. Kader’s confidante, Javed, tells him that the five partners have decided, after the passing away of Nawab, to enthrone Anya Shetty, son of one of the partners, Pratap Shetty. He further advises Kader to eliminate Anya and all the five bosses, to ensure that he becomes the heir. Kader agrees. They begin by killing Anya, after luring him to a lonely spot, at the beach. Kader shoots him point blank. Javed, in the meanwhile, gathers a lot of information on the gang members with the help of a drug addict master computer hacker, Vishal.

There are three other players in the game – Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Ajay Joshi, a fixer called Madan and a Minister. Joshi is on the take and does as ordered by Madan and the Minister. Soon afterwards, Javed kills Kader, and lets the gang Supremos know that he wants to sit on Nawab’s throne. And towards that end, he will not hesitate to murder all the five bosses. This is a challenge for Madan and DCP Joshi, and Madan orders Joshi to go all out to give these five men the highest level of police protection. Joshi tells Nawab that he thinks Pratap got Kader killed. Nawab send a squad of 300 men to kill Pratap, and in spite of the armed forces deployed, the Inspector on duty has to let their leader through, who promptly kills Pratap. This is because that there would be many casualties on the police side, if they tried to block the murder squad.

Judging by look and feel of the film, it seems to be inspired by a foreign production. Yet, I would like to do no disservice if it is an original idea of Shravan Tiwari, who has both written and directed the film. A series of co-incidences do facilitate the narrative. The hacker lands literally in Javed’s lap. Nawab asks Joshi about who killed his son, and Joshi says it could have been Pratap, so Pratap is conveniently eliminated. Several of the characters have skeletons in their cupboards and are open to blackmail, which is just what the doctor ordered. Why have fancy names like Nawab and Sultan, both meaning rulers of some kind, for senior Dons? Why is there such a long shot of the Inspector coming to the DCP’s room? A DCP throwing away a walkie-talkie radio in frustration doesn’t seem all that convincing. Kamathipura is the lowest of prostitution joints – would a gangster worth his salt go there to fulfill the needs of the flesh? Why do Kader and Javed engage Anya in quite a bit of small talk, even offering him a cigarette, when all they needed to do was to pump a bullet in him? The language spoken by many characters varies unnecessarily. And isn’t leaving his body right there a bad idea, what with investigation and forensic science to set in?

Twists and turns keep you on tenterhooks. Pace is well maintained. Almost all characters are given enough footage to be noticed. Sadly, the female characters have little or no scope. Joshi’s young daughter is brought in for just one scene, playing chess with her father, which seems pointless, till there is reference to her and to chess, in the penultimate scene. Nawab, who is dying of blood cancer, looks extremely healthy, though I cannot be sure whether blood cancer victims look haggard or otherwise. Dialogue could have been much brighter. As it is, it is mostly functional, with the occasional ‘philosophical’ line. The end is left open, with a camera doing a crane pan/swivel.

Jimmy Shergill as Javed is a piece of good casting. Not angry, but calculating and planning. Abhimanyu Singh as Kader is bumped off before he can really make an impact, but he fills the bill. Indraneil Sengupta as DCP Ajay Joshi struggles with his character and is unable to leave a mark. Vivek Ghamande as Anya does not have the makings of a Don. Govind Namdev as Pratap Shetty is made to mope a lot and the character comes across as lacking potency. Raza Murad as Nawab is Raza Murad – dependable as usual. His role is neither too short nor too long. Sayaji Rao Shinde as Madan is a case of type-casting. Ali Khan as Shakir Shaikh is wasted. Anang Desai as Firoz Namazi, in spite of his impeccable Urdu, is just passable. Mushtaq Khan as Tatya is the sore thumb. With his accent, who in the world will accept him as Tatya? Shishir Sharma makes a polished, virtuous-looking corrupt Minister

The only song is composed by Durga Natraj, and it is a typical composition, with lyrics by Nawab Arzoo. Cinematography by Ranjit Sahu catches both the action and Mumbai’s outdoors quite well. And here he is again…editing by Shravan Tiwari! A pretty decent job. Background score by Karan Kuna is unconventional, which is welcome, but leaps out at you quite suddenly, sometimes drowning the dialogue that follows.

Aazam is a step in the right direction for gangster films, and but for a few loose ends, it is a commendable effort.

Rating: ** ½

Trailer: https://youtu.be/ApOjRqnDR3g

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