Firstly, let me make a thing clear. I was disappointed with Vivek Oberoi’s performances in all his movies except "Company" till yesterday, after he surprised me with a fabulous performance in "Shootout at Lokhandwala". I had criticised his ability to act in my review on "Omkara" earlier. I would like to take back that particular comment and reframe it by saying that he is good in negative roles. He was a surprisingly good debutante in "Company" and here, he is surprisingly exceptional. He steals the show in SAL and performances of veterans like Amitabh Bacchan and Sanjay Dutt appear nothing compared to his. Vivek Oberoi as "Maya Dolas" is one of the best things to happen in hindi films this year.
The plot revolves around a true incident - the controversial 1993 Lokhandwala shootout where Mumbai policemen mercilessly shot five gangsters. But if you are expecting to watch a docu-drama, you will be thoroughly disappointed. It is an out-and-out commercial movie. The movie stresses on two thoughts - "Were the policemen right in putting the lives of people living in Swati building (the building where the shootout took place) in danger? Should they have been so merciless and cruel in killing the gangsters?" We are left in two minds after watching this movie and it is definitely one of the good things it offers. You really don’t know if you should detest the gangsters
Like I have said before, SAL belongs to Vivek Oberoi who gives a stellar performance. Second on the list would be Tusshar Kapoor for shocking everyone with his first negative role. He does well too but his voice doesn’t go too well with his character sometimes. Sanjay Dutt is okay here. So is Amitabh Bacchan who performs well in the court-room scene. Suniel Shetty is effective. Arbaaz Khan is average. Rohit Roy, Akhilendra Mishra and Apoorva Lakhia are passable. Aarti Chhabria and Neha Dhupia are wasted. Abhishek Bacchan makes a special appearance and he is unsmart as always. Dia Mirza has improved as an actor but here, she gets little scope to perform. Amrita Singh as Vivek Oberoi’s mother does a commendable job.
Director Apoorva Lakhia has taken giant strides this time. His previous movies "Mumbai se aaya mera dost" and "Ek Ajnabee" (a frame-to-frame copy of "Man on fire") were poor. The cinematography is stylish. The music is terrible, except for "Ganpat". So is the background score, which sounds very filmi. The action is violent...on the lines of "Zinda", which may not be appreciated by the faint-hearted. Go for it to see Vivek Oberoi mature as an actor, if not for anything else.