You cannot call
them criminals or gangsters or thieves though their job is to steal only! They
are all educated, suave and very intelligent. They show tremendous zeal,
patience, will power and even ‘patriotic’ feelings. Their conviction is that
they are only trying to mop up the surplus money or plainly speaking black
money from corrupt politicians, unscrupulous traders and opulent businessmen.
They are not the Robin Hood type either as they use their booty to maintain
themselves rather than helping the poor and needy. Problem is you cannot help
but love them and love-adore-enjoy this heist-drama-thriller movie ‘Special 26’
because of them! The movie written and
Directed by Neeraj Pandey released all over on 8th February and is declared
a super hit—one of the finest from Bollywood this year. Special 26 is not a
suspense flick, but you are sure to be regaled with a huge twist in the very
end.
The leader of this
pack of thieves…sorry…con artistes is Bollywood action-comedy-masala hero
Akshay Kumar and you love him too for his honest, realistic and powerful
performance keeping his glamour totally away. You also love his chief associate
Anupam Kher who is a normal village householder with an ever increasing pack of
children and yet capable of posing as a stern intelligence officer mouthing
powerfully convincing dialogues bordering on patriotism. The two other
associates—Rajesh Sharma and Kishor Kadam—also belong to normal God-fearing
families, but get transformed while on the ‘job’. No problems if you would
lovingly like to call them the gang of four.
The gang of con
artistes poses as CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) or Income Tax officials armed with proper IDs
and conduct cleverly planned raids on corrupt politicians and trading houses
relieving them of their opulence and even getting documents signed by them.
Normally these people do not report the matter to the police or the media
because of black money issue. The gang also takes along local police officers
in the process of the raids and makes perfect fools of them in the end.
Special 26 opens with a CBI recruitment drive organized in a Mumbai five-star hotel where
grave looking Akshay and Kher take the interviews, and then the movie gets into
a flashback about earlier raids on a New Delhi politician and a Kolkata trader to
bring you close to the plot. From the very opening frame the movie flows logically,
convincingly and delightfully at a super pace never tiring you in the unfolding
except for the totally unnecessary songs that interrupt the superbly woven
script and takings. In fact, Kajal Aggarwal in the female lead too looked unnecessary
except for adding some glamour dressing to Akshay.
 |
| Manoj Bajapai |
Manoj Bajapai
plays the real CBI officer chasing the fake ones. In a bid to establish a very
tough officer pitted against the very intelligent conmen the director takes you
through a chase scene where Manoj finally traps and captures the fleeing
criminal. The chase looks too long and too well crafted as it has no other relevance
to the plot.
It is refreshing
to see Jimmy Shergill in a somewhat major role of a conned police officer who
teams up with Manoj to track the gang. Such a gifted actor utilized so rarely
and sparingly in Bollywood. Such a pity!
After the most
thought provoking and taut thriller
A Wednesday (2008) young writer-director
Neeraj Pandey delivers again with another finely crafted film—based on real
life happenings in 1987 when 26 con-men posing as CBI officers raided a big jeweler
joint in prime Mumbai. Neeraj painstakingly created the sets and locations
pertaining to the eighties and it was spot on. He has a strong eye for details,
characterization and relationships with doses of subtle humor thrown in
expertly. And there is no statement or justification on morality in his film
which is a huge relief. With the con artistes becoming successful in the end that
was kept wide open we can safely expect a sequel and why not.
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