Special
Chabbis
Story of Five Striding Conmen Who
Steal the Show!
Review By - Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)
An
absolutely riveting heist film set in the 80s, inspired by the famous Opera
House, Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri, daylight robbery on 19 March 1987, in Bombay
by a group of 26 people (they make up the 'Special 26' in the titular reference) posing as CBI sleuths, this Neeraj Pandey film is an
absolute entertainer.
The plot
opens to a scene dated 18 March 1987, where two conmen P K Sharma alias
Sharmaji (Anupam Kher) and Ajay Singh alias Ajju (Akshay Kumar) posing as CBI
Officers conduct a walk-in recruitment interview, before going into flashback.
The excitement starts in New Delhi, with Ajay Singh purportedly from the CBI,
making a phone call, asking for manpower assistance for a secret raid, from the
Tughlak Road, Police Station where SI Ranveer Singh (Jimmy Shergill) agrees,
only to be told to drive to a rendezvous to know where the actual raid would be
conducted. Ajay then proceeds with his accomplices P K Sharma, Iqbal (Kishore
Kadam) and Joginder (Rajesh Sharma) to the tryst, to marry up with the Police
team, wherefrom they proceed to raid a corrupt Minister's residence. As
anticipated, loads of cash and valuables were found, hidden in every imaginable
crevice, including the Pooja room, in this sprawling mansion. They drive away
with a mini-van load of loot. Here it is revealed that Ajay and his accomplices
were a fake CBI team. The quartet then merge into the crowds to quickly
disperse, by all manner of transportation, to their respective residences,
scattered across the country at Jaipur, Chandigarh and Mumbai. The next morning
expectedly nothing was reported in the press. This team had specialized in
conducting raids only on people who have amassed ill-gotten wealth and
therefore would never report their losses to the law enforcement.
Ranveer
with his senior officer then meet the raided minister, who refuses to lodge any
official complaint regarding the false raid, to save himself from being reduced
to a laughing stock in his constituency, he however ensures that Ranveer and
his colleague Shanti (Divya Dutta) are suspended for their irresponsibility. It is here
we are introduced to Mr Tough Guy, the real CBI officer Wasim Khan (Manoj
Bajpai). The disgraced Ranveer wants revenge and joins hands with Khan to go
after the criminal quartet. The rest of the plot carries us through the Burra
Bazar, Income Tax Raid in Kolkata by Ajay and gang, which finally gets reported
only on the insistence of Khan, with an aim to spread panic in the minds of the
conmen. It does serve to inspire the team to go for one final "Big
Raid" which is also the climax of the movie. To carry the story to its
climax, the CBI with the help of Ranveer mysteriously stumbles upon the
criminal records of Sharmaji and immediately taps into his phone conversations
with Ajay to manage to get some vital clues regarding the final heist in
Bombay. They then do everything they can, to foil this raid. For the sake of
keeping the suspense alive, and the fun of the movie intact, suffice it to say,
the unexpected twist in the end, takes this movie to an altogether different
high. It has to be seen, to be discovered.
I did feel
this film, in which the two female characters, played by Kajal and Divya had precious
little to do, had its small share of shortcomings. They definitely could have scripted a better way to
ease their foot off the pedal once in a while, than for instance rely on the
unnecessary romantic angle, which was tedious, unconvincing and a total waste
of time. Except for the freshly bathed Priya Chavan's (Kajal Aggarwal) tulsi-watering introductory
scene where she looked stunningly angelic, there was no sizzle in her chemistry with
Akshay, to salvage something out of this love story. It however superfluously
added to the 143 minute length of this movie, so did the long Manoj Bajpai
introductory scooter chase through CP and the whole Chandigarh trip ending in
the pre-nuptial song for Sharmaji's daughter's wedding. I do have another intriguing
question for Mr Pandey, Sharmaji confesses to 49 raids, and we know how much is
collected in such hit-and-run seizures, but then all the conmen seem to still
survive in apparent penury, despite the obvious prosperity they must be sitting
on, where does all the money from the raids go? Sadly, this film also won’t be
remembered much for its melody, as the audience is too rapt and caught up in
the relentless drama.
Though,
definitely not in the league of his earlier 2008 debut film 'A Wednesday', this Neeraj Pandey
effort is still very 'Special'. However, what I distinctly remember rather curiously
is that, for almost half the length of this two and a half hour movie, there is
always this constant striding towards the camera, to the accompaniment of some
rousing background score, by the various characters, maybe it was the Director's
deliberate ploy to enthrall, by implying intense movement and an overwhelming pace. I wonder, if others also
felt that it was, at times, a bit overdone.
The star of
the show, for me was undoubtedly the thespian Anupam Kher. He was brilliant; I
shall remember a few scenes for a very long time, like his reaction in muted shock,
at the Kolkata Airport while reading a newspaper which reported their raid.
Another memorable sequence was when he was confronted by Manoj and Jimmy at the
hotel room the night before the final raid, his range of expressions in utter
surrender, during this encounter was amazing.
Akshay's
performance, in comparison was a very measured one, fortunately the two AKs (Akshay K & Anupam K) instead
of competing with each other, brilliantly complemented each other, this was a
highlight of this film. Ajay did provide some great moments too. The presence
of mind shown in changing the raid location in Burra Bazar, Kolkata, as also
the audacity of getting help from the other group of raiders, to load the cars,
post that raid was hilarious. His motivational speech to the successful
candidates after the interview, towards the end, was something that even
Sharmaji said, made him forget for a moment that he was a crook.
Manoj with
his furrowed brow, has a frown permanently etched on his face, which did not
help in bringing out the range of histrionics he is normally capable of, as
there is only so much one can do with one's eyes alone. Having said that, his was
an important and competent performance, which carried the story with its
tautness intact.
Neeraj
Pandey has rationally scripted and skillfully directed this period thriller.
The meticulous and flawless manner in which the late 80s Delhi, Kolkata and
Mumbai were recreated, was no mean achievement and needs to be applauded. Cinematographer
Bobby Singh has done a great job in canning the 80s for us. The attention to
detail, with regard to reconstructing a bygone era, be it in the advertisements
of the time, the old Ambassadors, Fiats and Marutis with the odd Lambretta
scooter, the magazines, currency notes, dial phones etc, was unimpeachable. Also
the interview snippets of all the various candidates and their absurd moronic
responses was very entertaining.
There were
more than twenty six reasons for me to like this film, I felt thoroughly
entertained at the end of the two and half hour Delhi to Dubai journey of the
primary conmen. Go see it; you will definitely enjoy ‘SPECIAL 26’, especially
the surprise end!
