The movie more than being set in the 70s, is actually made like a 70s movie. Every frame reminds you of Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Salim Javed, Amitabh Bachan, Deewar, Don, Shaan, Trishul, Sholay, Zanjeer, even Agneepath (though late 80s). It reminds so much of those dialogue heavy film making when the movies were not about the story but the dialogues. Most 70s movies you can relate to, will have atleast one dialogue you will remember. From 'Mere paas Maa hai' to 'Main aaj bhi faike huye paise nahi uthata'. From 'Tera kya hoga kaliya' to 'Vijay Dinanath Chauhan'. Once upon is exactly in the same league. It does not overdo it like Farah Khan to show that she loves the bollywood of that era. Rather it takes the same setting and makes the movie exactly as per the narrative. Stunning performances, Kick Ass dialogues, Decent Music, Controlled direction. (Almost) everything was good. A Definite watch if you haven't already.
I'll be honest, i didn't actually want to see this movie. The strongest reason being presence of Kangana Ranaut and Emraan Hashmi. If i could, i would throw these out of bollywood right now and forbid everyone to do any movie with them. I think they are among some of the worst actors we have here. But still, i was too intrigued by the Haji Mastaan parallels and wanted to see it. So reluctantly decided to watch it and promised to ignore the two (non)actors i just mentioned. And am i glad i did that or what?
The movie is set in the 70s (as already established earlier) and is pretty close to the underworld Don Haji Mastaan and to be (at that time) Don Dawood Ibrahim. Former makes the latter other only to be betrayed later. Its typical 70s cinema when the protagonist rises from the streets and is seen as a 'maseeha' in its locality. Too much information on the plot is neither relevant nor makes any difference.
The surprise package for me was Randeep hooda (who ironically is mentioned as a special appearance in the credits). To me, he was the pick of the lot. Yes, Even better than Ajay Devgan. May be because from Devgan you expect a certain standard while playing gangsta roles especially after company. Randeep had the most amazing dialogue delivery and i havent really heard such a deep voice in the younger actors since ages. His performance was exactly where it should be. Neither in the under acting nor in the hamming zone. Just at the line. Ajay (obviously) was amazing and actually adds to the dialogues through his delivery of content. Emraan Hashmi (to my surprise) was tolerable. (May be i liked the dialogues too much that i dint really bother about who was saying those :P). Kangana.
Another thing i (could have) liked was the background score had i not known the original tracks Pritam lifted it from. I was surprised how shamelessly the guy can pick up such popular soundtrack as Rock n Rolla and pass off as his own. I dont think he knows that the movie also released in the metros and there are people who follow hollywood. A couple of songs (original or otherwise) are hummable especially pee loon. Also, i dont think Pritam was able to give that retro feel that the narrative deserved.
Direction was crisp, although the first half seemed slightly longer. The movie dint actually move too much till the interval. I would have liked it more if the animosity between emraan and ajay should have been kept for some more time, given more time to cook and then the climax. Because of the stretched first half , the ending seemed abrupt and all too sudden.
Anyways, I hope a sequel is on the cards (PS: please dont keep emraan hashmi there)
Overall : A Definite watch to remind you of the 70s cinema
Feel-O-Meter: 8/10
PS: Do you think randeep portraying Emraan's role could have been taken it even further?? Just a thought :)