In previous years Sanjay Dutt's White Feathers Production house has brought us some amazing flicks, like Kaante and Musafir, even though Kaante was a direct copy of Reservoir Dogs. It now brings us a star studded cops versus gangsters thriller, Shootout at Lokhandwala (based on true rumours), an original script!On the cops side we have Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Arbaaz Khan, Abhishek Bachchan (guest appearance) and Amitabh Bachchan as the lawyer. On the gangsters side we have Vivek Oberoi, Tushaar Kapoor, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Rohit Roy. Amrita Sing plays Vivek's mother, and Diya Mirza is the pretty journalist covering the incidents.
The director Apoorva Lakhia has clearly been inspired by Sanjay Gupta's way of direction, and to his credit he does a fantastic job. The crime scenes are superb and the confrontation between Maya (Vivek) and Khan (Sanjay) at the restaurant is packed with so much weight, it just sums up the directors abilities. The dialogues, coupled with the background music are very good, and add plenty of weight to the script.
Of the performances, let me begin with Abhishek's. What a waste of talent! Although to the benefit of the producers, his name in the cast did add value to marketting the movie, but it's a shame he wasn't used to his full potential. Arbaaz Khan who is a rarely seen on the big screen these days is a delight to watch. His urdu dialogues in the scenes between him and Sunil Shetty are a joy to watch. Good performance. Sunil Shetty does complete justice to his role, the sequence in which he calls Tushaar's girl a "randee" is really good. Sanjay Dutt as Khan leads the way with the cops, his performance is excellent as always, although I do get a feeling that whilst shooting for the movie, he would have been craving to play the role of the 'bhai', because we all know there's no better bhai in Bollywood than apna Sanju baba! Legend! 
Now this is the moment I have been waiting for - to make mince meat out of the one actor that brought down the viewing appeal of this movie! - Yes, I am talking about none other than the little man Tushaar Kapoor! Whyyyy on earth was he placed in this movie, the dude is a half decent actor but no way in hell does he have what it takes to act as a Gangster! I mean, just LISTEN to his VOICE! Forget his acting skills for a minute, it's his feminine voice, which takes away the whole 'bhai' image. The scene in which he approaches Sunil Shetty in the gym is all you need to watch to understand what I mean. On the one side you have Sunil Shetty who is a man from voice to physique, and then you have Tushaar Kapoor who tries threatening him by saying "hayyy, itna hoor mat dhay... saala akha bench hee teray mein ghusair dey gaa". What a joke! That scene had no impact on me whatsoever. I'm sorry Tushaar, you should just stick to love stories.If I was in the directors chair, I would have used Abhishek Bachchan in Tushaar Kapoor's role and gave Tushaar Kapoor the one minute guest appearance.
The movie belongs to none other than Vivek Oberoi. What an amazing actor. It was RGV's Company which launched Vivek into Bollywood, playing the role of an underworld bhai, and after years of experimenting different roles he has returned to the same old role, and rightly so! Vivek as Maya in Shootout at Lokhandwala portrays the perfect attitude to go with the rough look, and does compleeete justice to his role. The scene in which he breaks the guys head in the neighbourhood by resting his jaw on the curb is lethal and as gross at it sounds, it is an adult viewers delight! Although Vivek has done a great job in the past in other movies like Saathiya, it is the underworld bhai role that suits him the best - there's no other actor out there who could match Vivek in this category, so come on you directors, sign him on for more underworld flicks!To all you readers: if you want a break from the love stories, go watch Shootout at Lokhandwala, you won't be dissapointed. All eyes are on White Feathers Productions next venture (",)
My Rating: 7.5/10
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