The narrative unveils through individual flashback accounts of the cop and the criminal, as the latter is taken to the hospital post the encounter. The basic plotline is about the official encounter of underworld gangster Manya Surve (John Abraham) by the hands of Inspector Aafaq Bhagra (Anil Kapoor) in early 80s. With so much resourceful researched data at hands, what could have been a realistic reenactment of a notable episode ends up being a Bollywood potboiler.
Then there are manipulations galore and while you can overlook the real character names being changed with similar sounding substitutes, what’s objectionable is that the characters and their chronicle are also conveniently altered to fit in the movie melodrama mode. So there are multiple item number interruptions and obligatory expletives, irrespective of the need. However while adapting the prose into picture the makers overstuff the plot with every available Bollywood formula. The source material for the film is Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai and the author has often rivetingly dramatized factual accounts of the Mumbai underworld in his writings. So despite being the first account of the escapade, SAW loses the race to its counterparts. Unfortunately the problem is that we have witnessed this underworld gang-war saga so many times before in films like Satya, Vaastav, Company and its genus that one doesn’t encounter much novelty in this chronicle. Shootout at Wadala (SAW) details the series of events that led to the first recorded encounter killing of an underworld gangster by the police. Director: Sanjay Gupta Cast: John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Sonu Sood