Shootout at Wadala
2013 · Directed by Sanjay Gupta
Original language: Hindi
- action
- crime
- drama
- history
The story
The first-ever registered encounter by the Mumbai Police, which took place on November 1, 1982.
What it’s like
Sodium-yellow streets, smoke-hazed bars and cramped chawl rooms give this Bombay crime drama a grimy, sweaty texture, with the city's 1980s underworld rendered in warm, dusty tones and frequent night-time darkness broken by muzzle flashes. Its rhythm is driven by the genre's big set pieces: long build-ups in tense, dialogue-heavy rooms give way to sudden, loud gunfights shot with fast cutting and swooping camera moves, and a thumping score and melodramatic swells carry the emotional beats. The mood is hard-edged and fatalistic, a world of loyalty, betrayal and corrupt authority, with a crime-pulp energy. The violence is frequent and sometimes bloody, with shootings, beatings and murder, though gore stays moderate and the cruelty is more blunt than lingering. It suits a late-night watch for viewers who like gangster films with a classic Hindi-cinema sweep, rather than anyone seeking something gentle or quiet.
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