Maximum Movie Review

Cast: Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah, Neha Dhupia, Vinay Pathak, Amit Sadh

Directed by Kabeer Kaushik

Rating: *

Music Director: Amjad Nadeem

Contrary to popular belief, this film isn’t about a nighty-clad mother (maxi-mum). It is about Aamchi Mumbai- the maximum city. But director Kabeer Kaushik’s film takes minimum interest in Suketu Mehta’s interpretation of the city and if anything, only curdles it into a milkshake of clichés. So Mumbai isn’t about the ‘Mum-bhais’ anymore. It’s about trigger-happy encounter cops, dance bars which can’t be distinguished from item song shoots and a lot of people lying mum in a pool of their own blood; pretty much like the theatre screening this film.

Pratap Pandit (Sonu Sood) is an encounter cop of few words and many bullets. A family man by every right, he is sorely disappointed when his wife- Supriya (Neha Dhupia) succumbs to a bullet later in the film. That said, unlike every self-respecting family man, he is a regular at dance bars and has his way with item girls who want police protection. So he’s a good cop, full-time fop and a mediocre pop. Anyway, his popularity leads to professional jealousy among ATS (Anti-terrorist Squad) cop Arun Inamdar (Naseeruddin Shah), his boss and chelas. This is soon followed by some confusion about how the Crime branch is trying to hog all the limelight from the ATS and how the two departments do pretty much the same thing (and they don’t mean making merry with public funds). But the commissioner wants them to go on doing what they do best, so Inamdar and Pandit go on a shooting spree, killing gangsters, informers, random people, extras on the set, some assistant directors, the script-writer (oh no! he escaped since he never showed up).

The story of Maximum takes you back to the year 2003 in Mumbai where the local police had satrted a war against the dominating underworld. The command has been given in the hands of two potential and brave police officers Pratap Pandit (Sonu Sood) and Arun Inaamdar (Naseeruddin Shah) to eradicate crime from the city. The story revolves around these two police officers, their way of handling the task and their struggle for ‘maximum’ power. Both the officers show contradictory characters with Pandit (Sonu Sood) being ambitious and Inaamdar (Naseeruddind) conniving and silent. Both the officers engage in their self-defeating turf war which leads to a dramatic conflict between the both. The climax of the movie is a bit unpredictable.

Pandit’s wife (Neha Dhupa) is killed by his rivals in the climax.
The film does not prove worth due to lack of a proper plot and storyline that fails to keep the interest of the audiences going. Talking about the performances, Naseeruddin Shah as an encounter specialist is as usual the element of the movie justifying his character to the best while Sonu Sood has also made his appearance noted with less but intense dialogue delivery and too many bullets speaking for him. Neha Dhupia, who is playing Pandit’s wife in the movie, looks pretty in the traditional outfits as a housewife. Vinay Pathak plays Tiwari, an Uttar-Bharatiya neta, looks has justified his role as a politician. Amit Sadh as a reporter is quite impressive in his role.