Review of Special 26

Special 26 (2013)
7/10
Special 26
10 February 2013
Neeraj Pandey, a 40 years old(young) man from a Bihari family background who shocked (pleasantly) many by his socio-dramatic thriller, the story of a common man, A Wednesday, is now narrating a story of 'con-men'…

'Special 26' based on the real incidents of 80s where a group of people posing to be CBI & IT official raided (robbed) many politicians, businessmen across the country without getting caught & also without any complain on the police records.

The story is predictable, as it is based on real incidents, but the film being a Neeraj's baby was bound to surprise you in the climax, going by the standard he set through his previous film. (it may remind you of Ocean's series of George Clooney & Brad Pit). Never the less, the script, the art direction, pacey screenplay, wittiness of the characters & a BANG ON background score by Sanjoy Chowdhary are they key elements other than the performances which will keep you hooked. The vision of Neeraj about the look of the film is also stealer… I haven't seen Connaught Place of 1987, I haven't seen Delhi roads of 1987, and many have not seen the Zaveri Baazar of 1987 in Mumbai, Delhi airport, Howrah Junction, Chandigarh Airport….Neeraj showed us all…Maruti 800, Maruti Van, Chetak Scootar, Matador, the telephone sets, & yes.. Ajay (the one who can never be defeated) played by Akshay Kumar carrying 'white pair of Shoes'.

Since, the film is based on the real events and because of that the director had restrictions as far as the plot and its execution was concerned. He had to stick to the actual happenings leaving almost negligible scope for taking cinematic liberties. Still, he made facts look like fantasy.

Performance wise, Akshay Kumar was well composed, did something refreshing, never went over the top (like he do most of time, and you blame only SRK)… he played a Khiladi, here as well. Anupam Kher is a master, was good as a 'fattu' conman. Jimi Shergil is good. Kajal Agrawaal, played the love interest of Akshay, has pretty face, but has not got substantial role in this thriller.

I believed Manoj Bajpai when he said that we haven't seen even 20% of him as an actor. This movie, once again, proves that he is among the finest we have. The rest of the actors did well with whatever they were given.

Music of MM Kareem is soothing. It's not a musical, 'Mujh me tu' stands out. The background music, as I already mentioned, is another leading character of the film.

Overall, Special 26 is a well-made, entertaining thriller with a little hiccup here and there which you may ignore considering other things about it. ***1/2
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