Hotel Mumbai: deconstructed

Writer/Screenplay: John Collee and Anthony Maras

Director: Anthony Maras

Main cast: Anupam Kher, Dev Patel and Armie Hammer.

Deconstruct meter: 7/10

This film was waiting to be made. A luxury hotel. A city where in chaos is the way of life. A bunch of armed gunmen on a killing spree. A ready made screenplay. The only difference being that this film is narrated and presented as experienced by the staff and the guests at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel bang opposite Gateway of India. The ill-fated night of the 26th November 2008 that shook the very foundation of India; made the security fabric of the country look like a bloody joke. So, it is fitting that no Indian filmmaker would probably attempt to make a film on such a delicate topic. (Except RGV; Well because RGV is RGV. He also remade Sholay so we can keep him aside)

This film is a product backed by many Australian and International production companies, though the name credits have a lot of Indian names including Dev Patel. This thing that international film makers do every now and then. They come to India and make a film which blows the roof off. It happened to me the first time while watching Slumdog Millionaire; Danny Boyle took it to another level. It happened again while watching Hotel Mumbai. International film makers manage to make films based on the Indian milieu that are timeless whereas we are stuck with remakes of Hero. No 1 and Coolie No. 1. Hollywood and Bollywood. 6 Alphabets is a lot, I guess.

But anyway, about hotel Mumbai; the level of detailing is so terrific that for a moment I thought I am watching a regular commercial Hindi film. The film starts with a bang without wasting much time over the build-up. A bunch of young guys (Nationalities not revealed) armed with AK 47’s and grenades and regular 9 mm’s manage to get to Mumbai using a make do inflated raft. They dock near Gateway of India and take cabs to various locations. Barring Café Leopold, all the other locations are authentic and real and are shot on location; CST, the by-lanes of South Mumbai and the hotel itself.

The hotel, as we all know, is one of the best hotels in India and it is a Taj property. The Taj. The name itself exudes oomph. And the gunmen are on a mission to pick this place apart. There are check ins and check outs. Business as usual. The waiters and the bell boys and the restaurant staff; everybody doing their thing as religiously as ever. We have Arjun (Dev Patel) who is a waiter at the hotel. Arjun has a pregnant wife and daughter back home; a shanty in one of the by-lanes of Mumbai. Then there is Mr. Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher), the head chef at the property. And a bunch of other actors including Armie Hammer, who don’t have a major part to play. Most of them play hostages as and when the script demands.

The gunmen are all Indian actors, communicating with somebody over the cell phone continuously. The gunmen mix along with the crowd and open fire at places such as CST, Café Leopold (Shown as Café Lilopal in the film) and at the Taj. The crux of the film begins after firing starts at the Taj. At first, there is confusion. Then there is chaos. And the story simply becomes about saving around 50 hostages holed up in one of the discrete lounges of the hotel. Armie Hammer in a foreigner (GORA) who is married to an Indian Muslim girl; one from an influential family. They have a kid who is stuck in the room while the parents dine at one of the restaurants. This particular plot line is used at-least 4 times to create a tense play and forms a major part of the screen time.

Eventually, the movie becomes a very heavy cocktail of compassion; how people coming from different religions, different social strata, different professions and different races come together and escape the ordeal. Also, much of this is taken from Mr. Hemant Oberoi’s own harrowing experience. Eventually, he did manage to save 17 people from the Taj on the ill-fated night. The role of Mr. Hemant Oberoi seems to be a cakewalk for Anupam Kher.

What really moved me through this movie was the performance put in by the gunmen. The way they go about things makes it very obvious that they had no idea what they are doing. In need of money and social identity, these boys are brain washed to the limit.

‘Allah Jannat mein tumhara intezaar kar raha hai’ is all the other guy over the phone keeps saying and the young boys keep killing in the name of Allah. They are dumb, emotionally frail and very vulnerable. And the performances put in are modest. You end up hating them and at the same time feeling very pity for them. The accents are outright Urdu-Punjabi, emanating from Balochistan. But no nationalities are mentioned. No names are taken. The movie is played out using whatever material is available for use along with smart film making ideas. The action is as real as it was that night. The gunmen were killing. There were no heroics. No redemption. Everybody is scared and on the ground. Praying for their life.

It was only after a harrowing 17 hours that special forces managed to reclaim everything. 17 hours. Makes you wonder in horror the kind of disaster management practices we have in place. The interplay of real footage along with the one shot for the movie is exceptional. All of that combined with real mug shots of the Taj on fire sends shivers down your spine. Especially the ones who stay in Mumbai and have frequented the by-lanes of South Mumbai. The real mug shots combined with subtle visual effects and brilliant sound work makes this a very potent thriller; albeit a tad slow at times. The element of compassion doesn’t feel organic to the movie, feels more like an add on. Like something that had to be added to up the emotional quotient. Having said that, it’ a tremendous film coming from an Australian studio.

‘Who are these people? What do they want from us?’ Asks one of the characters at some point in the film. She is in utter disbelief and scared to death. That question keeps reverberating. Even today.

God forbid; if something like 26/11 happens again anywhere in our country, would we do better?