Company

India 2002
produced by
C. Ashwini Dutt, Boney Kapur, Ram Gopal Varma, P. Som Shekar (executive) for Varma Corporation, Vyjayanthi Movies
directed by Ram Gopal Varma
starring Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, Mohanlal, Manisha Koirala, Antara Mali, Seema Biswas, Akash Khurana, Madan Joshi, Bharat Dabholkar, Ganesh Yadav, Ashraf Ul Haq, Akshay Verma, Vijay Raaz, Mukesh Bhatt, Manoj Goyal, Rajpal Yadav, Sabir Masani, Noormani, Pankaj Budhama, Hemant Mishra, Rajendra Sethi, Pankaj Jha, Rajesh Tandon, Harsh Chhaya, Mukul Nag, Shanu Dey, Ajit Bhagat, Gopal K. Singh, Aryaman Sapru, Neeraj Vora
written by Jaideep Sahni, music by Sandeep Chowta

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Crimeboss Malik (Ajay Devgan) decides to take Chandu (Vivek Oberoi) & his smallfry hoods into his gang, realizing the great potential of Chandu, who is stubborn & hotheaded but also shows great courage & loyality. So, when one day Saeed (Rajendra Sethi) a fellow crimeboss, complains about Chandu to big boss Aslam (Madan Joshi), Malik can just prevent Chandu from killing Saeed in front of Aslam, but later, in the privacy of Saeed's catr, they kill him anyway, &, while they are at it, do some more killings to pave the way for Malik to the top of the crimesyndicate (henceforth called Company) & the succession of Aslam. But policechief Sreenivasam (Mohanlal), a genius crimefighter in his own right, is already hot on their trails, though when he first confronts them at the police station, it is not as criminals, but Malik as the intended victim of a shoot-out on a filmset & Chandu as his saviour. Still, he soon finds out who tipped off the assassin, & puts the thumbscrews on him to turn witness for the prosecution in a case against the Company. But Chandu & Malik use Chandu's wedding to Kanu (Antara Mali) & honeymoon in Hong Kong as a good excuse to move the Company's headquarters there & organize all operations in India from there via telephone, with their criminal & (semi-)löegal exploits soon reaching new heights - even though the magnitude of the Company soon shows first rifts between Chandu & Malik. & when minister Raote (Bharat Dabholkar) wants one of his colleagues to have an accident & Chandu tries to stop the whole operation - unsuccessfully - in the last minute because children are involved, too, the conflict breaks out openly, with a very heated discussion between Chandu & Malik, which Chandu leaves angrily. Saroja (Manisha Koirala), having only heard part of the discussin, meanhile warns Kanu over the phone about possible consequences, this action - accidently - resulting in Chandu shooting one of Malik's men who was trying to sort things out peacefully. From now on it's war between Malik & Chandu, who set up new headquarters in Kenya, over who runs business in Mumbai, with each directing his part of the Company's hoods against those of the others, resulting in a bloodbath, & officer Sreenisavan being helpless since he can neither get hold of Malik nor Chandu. But then Malik's men find Chandu out in Kenya & try to bump him off - but only wound him severely. Now Sreenisavan sees his chance to persuade Chandu to turn witness of the prosecution to get back at Malik, while Kanu makes a desperate effort to go to Malik & plead for Chandu's life, but to little avail. When she hears how determined Malik is to kill her husband, she tries to shoot him but only wounds Saroja - her friend who actually helped her to get to Malik - while getting shot herself. Hearing that, Chandu finally gives in to return to India out of his own free will & put an end to the Company. Malik meanwhile learns from Saroja that the war between him & Chandu started due to a misunderstanding on Saroja's side - after all it was her call that made Chandu kill one of Malik's men in the first place - & he starts to see the conflict in a different light, & is prepared to forgive Chandu even though he has turned stoolpidgeon - he even phones Chandu in prison to reconcile. Chandu in the meantime has shot politician Raote - who did indirectly threaten his mother should he squeal about their deal - with one of the guards' gun, to repent for his own sins (after all, it was Raote who ordered the death of the kids over which Chandu & Malik split up in the first place) & now seems to live in peace with his criminal past. But then there is one of his underlings who hasn't heard from his turn of character who shoots Malik & co ...

One of these all too few great gangster movies that tells an epic story without ever losing tension or speed, & does manage to tell its multi-threaded tale as one solid piece of narration, with all the subplots & supporting characters neatly tied up in the end.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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