Cops vs. Thugs: Shootout at Lokhandwala and Shootout at Wadala

In this episode we discuss a pair of films that dramatize deadly dealings between the Bombay police force and the criminal underworld.

Show Notes:

• Mayaanadhi

• “Tollywood goes to Texas)" by Suchin Mehrotra

• Encounter killings

• Sicario

• Starlight tours

• Shootout at Lokhandwala

• 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout

• Police brutality propaganda

• Sanjay Dutt

• Processing how the film fictionalizes real life

• Comparisons to Clint Eastwood

• The ends justifying the means

• Songs: “Unke Nashe Mein,” “Mere Yaar,” and “Ganpat”

• Narrative structure

• Comparisons to other Hindi crime films

(INTERVAL (“Babli Badmaash” from Shootout at Wadala)

• Shootout at Wadala

• It takes A LOT of bullets to kill John Abraham

• Item numbers: “Laila" and “Aala Re Aala”

• Criminal motivations

• A kill or be killed world

• (according to Matt, Mastizaade is still the worst film ever featured on this podcast)

• Clichéd dialogues and one-liners

• John Abraham’s “guns”

• Mildly sexy sex

• How much do these films assume we know about these events?

• imfdb

• The morality of enjoying violent movies and becoming desensitized to violence

NEXT TIME: we return to our Amitach Bachchan series, maybe we’ll come up with a series name!

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