Monsoon Shootout is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Amit Kumar and produced by Guneet Monga, Trevor Ingma, Martijn de Grunt, and co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, and Vivek Rangachari, starring Vijay Varma, Geetanjali Thapa, Sreejita De, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tannishtha Chatterjee in the lead roles. The film received positive reviews at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in the Official Midnight Screenings section. Belonging to the school of Parallel cinema, Monsoon Shootout was released worldwide four years later on 15 December 2017 to positive reviews.
Plot
As the raging monsoon lashes Mumbai, the commercial and mafia capital of India, the police struggle to keep up with the gangsters who are ever more emboldened. Aditya “Adi”, a principled rookie cop as his first assignment on the force, joins an elite, anti-extortion unit of the Mumbai police led by Khan, a cop in the ‘Dirty Harry’ mold. On his first evening on the job, Adi had planned to meet his ex-lover Anu and to get back with her, but he misses the date when Khan has set up an ambush for a dreaded gangster.
However, the ambush goes wrong, and Adi chases Shiva, a seemingly armed and dangerous criminal, into a dead-end alley. Unsure if Shiva is, indeed, the wanted gangster, Adi has a moment of reckoning; whether to shoot or not to shoot. Whatever his decision is, every decision will take him on a journey that pits him against a system which demands a compromise of his morals. As he lives through the dramatic consequences of each decision, he realizes that every choice has its price.
Cast
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Shiva
Vijay Varma as Aditya (Adi) Tannishtha Chatterjee as Rani Neeraj Kabi as Inspector Khan Geetanjali Thapa as Anu Sreejita De as Geeta Nalneesh Neel as Goon Prithvi Zutshi as Minister Farhan Mohammad Hanif Shaikh as Chhotu, Shiva's son Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha (Baba) as Tiwari, builder Neha Gupta as Tiwari's wife R. Balasubramanian as Dagar bhai Irawati Harshe Mayadev as DCP Nishi Onkar Das Manikpuri as a taxi driver Jayant Gadekar as Patil, constable Niranjan N. Asrani as Police Commissioner Rohit Nitin Arekar as Pinto Pravina Deshpande as Adi's mother Shruti Bapna as Jemina Joseph Chandrakant Taneja as Magistrate Naik Honey Chhaya as Paradise Lodge manager Akhilesh Tiwari as paanwala Bhagwan Das as a blind beggar Mukesh Kumar as a one-armed beggar Raj Rao as ox-cart driver A. R. Rama as a rider Raghuvir as Nepali guard Mohit Chauhan as Ali, builder Akriti as Ali's wife Banwarilal Jhol as a chauffeur Adi Vyom as Inspector Khan's son Anupama Minz as Khan's wife Edith Minz as Khan's mother-in-law Tishya Tara as Khan's daughter
Production and development
Director Amit Kumar stated that after he saw Robert Enrico's Oscar-winning short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, he became interested and fascinated by the idea of human decision-making, and how quickly can one make a very difficult decision when one's life is at stake. This idea came to fruition in the form of Monsoon Shootout.
Kumar had previously assisted film director Asif Kapadia on his BAFTA-winning feature The Warrior where he met Trevor Ingman. Ingman decided to help seek finances for Kumar's film starting in 2008, but was unable to do so because of the closure of the UK Film Council which was initially supposed to cover half the production costs. Kumar set sights to find an Indian production partner, and in 2010, he ran into Guneet Monga who had produced Michael Winterbottom's Trishna. When Kumar stated his lack of an Indian producer, Monga immediately jumped at the opportunity to fund the film. However, the producers decided that although they loved Kumar's script and idea, they felt he needed to cast a star in the lead role. Kumar worked with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in his student short film The Bypass and decided to cast him in the lead role.
Reception
The Times of India's Lasyapriya Sundaram rated the film 3/5, praising the cinematography of Rajeev Ravi and Vijay Varma's debut performance in a lead role. She opines that "while the idea hooks the viewer, what fails the film is its execution", also critiquing that "since the actors reprise their roles thrice over, they often don't have enough screen time to flesh out their characters adequately".