Review of film THE CLASS OF `83 |
A cop`s vs gangsters` story in an 80`s setup is a cliché for a masala film and that is what the Red Chillies Entertainment`s latest offering CLASS OF 83 is. The Bobby Deol starrer film swings between two extremes - the studied cynicism of seasoned men in uniform and the feigned insouciance of cadets trying to fit in. Loosely based on S. Hussain Zaidi`s book, The Class of `83: The Punishers of Mumbai Police, the film is about a defanged officer who, on a punishment posting to a police training academy, grooms five laggards in the academy`s first batch for an all-out war on the Mumbai underworld. The set-up of the Netflix film is drearily familiar, but Bobby Deol springs a surprise with his unfussy impersonation of a stolid, righteous policeman who runs afoul of his corrupt political boss played by Annup Sonii. The story is inspired by true events. Mumbai, a metropolis in flux, sits on "a pile of gunpowder", a matchstick strike away from exploding. But the treatment of the volatile times is strangely bland. But the Atul Sabharwal film gains technically with a tight edit which makes CLASS OF 83 a compact 98-minute film. Cinematographer Mario Poljac`s fluid camerawork and layered lighting serve to create evocative, mood-enhancing atmospherics. And the sophisticated background score by Viju Shah complements is classily subdued and effective.
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