"This Hindi gangland epic's credentials are impeccable: director Vishal Bhardwaj previously wowed with textured, inventive variations on Macbeth (Maqbool, 2003), Othello (Omkara, 2006) and Hamlet (Haider, 2014). But rather than a straightforward modernisation of Romeo and Juliet, this latest revisits a grisly true-crime story ripped from Hussain Zaidi's Mafia Queens of Mumbai, the book that previously inspired Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2022 hit, Gangubai Kathiawadi. The results align Bhardwaj with the newly lurid turn mainstream Bollywood has taken with recent smashes Animal and Dhurandhar,"
"For Venice (or Baz Luhrmann's Venice Beach), Bhardwaj swaps the Mumbai underworld of the 1990s, ushering in the movies' first morally degenerate Romeo. Shahid Kapoor's Hussein Ustara nicknamed Romeo is a heavily tattooed bellower employed as a hitman for a local godfather; his Juliet (Animal's Triptii Dimri) an aggrieved widow clutching a sizeable hitlist. These two are star-crossed: he rescues her amid a bungled assassination attempt on the lawyer smearing her late husband, earning them both powerful foes."
"Bold image-making and considered design are visible through the murk, and the performances are strong. Kapoor and Dimri commit to this plot's peculiar demands, while Nana Patekar is appreciably sly as our antihero's wearied handler. Yet where Gangubai showcased Bhansali's heightened tonal sensitivity, the gruelling three hours here veer between crude and emotionally inert: a tale of obsession and abjection, with its dead-eyed lovers dragging one another towards the gutter and the grave."
Vishal Bhardwaj directs a Hindi gangland epic that draws on Hussain Zaidi's Mafia Queens of Mumbai rather than a straightforward Romeo and Juliet adaptation. The film relocates the 1990s Mumbai underworld to Venice Beach and presents Shahid Kapoor as Hussein Ustara, a heavily tattooed hitman, and Triptii Dimri as an aggrieved widow with a hitlist. The pair become star-crossed after a bungled assassination attempt, creating powerful enemies. Bold image-making and considered design contrast with a gruelling three-hour runtime that veers between crude spectacle and emotional inertness. Strong performances and sharp design coexist with a pervasive tone of obsession and abjection.
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