Special 26

Neeraj Pandey had made a fantabulous debut in 2008 with A Wednesday. It was / is one of the finest thrillers with a brilliant mix of entertainment as well as a theme that touched the heart of all the audiences. I had liked it so much that even today, if the film is being aired on TV, I try catching up the outburst of that “Common Man” in the climax. And so it was always going to be interesting and with huge expectations to see what he comes up next with. And while Special 26 is not half as good as A Wednesday, he manages to entertain you with yet another interesting thriller.

As various advertisements and promos have already given away, Special 26 is inspired by few real life incidents in the 80’s. It’s about a team of four conmen who pose as CBI / Income Tax officials raiding few businessmen and politicians all across the country and then smoothly go away with the loot. The team is now getting ready for their biggest heist yet by hiring 26 special youngsters but by now, the real CBI is on their trails. And thus starts a thrilling cat and mouse chase drama between the “fake” and “real” CBI with an engaging suspense as to who will emerge winner in the end.

The film has many things going right for it with the biggest and the best being its story… its new, unique, thrilling and exciting; and the fact that such incidents really happened bring credibility to these outrageously daring daylight robberies. The narrative of story particularly in the last one hour is thoroughly entertaining and keeps you completely hooked on to the proceedings. The film also has few smartly written humorous moments and couple of sequences like Manoj Bajpayee’s meeting with Akshay Kumar in a bar or his interrogating Anupam Kher in hotel are nicely executed. And the best part is its climax which is bound to leave you both amused and thrilled and with a big smile on your face.

But the film also has its share of flaws which spoil the fun to a large extent..…the film starts off well with the conmen’s first fake raid but then moves away to a long romantic love angle with two back to back songs. This seems forced considering the overall context and subject of the film and breaks the momentum of the story. In a film which should have been only about the smart con games, heist and chases, this first one hour goes nowhere really though it comes back on track beautifully after that. Also, I thought that the twist and suspense got predictable little earlier than how and when it ideally should have been.

In terms of performances…earlier Oh My God and now in this one, Akshay Kumar has done well by getting away from his otherwise repetitive brainless comic roles. Anupam Kher is top notch in few sequences and Manoj Bajpayee does complete justice as a strict and focused CBI official. Jimmy Shergill, Rajesh Sharma and Divya Dutta have short roles. Kajal Agarwal’s character wasn’t required in the film and neither was she. Music too neither had any scope in this film nor is it worth listening to.

If only the first half was as exciting and fact paced as the second and the above mentioned flaws weren’t there, this would have been an excellent film. Nonetheless it is still quite enjoyable and worth a watch. Cinema Analyst's Take – Good. Ocean's stopped at 13, Special's start at 26.