In Shaailesh R. Singh’s Lootere, an eight episode mini-series on Disney+Hotstar, it almost always appears like its anti-hero central figure, Vikrant Gandhi (played by Vivek Gomber), talks big game without the depth for any of it. There’s a reckless manner in which he lights up a cigarette like he’s starring in his own Nicholas Cage movie, or the way he suddenly goes from greeting his business partners to threatening them, making one want to reach out into the screen and tell him to be more cautious. But the truth is that the ground is shrinking beneath Gandhi.
Once the son-in-law of the unofficial ‘king’ of Somalia, Gandhi is now shown to be managing an empire well into its dusk. Like any other vain man in his shoes, he thinks it’s just a matter of one business deal that will turn it all around. Gandhi seems like a guy who knows a lucrative idea when he sees one, but without the patience to see it through. He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, something that feels even more significant when you think about the journey of the actor playing it. Gomber has been acting for nearly a decade and a half but without that one role that makes him a known face among the masses. But that’s until now.
Featuring Hansal Mehta as showrunner and directed by Jai Mehta, desperation seems to be the actual protagonist of Lootere. Set in Somalian waters in 2016, a cargo ship is hijacked by pirates. The hostage drama gradually evolves into a multi-dimensional chess game, where each of the players are battling dire circumstances for survival. There’s the ship crew who are obviously affected by the hijack, but writers Vishal Kapoor and Suparn S Varma (based on a story by Anshuman Singh) don’t skimp on empathy for the pirates, smugglers, the corrupt politicians trying to elbow Gandhi out of the Mogadishu port presidential elections, and also terrorists for whom Gandhi is shipping some sensitive cargo.
Lootere has all the hallmarks of a frenetic Hollywood thriller, something Jai Mehta’s filmmaking choices reflect. Different plot-points in the show are reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001), Andrew Niccol’s Lord of War (2005), Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond (2006), Paul Greengrass’s Captain Phillips (2013) and even Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016). Despite seeming derivative in portions, the series becomes its own heady cocktail of references, tropes, and catches you off guard with its astute observation of the bigger picture more than once.
Gandhi is up for re-election as the president of the Mogadishu port trust, which is a key ingredient for his influence in Somalia’s political circles. Everything suggests he might end up on the losing side. He has a consignment coming in for the Al-Muharib terror group, who plan to instigate civil war in the country. When others get wind of Gandhi’s secret business deal, the responsibility falls on Gandhi himself to keep the ship away from Mogadishu. He hires someone to put the hijacking into motion, but what was supposed to be a simple in-and-out job becomes even more complex as the series goes on. Gandhi’s right-hand man, Gupta (Chirag Vora) is mistreated more than once, always keeping us guessing about whether he will shift sides when the time comes. Vikrant Gandhi reminded me of a phrase I heard in Blood Diamond, when Leonardo DiCaprio’s diamond smuggler character called himself a ‘soldier of fortune’. Gandhi is a short-fused guy, who always acts faster than he thinks and Gomber’s performance can seem almost amateurish. But then I noticed the performance within the performance, where Gomber puts on the swagger and confidence of a man who owns the world even while he’s in quicksand.
A still from the trailer of ‘Lootera’.
The shipping crew is a sensational bunch of actors, including Rajat Kapoor as the captain A.K Singh. Unlike Tom Hanks’ emotionally-intelligent performance in Captain Phillips where he gives the impression of being amenable to the pirates, I liked how Kapoor remains true to himself by going in the opposite direction. A.K Singh is the leader here, and the power and responsibility hangs over him even in his silences while he’s doing nothing. One can see Kapoor computing the consequence of each and every word that comes out of his mouth, or any action he takes. There’s a Pakistani crew member, who is conveniently shown to be the only self-serving one which I found slightly odd. Naina Sareen is brilliant in a brief role as the other engineer on deck, Aisha, who is subjected to the inappropriate advances of the pirates.
I also liked the in-fighting within the pirates, with the seeds of despondency being sown by the lieutenant in the group. Slowly and steadily, as the hijack and the several rounds of negotiation begin to take a toll on the crew members, even the pirates begin to unravel. A surprise visit by the commander of the Al Muharib makes matters even more complicated. What was supposed to be a simple in-and-out operation, becomes a two-week ordeal.
Nothing captures Lootere’s cosmopolitan tastes quite like Achint Thakkar’s music in the opening credits of each episode in the show. It has its roots in Afro-pop, but also manages to weave in the sound of ‘70s Salim-Javed noirs – evoking images of Amitabh Bachchan sporting crisp suits, sunglasses, profusely smoking cigarettes while overlooking deals of smuggled gold biscuits. The action sequences in Lootere have the focus and momentum that Mehta Sr’s Faraaz did.
It might be a bit of a leap for some, but I’d like to call Lootere as the more well-rounded cousin of Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992 and Scam 2003. This one’s slightly less in awe of its protagonist, even as he goes around trying to perform miracles out of thin air. The show also doesn’t shy away from showing him in a less-than-flattering light, especially in scenes where the son overhears his parents shouting abuses at each other during a particularly tense phone call. And therefore, the tragedy that befalls most of the characters feels earned, rather than simply being literary vindication. After all, desperation is the only language universally understood.
The first two episodes of Lootere are streaming on Disney+Hotstar, the rest will be dropped once a week.
