Pocket Gangsters
Pocket Gangsters is a 2015 Indian Hindi language comedy drama film written and directed by Hemant Nilim Das, produced by V. M. Shah, and starring Madhur Mittal, Raghubir Yadav, and Mukesh Bhatt. Though initially announced to release in July 2013 and then re-slated for September 2014, the film was finally released January 2015.
Synopsis
Pocket Gangsters is the story of the world of crime where some criminals have set their goals on kidnapping and making hostage demand ransoms from the relatives or friends of those taken. What begins as drama becomes a comic thriller when they turn their criminal attention toward the daughter of a wealthy man in order to gain millions.Cast
- Madhur Mittal as Vicky Ranawat
- Raghubir Yadav as Papa
- Mukesh Bhatt as Billoo Download
- Shivangi Mehra as Mira
- Vijay Raaz as Madhubali
- Malabyaborthakur & Prashantt as Malabyabor Thakur
Production
Inspiration
Kidnapping has become an illicit world-wide business netting 150 billion dollars per year. This film addresses the issue in a darkly comedic fashion. Pocket Gangsters addresses the dark world of "pocketing" human lives, IE: putting a victim's life in grave peril and demanding an obscene amount of ransom from the relatives or friends of the hostage. In the film, a young woman whose family is worth millions, is kidnapped. Director Hemant Nilim Das related that the film "is loosely based on the story of the kidnapping and murder of an NGO-activist Sanjay Ghose" as "a hostage drama cum comic thriller," and inspired by events centered in Guwahati, an area which has become "the epicentre of child-kidnapping".Filming
In May 2013, the film was reported to have entered production. Playback singer Shalmali Kholgade, known for her multiple awards for Ishaqzaade's "Pareshaan" sang for the "Janiyaa jaaniyaa" track for this film. Actor Raghubir Yadav held the role of a blind gangster and memorized the entire 127 page Pocket Gangsters script in 4 hours in preparation for his role, as well as having spent time studying students at a school for the blind to educate himself for portraying a blind character. An issue that affected the project was actor Vijay Raaz being injured while shooting a combat scene with Madhur Mittal. Being a one-take film, he continued. After completing the scene, he was taken to a clinic and treated for a "minor injury with swellings". The project also dealt with freezing weather. One morning when shooting a swimming pool sequence at Guwahati, the temperature was as low as -4 °C.Controversy
An incident creating controversy was the leaked releasing of a raw and unedited kidnapping and rape scene from the film. This angered the director and resulted in his sending a legal notice to news and content website IndyanNewz.com for their unauthorized leaking of the film's proprietary property. That leak resulted in a controversy questioning the rape scene being used for the film's promotion.Release
The film was initially announced with a slated release date in July 2013, and subsequently re-slated for a release for September 2014, but due to delays in post-production, release was postponed until finally being released in January 2015. Being noted as "India's first one-take, one-shot and uncut film", the finished film released January 2015 in over 900 theatre screens across India.Awards
- Best director of the feature film by ': Hemant Nilim Das
- Best audience choice award by ': Vikam m. Shah
- Best lead actor nominee by ': Madhur Mittal
- Best lead actor nominee by ': Shivangi Mehra
- Semi finalist of : '
- Best foreign language feature by ': '
- Bone head of excellence award by :Hemant Nilim Das
- Bone head of excellence award by :Vikram M. Shah
- Selection for feature film of 2017 by Under Ground Room: '
- Official selection in Independent Film Collaborative 2017: '
- Winner of 2nd 2017: '
- award: '
- Winner of Intl. Film Festival for Women, Social Issues & Zero Discrimination 2017: '
- Gold Award for best feature film by International Film Festival: '
- Selected in 2017: '
- Selected in AMAZON Underground Film Festival 2017: '
- Pre-selected in 2017: '
- Selection in Direct Monthly Online Film Festival 2016: '
- Winner of Los Angeles World Intl. Film Festival 2016 '
- Selection in 2016: '
- Best director by Los Angeles World International Film Festival: Hemant Nilim Das
- Selection in Kashmir Intl. Film Festival 2018: '
- Selection for the feature film of 2017 by Under Ground Room: '
- Selection in HK world Intl. Film Festival 2016: '
- Winner of 2016:
- Winner of 2nd Cinema London Film Festival 2017: ''''