Special 26 Movie Review by Sputnik

s26 Special 26 is inspired from real events that occurred in the 80s. Akshay, Anupam Kher, Kishore Kadam and Rajesh Sharma play four con artists who rob businessmen and politicians of their black money posing as CBI Officers or Income Tax officials. The real CBI headed by Manoj Bajpayee get on their case. To pull off one final heist, a team of 26 fake CBI officers are recruited by them. Will the real CBI be able to arrest them is what the movie is about.

The movie starts off with a excellent scene of the raid on the minister’s house. The Kolkata raid scene where they run into the real CBI is also excellent. The preparation scenes and the job interview scenes are very good. The final raid and the final twist is brilliant which not many will be able to guess. There is good subtle humor in a lot of scenes.

The love story and those songs should have never been there. The songs specially look totally out of place in the movie and ruin the flow of the movie. The editor should have removed those scenes. Also there is a initial chase sequence of Manoj Bajpai which seems unnecessarily long. The first raid scene is shown multiple times which could have been avoided.

Cinematography and Art Direction are excellent except for a few scenes. A lot of attention has gone into recreating the 80s. There are some scenes near the sea which looked totally fake and done against a green screen. Background music was decent in raid scenes but it was kind of repetitive and could have been better.

Akshay Kumar is good as the fake CBI Officer. He looks old during the romantic scenes and his acting is not that good in those scenes either. Kajal looked ok when but her acting was inconsistent and her dialogue delivery seemed bad. Anupam Kher is excellent as the normally scared guy who acts very bold during the raids. Kishore Kadam is good in a supporting role and his scenes as the henpecked husband are a bit funny. Rajesh Sharma acts well but he does not have that many dialogues. Manoj Bajpai is good but he has a scowl pasted on his face for the whole movie. Wish he had avoided that. Jimmy Shergill is good. Divya Dutta is ok.

Neeraj Pandey’s direction is excellent except for the above mentioned flaws. If those were not there this movie would have been as good as A Wednesday. May be Neeraj had had to give in to pressure because Akshay is a commercial star. He is definitely a director to watch out for and this is still a very good movie if those flaws can be excused. The movie is definitely recommended for those who want to watch good intelligent thrillers.

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22 Comments
  1. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    I think one Manoj Bajpai scene at the end is inspired from Paul Giamatti scene from The Illusionist though 😉

  2. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    just back from special 26. among the top 5 akshay films ever. first half is not great but second half is extraordinary. akshay,anupam,manoj all have acted well.neeraj pandey has a new found fan in me.

  3. Aditya007 11 years ago

    Happy Baba Ji for ,You loved it as well , and I had already said , The climax will Speechless to anybody at last moment ,even Its something Indicate at End of movie which may be surprise for Us next some time , and for Splended Performances Comprised by Akshay kumar ,Manoj Bajpayee, anupam kher and yes kudos to Neeraj Pandey for Splended ,superb Direction.

  4. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    “Neeraj Pandey’s direction is excellent except for the above mentioned flaws. If those were not there this movie would have been as good as A Wednesday. May be Neeraj had had to give in to pressure because Akshay is a commercial star. He is definitely a director to watch out for and this is still a very good movie if those flaws can be excused.”

    fully agreed.apart from songs,i didnt get bored for a single second. neeraj knows his work. i will rank him among the top 5 directors of bollywood right now

    in no order – shimit amin, neeraj pandey, zoya akhtar, hirani , ashutosh gowariker ( inspite of 2 recent duds)

  5. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    i didnt like kajal agarwal role at all in this movie. romance track should have been completely removed from the film. there is no need to show that akshay is sarv-gun-sampann who has a doting love interest etc.these cliches are not needed. and did i mention that kajal agarwal is a terrible actress?

    • Manish 11 years ago

      No , it shd nt have been removed .. what they shd have done is removed the song completely and reduce the small melodrama part they inserted ….

      Romantic track has implication that one point was raised why they wanted CBI and bigger heist ….

      Akki wanted to move away and get married to Kajal aggarwal … Anupam kher’s intention to move away was clearly shown But they kept romantic track to show the implied intentions of Ajay singh …

      iam not saying Romantic part shd have been like it is but shd be cut down by removing songs etec aand faltu ka melodrama especially the serious dialogues of kajal

  6. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    @Baba,

    Glad you liked the movie. Agree with you that he is definitely one of the top directors in Bollywood now.

    Yes Kajal was horrible. Even if they have had to show Akshay’s love interest they could have done it like Manoj’s wife – just two scenes in normal fashion with no songs and no melodrama.

  7. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    Here is what happened during the real 1987 robbery at Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri. The conman Mon Singh was never caught. Neeraj has added the real CBI angle to make it more interesting.

    The robbery at Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri still remains one of the most sensational unsolved cases in the history of the Mumbai police.

    The incident dates back to March 19, 1987, when 28 so-called probationary CBI officers entered the jewellery shop around 2.15 pm. The mastermind strode straight to owner Pratapbhai Zevari, introduced himself as Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) officer Mon Singh, and produced a search warrant.

    He ordered that the close-circuit camera be shut and that the jeweller surrender his licensed revolver. No telephone calls were allowed as the recruits took samples of ornaments for investigation.

    The jeweller was told that the CBI was investigating the quality of gold sold in such shops. One probationer was asked to put up a board at the entrance stating that a raid was on.

    The jeweller accompanied Singh and the others as they picked up assorted jewellery before sealing it in packets. Money was also collected from the cash counter and stashed into briefcases.

    Forty-five minutes later, Singh asked two men to keep the briefcases in a waiting bus. The rest of the officers were asked to guard the shop as Singh left to ‘supervise’ another raid.

    After waiting for an hour, the 28 men realised something was amiss. The jeweller immediately called the D B Marg police. The only thing the police learnt was that Mon Singh had booked a room at the The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower on March 17.

    Meanwhile, Singh got off the bus at The Taj, asked the bell boy to call a taxi, and put the bags inside the vehicle. The taxi headed towards Vile Parle where he was last seen. The booty roughly came up to Rs 35 lakh.

    A background check revealed that Singh had inserted a classified advertisement in a leading daily on March 17.

    He was seeking replies for the post of ‘Security and Intelligence officers.’

    Candidates who answered were asked to report to room 415 at The Taj, where he was believed to have been staying. He hired an office at Mittal Towers in Nariman Point when The Taj refused to grant permission to interview candidates. Singh selected 28 candidates and asked them to report near Gateway of India around noon the following day. A bus was hired which headed towards Chowpatty. All candidates were handed identity cards with fake government Ashoka insignia.

    Minutes before entering the jewellery shop, they were briefed about the ‘mock raid’. Almost 23 years after the daring daylight robbery, the Mumbai police are still clueless about the mysterious conman who knew too well how the intelligence agency functioned.

    https://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/may/090510-tribhuvandas-bhimji-zaveri-robbery-1987-police-still-clueless.htm

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      thanks for this link. and those who have not seen the film,should not read it.

  8. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    some issues with the film that i collected form my side and others

    1) how did minister could not recognise that commissioner was fake.

    2) why was jimmy shergills identity as a policeman not verified. afterall he went to all police stations to search anupams records.

    3) why CBI didnt keep track of anupams family when it was shown that they knew his address and had even tapped his telephone.they could always catch him through his family before he flew to sharjah

    4) why did zaveri the jeweller didnt inform his people that real CBI was already protecting his shop? in such case,the manager of his workshop would not have even entertained akshay and his gang who claims to be CBI to raid his workshop.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      1) I don’t remember what minister he was but does every minister know who the commissioner is? This is set in 80s. Who knows may be he said I am the new commissioner. The Minister lost all his money and got slapped and he must be under distress and may not think about such stuff.

      2) Why are you believing that statement that Jimmy went to all police stations. It could be a lie.

      3) CBI tapped his house to know what Anupam’s plan was and they started tracking Anupam to the city. When they already have Anupam under their eyes why would they track his family.

      4) Why would Zaveri suspect that the fake CBI will raid his workshop? The real CBI just told him it is safe to move it to workhouse.

      I think this is clutching at straws to find loopholes.

      • Baba Ji 11 years ago

        CBI keeps track of families normally. they are not police, they are CBI. they are responsible.

        zaveri could have atleast communicated that real CBI is protecting their shop. how can real CBI also raid the workshop of the same jewellry on the same day? its foolish.

        • Author
          sputnik 11 years ago

          Since this is not based on fact we don’t know if they would have tracked the family after getting hold of their suspect. They were more interested in catching them red handed.

          Here is link about corruption in CBI.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Bureau_of_Investigation#Corruption_in_CBI

          The real CBI could do multiple raids on multiple properties. I think the boss had 20-30 minutes to just move all the jewellery to the workshop which is what he did. He probably wouldn’t tell his workers at his workshop that someone will come and try to steal it coz they might get ideas.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      I had doubt that he said he was ACP and I confirmed it.

      Delhi Police has 272 ACPs.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Police

  9. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    my views on what manoj thinks when akki picks the 100 Rs note of manoj :

    manoj was probably trying to see akshays fitrat. does he accept the money or not. if he does not,then he is a big game player.if he doesn then he is a small player. seeing him accepting the money deluded manoj and he underestimated that akshay coudl not masterplan something that he eventually did.when manoj interrogates anupam,he says “ur ajju is overconfident. kis khet ki mooli hai etc” . he was confident that he had cracked akshays heist. and to confirm his thoughts he tries to play with him at the dinner table. to verify that akshay is a two bit con who will not hesitate to own even 100 rs which is not of his own. i coudl be wrong but that was my interpretation.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Yes Manoj was trying to see Akshay’s fitrat and he thought ” sale ki fitrat kitni kamini hai…muft ke 100 rupaye bhi nahi chhode”.

      I think Akshay does not return the 100 rupees immediately because he wants Manoj to think he is a shameless, remorseless crook. If he had returned it Manoj would have thought he has at least some honesty or decency. When Akshay shamelessly takes his hard earned 100 rupees he wants to arrest him personally and is blinded by hatred towards Akshay.

  10. hithere 11 years ago

    It is an entertaining movie but obviously there are holes..

    ps – Special 26 naming ..may be Ranveer told Ajay about 27 Police officers..Then what about Shanti?

  11. Serenzy 11 years ago

    Good Precise Review Sputnik.

    Had Read that Link of S26’s Inspiration.

    They couldn’t have Possibly Shot the ‘Marine Drive’ Sequence at Real Location with Akshay-Kajal.

    Mumbai Public wouldn’t have allowed them to do so 😉

    ….

    Babji,

    Good Point on Akshay’s ‘Fitrat’.

  12. Ritz 11 years ago

    After a long gap got to watch one movie this weekend – Special 26. Felt the movie was very good/kickass till it ended – but feel bit cheated on Jimmy Shergill’s part. (apart from minister not recognizing police authorities) Thats not a loophole but plain manipulation by director – to affirm viewers that Jimmy is one right side and to fool us – but that kind of manipulation is there in Usual Suspects too. Anyways, they cud have ended the movie without Jimmy being involved in the last scene …and then this manipulation is not needed.

  13. Author
    sputnik 9 years ago

    Robbers Dig Tunnel to Steal Crores From Haryana Bank

    New Delhi: A gang of robbers pulled off a Hollywood-style heist in Haryana’s Gohana town by digging a tunnel to a bank and looting cash and jewellery worth crores.

    The gang dug a 2.5 feet wide tunnel to the strong room of the Punjab National Bank from an abandoned building across the road. Reports suggest the tunnel was 125 feet long.

    The robbery – one of the biggest in the country in recent times – was discovered on Monday morning; the police say it could have taken place any time after Saturday night in the town 200 km from state capital Chandigarh.

    Police officers could be seen inspecting the tunnel, which seems to have escaped notice until the robbers had long gone. Two rooms in the building where the tunnel was dug from are filled with earth and windows are covered with cardboard to hide the digging activities.

    The tunnel led right into the strong room secured by metal bars. It was completely ransacked. Grim-faced bank employees were seen assessing the damage.

    Bank officials say the robbers managed to break open 90 of 360 lockers in the room.

    The police say the gang could have been at work for over a month.

    In the last such incident, robbers had drilled through the floor of a bank in Kerala to enter the strong room and steal 80 kilograms of gold and cash worth around eight crores. The robbers were finally caught and their leader had confessed that he had been inspired by a popular Hindi film.

    Link

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