Let me begin by saying that this movie is a copy of Backdraft (1991) starring William Baldwin and Kurt Russells.

While there are small changes and its not a scene by scene lift off, it is still basically the same storyline.

Secondly the movie is filled with stereotyped cliches…. Like, the guy who seems to be happy the most, dies. The villain is alright for most part of the movie but as soon as the “reveal” happens he starts acting like a certified psycho, you can predict the end from afar and most of the scenes too.

Now, having got that off my chest, let me say that the movie is a fantastic watch despite the copied storyline and the cliches.

Pratik Gandhi has literally carried the movie on his shoulders right from the first scene.

Divyendu adds the spot of laughter to the otherwise tense storyline with his swag of a corrupt brash cop, though comparatively he doesn’t have much else to do.

What I particularly liked about the movie was that despite being a typical “macho man” movie the female characters were not sidelined puppets.

Sai Tamhankar who plays Pratik’s wife has given a fantastic performance, while warding off the evil eye superstitiously to keeping him on the leash whenever he flies off his handle.

Saiyami Kher as the only female firefighter has put in a pretty good effort and suits her part. I just wish her character was developed a bit more. Would have loved to know how she ended up being a firefighter.

Even Sakhi Mohan Gokhale who has a pretty teeny weeny role has a well written character and is impressive.

The only person who disappointed (a wee bit) was Jitendra Joshi. He is a very talented actor so it was sad to see him hamming his way to the finish line.

The plot is basic like a B grade hollywood action movie (which Backdraft was) but the movie is very pacy so there are no dull moments.

The “fire” scenes are brilliantly shot and are very convincing.

The potshots taken at the “system” aka the politicians and the Cops are done well.

The best part of the movie is that it is supposed to be a tribute to the under-recognized fire fighters of our country and in that aspect Rahul Dholakia delivers big time.

Some of the dialogues like “Do you know the name of a single firefighter” made me cringe inwardly because frankly I don’t.

And the point made out is true. We know famous Cops, Army Men, in some cases even Doctors but do we recognize Firefighters? I don’t think so.

And just for this tribute, despite the small flaws, I would still recommend people to watch this movie.

#DaMoRating: 7/10

Disclaimer: The movie gets a hard 7 despite being a copy, with a predictable script because for the first time a tribute has been paid to the firefighters in Bollywood. The last time Bollywood made a movie about fire, it was in 1980 and they got a Rich spoilt brat, a railway engineer and a petty thief to curtail the fire and not firefighters, in The Burning Train 1980 😛