Sonu Sood In Maximum Movie

Was it director Kabir Kaushik’s sensibilities as a director that made you go for ‘Maximum’?
I have seen Kabir’s ‘Seher’ and think it is brilliant. That film deserved to be a success but when it released, were floods in Bombay due to which it couldn’t cover the distance. According to me though, it stays on to be one of the most brilliant cop dramas made till date. Kabir is pretty much aware of the realities of being a cop and that was captured brilliantly in the movie. Now he has grown as a filmmaker and has also started thinking as an audience.

How did you go about approaching the part? After all, there have been far too many cop films in the recent times.
When I read a script, I keep my director’s thought process in mind and try to imbibe the same in my character so that it matches with his overall vision. Also, I kept one thing in mind which is not to go overboard. See, number of times when we make commercial movies, an actor tends to dominate the script and become larger than the script. However, I give myself entirely to the script as I believe it’s not just one person who makes a film; its teamwork coupled with power of the script that makes it happen. We all have to be in synch and it just can’t be a Sonu or a Kabeer film. If together we manage to strike that balance, the job is indeed well done.

Sonu Sood

No wonder, Vinay Pathak seems to have been roped in for an altogether different characterisation, something which is different from his routine funny man image.
That’s true; Vinay has digressed a lot from his original image. When he heard the script, he was compelled to do it. He simply agreed and stated that he wasn’t left with any other choice but just go for it. He knew that it was very different form his comic image. As an actor he did not want to be in the same shell and was looking at break away from it. ‘Maximum’ gave him an opportunity to play a serious role and for that I would like to give Kabeer good credit since he was able to think of Vinay in such characterisation. None of the characters are negative here; they are just real. Same holds good for Naseer too. They are just common people who did mistakes but not with any malice intentions.

Meanwhile your intentions as an actor seem quite sorted. Other than Bollywood, you seem to be striking good balance down South as well while winning awards and also making good moolah. Happy to be in a situation where you are?
Definitely, it is a huge high and something that I am very proud of. Recently I was in Hyderabad and was with a couple of big stars there. They acknowledged that I was the first North Indian actor who was so well accepted in South. As per them, there is usually a commotion in theatre when I enter the screen. Now that’s quite unusual for a North Indian actor to gain such reception in South. It’s a great achievement for an outsider to be accepted and appreciated out there. So many times you see actors go there to earn money but I have gained more than that. I have learnt what audience acceptance is and that’s a much more enriching learning than anything else that I may have gained money wise. I have been very lucky, my mother’s prayers have been with me and that has done the magic.

Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah Maximum Movie Review

Rating: 1/5 stars (One star)

Star cast: Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah, Neha Dhupia, Vinay Pathak, Anjana Sukhani, Aarya Babbar, Swanand Kirkire, Amit Sadh, Mohan Agashe and Rajendra Gupta.

What’s Good: The acting.

What’s Bad: The uninteresting story and screenplay; the half-baked characters.

Verdict: Maximum is a dry and insipid fare.

Watch or Not?: Not really.

It’s Mumbai circa 2003 and the police have their grip hold on the city thanks to their ruthless encounter killings. Pratap Pandit (Sonu Sood) heads his team of policemen, informers and small time thugs in cleaning up the crime syndicate in Mumbai and filling his pocket as well.

Another cop trying to beat Pratap at the number game is the senior police officer Arun Inamdar (Naseeruddin Shah). While Pratap has the support of minister Tiwari (Vinay Pathak), Inamdar has another minister (Mohan Agashe) by his side.

How these two cops use encounters and the politicians for their benefit is shown in the rest of the movie.

Sonu Sood in Maximum Movie Stills

Maximum Review: Script Analysis

Kabeer Kaushik has written the script, screenplay and directed the movie. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t tell you anything new. We’ve had many movies on encounters, cops and the underworld, and Kabeer has just recycled old material. How can cops kill so indiscriminately and not get pulled up by their seniors or the media? Many questions like these remain unanswered. Also, one never feels anything for the half-fledged characters. Dialogues are not up to the mark.

Maximum Review: Star Performances

Sonu Sood has tried his best, but cannot rise above the script. Naseeruddin Shah’s character is well played but seems half-baked. Neha Dhupia is apt as Pratap’s wife. Vinay Pathak, Swanand Kirkire (as Bachi Singh), Mohan Agashe, Rajendra Gupta (as Pratap’s dad) provide adequate support.

Maximum Review: Music and Technical Aspects

Amjad Nadeem and Devi Shri Prasad’s music is good as is Daniel George’s background score. Tinu Verma’s action is just alright. Krishna Ramanan’s cinematography is fine. Lionel Fernandes’ editing could have been a lot better.

Maximum Review: The Last Word

Maximum just beats around the bush for a long time and is not really an enjoyable fair.

Maximum Trailer

Maximum releases on 29 June 2012.

Sonu Sood in Maximum Movie and Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spiderman Movie

Anything over 20%-30% opening would be a bonus for ‘Maximum‘. It may fetch some good reviews for itself and also gain on word of mouth. However the turnaround would have to be really quick since in weeks to follow, there are biggies like ‘Bol Bachchan‘ and ‘Cocktail‘ arriving that are expected to see a mighty release and hence rob other films of screen space.

‘Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai‘ has the only selling point as Veena Malik in her first film as an actress. However some pathetic promotion has hardly helped its cause. The film has B-Grade written all over it while the title by itself smells of 70s/80s. It would be a surprise if the film manages to find even a semi-decent release for itself. The film can’t expect more than 5%-10% opening.

As for ‘Supermen of Malegaon‘, it is a documentary film which is seeing a special release for itself in select screens of PVR at major cities. It isn’t seeing a commercial release and only aimed at niche audience from critical acclaim perspective. However, it would be mighty surprising if the film is seen by any audience whatsoever other than critics.

Sonu Sood in Maximum Movie Stills

Meanwhile, expect ‘The Amazing Spiderman‘ magic in a major way and break all existing records of a Hollywood film being released in India. This one is going to take the box office by storm and record collections in the 70%-80% range all over.

The song has vocals by Malathy and is composed by Devi Sri Prasad. The song is originally from the Telugu movie Arya starring Allu Arjun.

Aa Ante Amalapuram – Maximum

Neha Dhupia, Vinay Pathak, Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah Maximum Movie Stills

Maximum also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Sonu Sood, Neha Dhupia, Arya Babbar and Anjana Sukhani.

Maximum Trailer

Sonu Sood in Maximum Movie Stills

Maximum Official Synopsis

Mumbai 2003. A maze of local trains. Throbbing crowds. Big land deals. And intense politics. And in the center of it all, a volatile story. Two cops. One journey. And a struggle for power. Maximum power. But they are not alone in this game. There are other players. The conspirators. Moving at every level. Taking the drama through layers of emotions. And betrayals. To an unpredictable climax.

Maximum is directed by Kabeer Kaushik.