Zubair Khan’s debut film ‘Lakeer ka Fakeer’ is rumoured to be about Dawood Ibrahim’s younger days as a police informer. The film is an authentically located set of events that eventually leads up to a tragedy. The film, shot within the precincts of Mumbai’s dreaded High Risk zone, Mumbai no.3, spreads it’s narration around dreaded criminal hideouts like Dongri, Do Tanki, Nagpada, Chor Bazaar and Bhindi Bazaar. Zubair has even shot his movie in Pakmodia Street, where Dawood stayed before he fled India. Of course shooting in authentic locales was not much of a problem for Zubair, who was born and brought up there and knows the area and it’s people like the back of his hand.
‘Lakeer Ka Fakeer’ is basically about three friends, products of a ghettoised society, who live their lives making their mark with petty crimes. Fakeer(Ijaz Khan) is a thug, Chotu Mobile (Javed Rizvi) is a racketeer selling Chinese mobiles to unsuspecting Biharis and UP’ites while Suleiman Keeda (Vicky Ahuja) is an associate of local goonda turned politician Sheru Bhai, and has aspirations of making it big in politics.
Ijaz dreams of going to Dubai and driving a taxi but the police want him to continue as their informer while Chotu Mobile gets lured into the big-time hawala racketeering. Anjum(Marisha) is Fakeer’s sweetheart leading a double life – a caring sister by day and a bar-dancer by night.
There is not much of a story to tell but the unalloyed ambience, stark, gritty atmosphere and edgy camerawork allow for a certain degree of involvement here. The authentic locales make it quite interesting too. The lingo is typical to the geographic location and has the right flavour and bite. The performances by the three male protagonists are quite befitting. Marisha is a standout as Fakeer’s ill-fated girl friend.
Zubair Khan, credited with story, screenplay and direction gets the flavor right but the story is a trifle weak because of it’s many indulgences. The over-stressed dialogues and repetitive three-friends on the prowl moments make it all a bit tiresome. The music though hummable, makes light of the dramatic hefts while the narration meanders along for the first half before it gets to it’s meat in the second. There’s not enough to tell by way of back story either. We don’t know much about the three friends’ family other than some token scenes deployed to give Fakeer a little more roundedness than the rest.
This is a small-budget film made on a shoe-string budget of one and a half crore with an additional and equal marketing budget- so recovery would not be much of a problem. The film is bound to do well in niche zones.
Film: Lakeer Ka Fakeer
Cast : Ajaz Khan, Maarisha, Vicky Ahuja, Javed Rizvi
Director : Zubair Khan
