Lootere Review

First-time director Jai Mehta's high seas thriller Lootere rests on the defensive and/or despicable acts of men driven by greed, ambition and duress. Set in an African nation whose people are all at sea, and not only a metaphorical sense, the eight-episode series is chockfull of action.The initial release of two episodes of the fast-paced Disney+Hotstar series will be followed by a weekly drop every Thursday over the next month and a half.The action unfolds in a country on the brink of a civil war, a place where dangers abound. The pulse-pounding rhythm of Lootere is accentuated by Achint Thakkar's propulsive background score and a lively theme track. With Hansal Mehta serving as showrunner, the series is expectedly pretty much in the inspired-by-true-events zone. The seasoned filmmaker's stamp on Lootere is palpable. He brings his proven flair for believable drama to amply bear upon the Shaailesh R. Singh-produced series.

Despite its crime drama moorings - Lootere is unfamiliar territory for Mehta in terms of both location and genre - the show isn't a conventional swashbuckler. It delves into the seamier side of shipping in a world infested with dangerous, self-serving men out to make a killing. Off the coast of Somalia, a band of pirates take control of a ship carrying a contraband consignment linked to the larger volatile politics of the trouble-torn nation. In a universe where anything goes, the lootere of the title are no worse than the people who want the captured vessel and its precious cargo salvaged.The company that owns the ship, the man who ordered the cargo, the outfit the shipment is destined for, the crew caught in the crossfire and up against constant threats of violence and the pirates determined to extract their pound of flesh fight an intensely bloody battle in Lootere, an action drama that turns increasingly gory as the stakes rise.The men involved in the fracas are deadly and duplicitous. Betrayal and back-stabbing come easy to them. The story by Anshuman Sinha and the script by Vishal Kapoor and Suparn S. Varma incorporate the personal and the emotional in the wider, wilder world that the show is located in.

A woman running out of patience with a husband who has little time for his family, a mother grieving for a missing son, an amoral immigrant-businessman dealing with the hostility of the natives, boys and men compelled by privation to take to piracy and unholy alliances forged with the aim of fishing in troubled waters. The director makes the most of the mix of Indian and African actors at his disposal. Lootere is the first Indian web show filmed on the African continent. The location lends it a distinct colour and texture. South Africa stands in for Mogadishu and a couple of smaller Somali towns. In capturing a range of spaces - shantytowns, the ocean, the bridge, deck and cabins on the ship, roads running through towns and villages, bungalows and hovels - cinematographer Jall Cowasji uses dramatic lighting and angles that heighten the tension and unease in the heart of the darkness that envelopes the landscape. The mission to save the ship and its cargo and rescue the crew constitutes the crux of the series. A nation's port authority, a freighter and one Indian family face severe turmoil as the pirates (among whom is a pair of siblings, one the commander, the other a rank rookie) dig their heels in and demand a hefty ransom.