Amid the unending churn of human and maritime traffic that characterizes Mumbai’s landscape, acclaimed director Hansal Mehta embarks on a narrative odyssey with ‘Lootere’, his latest serialized venture. Taking charge as showrunner along with directorial inputs from his son Jai, Mehta unveils an 8-episode saga wrought with hijack suspense, political intrigue, and a cross-continental crime narrative. Treading a treacherous path akin to the doomed expedition of the Titanic, ‘Lootere’ navigates through dense plotlines which threaten to engulf its ambitious scope.
This series draws narrative parallels to the 2013 high-seas thriller ‘Captain Phillips’, in which Tom Hanks’ titular character wrestles with the menace of Somali pirates. ‘Lootere’ too anchors its conflict in such dangerous tides, but it does not cast the imperiled captain, played convincingly by Rajat Kapoor, as its narrative linchpin. Instead, the series maneuvers to spotlight Vikram, portrayed by Vivek Gomber, an Indian expatriate and struggling Mogadishu businessman. When a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying illicit goods promises a lifeline to his flailing fortunes, Vikram quickly finds himself ensnared in a piratical nightmare as the vessel is commandeered and diverted from its course.
The series unfolds its high-stakes drama on dual fronts: the high-seas capture of the ship which, though lacking the deft execution of ‘Captain Phillips’, ratchets up tension as the crew is corralled by the pirates; and the complex labyrinth of negotiations strewn across the coastal cities of Africa. Chandan Roy Sanyal’s Ajay Kotwal, a lavish shipping tycoon in Kyiv tied to Vikram’s criminal endeavors, becomes entrenched in these swirling alliances and discreet diplomatic plays.
‘Lootere’ boldly ventures into the heart of Africa, a setting largely uncharted by Indian streaming content until now. The production sought refuge in South Africa’s landscapes to replicate the Somali setting amidst the constraints of pandemic-era filming. The militant group Al-Shabaab is reinvented as ‘Al-Muharib’, a fictional entity that ensnares children into the perilous life of sea banditry—these sequences, however, lack the emotional depth one might expect, presenting a nation’s agonies from a detached observational lens akin to that of a nature documentary.
The script retains its share of redeeming intricacies; the writers cleverly instill suspense by setting a rule for the pirates against killing any crew member, a directive that intensifies the narrative pressure from both perspectives. Jai Mehta, in his directorial debut, demonstrates potential in helming action sequences, crafting gritty battles and narrow escapes within the ship’s claustrophobic confines. Despite a tendency towards gratuitous violence, the series occasionally surprises the audience with unexpected restraint.
Nevertheless, certain elements grate against the show’s immersive potential. Notably, the linguistic treatment within the script is disconcerting—both the Somalis and Indians communicate in oddly similar styles regardless of their starkly differing backgrounds. Gomber, typically known for understated roles, seems miscast as Vikram—a figure whose rough demeanor contrasts sharply with the actor’s more nuanced artistry, especially during quieter scenes with his on-screen family.
Even as the narrative scope of ‘Lootere’ expands, threatening to disperse audience engagement across too broad a spectrum, there persists a magnetic draw towards the characters aboard the hijacked ship. Among them stands Barkhad, played by Martial Batchamen Tchana, a resolute pirate bearing the scars of his homeland’s chaos. His pursuit of fortune mirrors that of Vikram, yet Barkhad’s path is shaped by the treacherous waters surrounding the fabled Gulf of Eden.
As of now, two episodes of ‘Lootere’ have set sail on Disney+ Hotstar, with subsequent installments to be released weekly. The series marks a nuanced foray into the world of Indian cinema, fusing the boundarylessness of the ocean with the intricate interplay of international criminal undertakings and the precarious fortunes of those who brave the high seas.
