Borrowing this skeletal true story, Lakhia creates the two protagonists of his film -- Sanjay Dutt as Inspector Shamsher Khan, and Vivek Oberoi as Maya Dolas. The rest of Lakhia's film is a sketchy amalgam of fact and fiction, based on recorded statements, media reports and hearsay.

Now there's not very much we don't already know about encounter killings, we've read about so many in the news.

Not a patch on such cutting-edge gangster films as Satya, Company or more recently Black Friday, the problem with Apurva Lakhia's Shootout At Lokhandwala is that it doesn't quite know which direction its going in.

There's absolutely nothing new about Shootout At Lokhandwala, you've seen it all before and many times over.

There's an upside and a flipside to casting big stars in your film. The upside, of course is that they bring in the crowds. The flipside is that you often have to compromise on your plot itself to make your actors stand out. 
Amitabh Bachchan looks embarrassed to be playing such an insignificant part. Tushar Kapoor is miscast as Maya's gangster partner, Sunil Shetty still hasn't learnt how to act and Arbaaz Khan overdoes the shudh Hindi. 
Vivek Oberoi's performance is nothing to write home about either. It’s only Sanjay Dutt who comes out shining, because it's an earnest performance delivered without the usual Hindi-film trappings.

The film has no soul; it lacks both style and substance leaves you cold and unaffected.