Every Once Upon A Time Movie Ranked Worst To Best

The "Once Upon A Time means gangsters" sub-genre reaches South Asia with this Hindi-language crime drama from 2010, which enjoyed some international success on a limited theatrical release in the UK and US.

Loosely based on the rise and fall of 1970s Mumbai smuggling kingpin Haji Mastan, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai is another movie which takes the view that the crimelords of the past were a nobler bunch, more in touch with their local communities, than those of today.

Sultan Mirza, the movie's version of Mastan, is largely just a man living his best life compared to the psychotic criminal who comes up to replace him (a character based on Dawood Ibrahim, the probable mastermind behind the 1993 Bombay Bombing and still one of the world's most wanted fugitives).

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai does nothing especially new with mythologising the organised crime of the past and the rise of a dangerous new gangster, but it does at least tell the old story with slick Bollywood style and a retro window into Mumbai in the 70s.

It was followed by a sequel - Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara! - which was less of a success.