Name: Maximum
Director: Kabeer Kaushik
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: 2012-06-28
Duration: 106 min
Rating: 8
Cast: Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah, Neha Dhupia, Vinay Pathak, Rajendra Gupta

Two trigger-happy cops play chess with bullets while Mumbai burns.

Gritty cop dramaPolitical chess matchMumbai noir

Overview

Action Drama Thriller Crime

A story of two of Mumbai Police's top encounter specialists' fight for control and oneupmanship which goes through a complex maze of politics, land deals, fake encounters and bad money.

Content warning

Corruption as bureaucracyMoral rot in institutionsToxic masculinityThe performance of power

Standout Aspects

Acting

Naseeruddin Shah's weary menace vs Sonu Sood's coiled aggression.

Direction

Kaushik's documentary-style realism in encounter sequences.

Writing

Dialogue that treats corruption as office politics with guns.

Best for:Solo·Friends

Heads up:Violence·Disturbing

Director

Kabeer Kaushik

ReleasedJun 28, 2012

Runtime1h 46m

StatusReleased

Vibe

Pacesteady

Intensityhigh

Tonedark

Feelheavy

Top Cast

Sonu Sood

Pratap Pandit

Naseeruddin Shah

Arun Inamdar

Neha Dhupia

Supriya

Vinay Pathak

Tiwari

Rajendra Gupta

Babuji

Arya Babbar

Nanda

Mohan Agashe

Sathe

Amit Sadh

Ashwin Singh

Mukesh Bhatt

Murali Sharma

Inspector

Anjana Sukhani

Special Appearance

Hazel Keech

Item Number

Ask about Maximum

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Deep Dive

Trivia, insights & behind the scenes

Cultural

Based loosely on real Mumbai encounter specialists like Pradeep Sharma and Daya Nayak, whose 'kill counts' became political currency in 1990s-2000s Maharashtra.

Insight

The film deliberately avoids the 'Singham' heroism of Bollywood cop films — Kaushik cited 'Ardh Satya' as his reference point, not 'Dabangg'.