Shanghai - Movie Reviews ( Note: Pg 17) - Page 2

By Soumyadipta Banerjee

You love biryani but from its numerous varieties, you particularly savour the Lucknowi dum variety. After a stressful work day, if you somebody offers you a plateful of that for dinner, you feel your whole day is made. Now fate plays a bad game with you and your work takes you to a place where you get everything but that favourite dish. Six years pass by and you don't get to taste a morsel of that biryani. And then suddenly one day out of the blue, somebody plants a plateful in front of you.

So how would you feel? With a strange, warm and tingling sensation in your mouth, you will stare at the plate for a couple of minutes and then you will pick up a spoonful and enjoy every second of that first bite.

It seems Emraan Hashmi was enjoying every second of this film role like that Biryani. All his life, Emraan has been speaking about doing meaningful cinema. But all this while, all he got to do was to play to the gallery, until 'Shanghai' happened.

Going by the amount of homework and dedication that Emraan Hashmi has shown in this film, it seems that he has been waiting for an opportunity like this one. This film has happened to his life after six years of longing for meaningful cinema...

Abhay Deol has done quite a few good roles that people will remember but for Emraan Hashmi, this film will go down in history as one of his finest performances.

This film doesn't play to the gallery but then neither did any of Dibakar Banerjee's earlier films like 'Love, Sex aur Dhoka' or 'Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye'. But like all of his earlier films, this film also stands out among the scores of box office releases that play to the front row audience. It might not score as much in terms of cash returns when compared to the onslaught that a 'Rowdy Rathore' has unleashed, but 'Shanghai' is a film that has got a firm grip on the reality. In spite of being so real, this film hooks your attention from the beginning to the end.

What's wrong with the film?
There's nothing wrong with the film but perhaps there's something is wrong with us. After spending all our weekend budgets on films like 'Rowdy Rathore' or 'Dangerous Ishhq', this movie is like tight thappad on our faces. But then, nobody in India likes a thappad on their face. This movie is too close to reality and too morbid for you to enjoy it with your five-member family team on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The film will tell you about the grim reality in India, the movie will tell you how land grabbing actually happens and how every RTI activist is murdered and it gets called an 'accident'. Now would you like it on a happy, rainy Sunday afternoon? Perhaps not. So, all of you saying 'No' with me, don't scroll any further and click on the sexy girl's wallpaper on our homepage instead.

For the rest of us, read on...

What's right about the film?
The film is about land-grabbing in the name of development – a grim reality that India is still coming to terms with. It somewhat works like this... the MNCs come to a particular state, tie up with the state government and then start work on their 'special' economic zones. If you don't want to give up your land, never mind - the land-sharks in coalition with the government will unleash such a terror ring around you that you will run to save your life.

Prosenjit Chatterjee plays such an activist and Kalki plays one of his students who is enamored by him. He is 'killed' in an accident and Abhay Deol plays the IAS officer who is entrusted with the inquiry report. But the real hero of the film is filmmaker-cum-local videographer who suddenly finds himself in the thick of the action as Abhay Deol goes about uncovering the gory details of Chatterjee's death, bit by bit. That's Emraan Hashmi for you.

Even though there's a strong disclaimer in the beginning, there's nothing in the film that is not inspired from real life. This is how activists are killed, inquiry commissions are misled and the voices of people are drowned.

But then it is a slap of reality on our faces and we wouldn't like it. Sadly, we like a slap on our bum like Rowdy Rathore.

What to do?
Remember the brain that you had left behind before watching 'Rowdy Rathore'? Pick that up and go for 'Shanghai'. If you miss this movie, you will do so at your own risk.

in.com rating: 3.5 stars

Our reviewer just got out of the screening of Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai, and he can't stop raving about it

Here's what our reviewer told us as soon as he walked out of the theatre, after watching Shanghai: "The film is hardly one hour-fifty minutes long, and you wish that there was no interval. You don't need one when you are watching a crisp and thrilling film like this one! It's an engaging thriller with a political backdrop, and the performances are mind blowing. Kalki Koechlin is fabulous. Pitobash Tripathy is superb. Abhay Deol has captured the nuisances of the south Indian accent perfectly. He is restrained and strong. But the star of the show is Emraan Hashmi. It might turn out to be too intelligent for Emraan Hashmi fans who generally come to see him smooch his leading lady. So we will have to wait and see if a brilliant film like this is lapped up at the box office or not. Shanghai shocks, engages and makes a powerful statement. Dibakar lives up to the standards he has set for himself."

Watch this space for a full review of the film.