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Naam Shabana' might be about a woman spy fighting her way past many villains but the film rests on and reflects a male world-view.
Naam Shabana"a spin-off of sorts of the 2015 spy thriller, Baby"is like two distinct films held together at the interval. The first half takes us back to the traumatic life of one of the agents"Shabana Khan (Taapsee Punnu)"and her initiation into the Indian undercover counter-intelligence unit. The second half is about her first, crucial mission to nab a global arms kingpin (what an inexcusable waste of Prithviraj) which eventually turns out to be utterly childish and laughable, fashioned like a B grade Hollywood thriller.
So you start off with a woman wronged. Shabana comes with the baggage of an alcoholic, abusive father and a dark past spent in a juvenile remand home. A spell of happiness and love is cruelly cut short post which is when she begins wreaking vengeance like a zakhmi aurat.
The film feels like an infinitely long drawn and highly predictable affair in which Pannu does her routine mechanically"with a no make-up look, some brusque talk and several mixed martial arts moves. Apart from crying, Pannu flits from a blank face to an earnest glare, from a glance of impassive concentration to total bewilderment.
In the name of slickness there are countless slow motion sequences and bird's-eye view shots of the cities"be it Vienna, Mumbai or Kuala Lumpur. There are the familiar contrivances of the thrillers of yore"hidden dens, unidentifiable moles and surveillance systems"that have a dated feel. And yes there are the mandatory fights and chases, violence and bloodshed. But nothing manages to prevent the film from being dull and dreary.
There's also some strange politics playing on the sidelines. A conversation on Shabana's religion (Islam) still has me scratching my head in confusion. The agency's head recruiter and planner Manoj Bajpayee tells Shabana that her religion is a perk, that in contemporary times being a Muslim gives better access, opens many closed doors. How? The incredulous look refuses to leave my face. Did I misconstrue something here?
The film might appear radical enough to show a woman fight her way past the men but at the heart of things rests a very male, big boy world-view. There are locker room jokes about a drunk boyfriend being a liability and a drunk girlfriend an asset, about women being preconfigured as spies. There's something superior about how fellow agent Ajay (Akshay Kumar) sends Shabana off to investigate a woman hostage asking rhetorically and haughtily: "Main aapko zabardasti karte hue achcha lagta hoon (Would I look good forcing my way)?" Her testing and training by Bajpayee seems just as patronising as the hand-holding in the moments of crises (there are quite a few) by Kumar. The hero has to take charge eventually. No wonder then, the shot of Kumar holding Pannu's hand, dragging her away to safety, made me cringe.
There is no brand value of Baby which is probably the reason this film has been made. The brand value only comes when films are liked by the audience and the theatrical and television results of Baby show that the puclic did not care for the film.
The film is going to find it a struggle at the box office as although the budget is reasonable even with Akshay Kumar, the acquisition price is far too high in accordance to the initial which gives the distributors no chance. Below are the admit figures of first shows with the cinema counts taken from each centre listed next to the city.
Mumbai (35 Cinemas)
Naam Shabana - 1,178 admits
Phillauri - 1,089 admits
Delhi (20 cinemas)
Naam Shabana - 665 admits
Phillauri - 1,152 admits
Chandigarh (6 cinemas)
Naam Shabana - 223 admits
Phillauri - 551 admits
Hyderabad (10 cinemas)
Naam Shabana - 380 admits
Phillauri - 319 admits
TOTAL (71 cinemas)
Naam Shabana - 2,446 admits
Phillauri - 3,111 admits
Naam Shabana, starring Taapsee Pannu in the lead role, is a spin-off of the 2015 hit Baby. Will the big Bollywood release this week match up to the success of Baby? Here is our Naam Shabana movie review.
Naam Shabana Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher, Prithviraj Sukumaran
Naam Shabana Director: Shivam Nair
Naam Shabana Rating:
(2.5/5)
The surprise package of Baby, Taapsee Pannu, kicking some serious butt, Akshay Kumar's one-liners and lots of thrills - Naam Shabana looks full of crowd-pleasers on the surface, and if in doubt, there's always Bharat Mata Ki Jai. The problem is that the trailer gave it all away, which, by default, makes the first half of Naam Shabana a drag.
Shabana (Taapsee) is a reserved second year B.Com student whose life revolves around Kudo training and her widowed mother. Her classmate Jai (Taher Mithaiwala) is smitten by her, but is only stuck with ferrying her back-and-forth from college, because she does not entertain his declarations of love. When they finally go on a date, she opens up about her dark past and finally reciprocates his feelings. But their yet-to-bloom romance is cut short when, on their way home, they get pursued by eve-teasers and a tragedy follows.
From this point, the making of Shabana, the lethal spy, starts. "Females are born with an extra strain in their DNA. Mardon ko gadgets ki zaroorat padti hai, auratein pre-configured aati hai," Manoj Bajpayee's character says when Shabana asks him why the agency chose her out of the crores of people. You don't know whether to laugh.
But laughs there are, in the form of Baby nostalgia. Akshay's "conference" moment and "mantriji toh aaj bahut busy hai" make a comeback in Naam Shabana. There is also a subtle dig at quintessential action sequences where the hero and the villain rip off their shirts and have a fist fight (think Dabangg), which elicits some chuckles.
The hunky antagonist Prithviraj Sukumaran is as dangerous as he is handsome. But for reasons best known to the makers, he divulges key information about himself after years of painstakingly (quite literally, as you'll find out) staying under the radar. And it is never quite explained why a rookie like Shabana must take him out, when one of their best, Akshay, just sits and twiddles his thumbs. (Note that the baddie has already eliminated five seasoned agents who went to apprehend him.)
It is perhaps to the director Shivam Nair's credit that in spite of the loopholes, Naam Shabana gives us some enjoyable moments. Taapsee is the hero of the film, save in the few scenes with Akshay, when he steals the limelight from her because "itne door se aaya hoon, kuch toh karne do!" And although Taapsee shoulders the film, her name appears in the end credits only AFTER Akshay's, in spite of his role being only an extended cameo. Sigh.
The two club songs could have been done away with; although they are woven into the plot, they come across as jarring in a film like this. Especially amidst strong comments on counter-terrorism vis-a-vis the socio-political situation. Shabana is told that her Muslim identity is an advantage to the agency because, "Aaj kal ke jo haalat hai, us mein tumhare religion ki vajah se humara access badhta hai aur raaste khulte hai." It would have been interesting to explore that in some more depth, but it is never addressed again.
While in Baby, the climax is almost nail-biting, Naam Shabana makes it all too easy to get rid of the bad guy. If you want to watch Naam Shabana, do; just make sure you don't go in with the expectation of watching a riveting action-thriller like Baby.
Srijit Mukherji "@srijitspeaketh@taapsee carries #NaamShabana like Atlas without shrugging for a second! Stellar turn!-'-'-'
- 3535 Retweets
- 5454 likes
Rana Daggubati "@RanaDaggubati#NaamShabana slick,intense and hard hitting!! So proud of you @taapsee for the kind of work you're doing!! Good luck to the entire team.
- 100100 Retweets
- 951951 likes
ANGAD BEDI! @ImangadbediFrom #Pink to #NaamShabana @taapsee meri pyaari Pannu is scaling heights. More power to you. super running technique.
#dontmesswithpannu
- 1111 Retweets
- 191191 likes
Elli AvrRam "@ElliAvrRamWatch #NaamShabana tomorrow! @taapsee is so so good
Girl power
. Loved being a part of this film!
- 132132 Retweets
- 695695 likes
Saqib Saleem "@SaqibsaleemStellar performances by all in this well made film!! @taapsee you have punched n kicked it out of the park!!
#NaamTaapsee #NaamShabana
- 4343 Retweets
- 150150 likes
Rakul Preet "@RakulpreetNaam @taapsee n dis girl is outstanding in #NaamShabana .just sit back n enjoy while d world talks about how brilliant u n d film is!
- 128128 Retweets
- 1,2841,284 likes
Arjan Bajwa @ArjanTalkinSaw #NaamShabana..riveting & gripping!! Take a bow @taapsee, @BajpayeeManoj,@akshaykumar,@neerajpofficial#shivam Nair
- 6262 Retweets
- 107107 likes
Jackky Bhagnani "@jackkybhagnaniSaw #NaamShabana and @taapsee was terrific ! So proud of you ! @akshaykumar as always comes and just owns the space bRILLIANT !! #mustwatch
- 131131 Retweets
- 330330 likes
Anubhav Sinha "@anubhavsinhaIts so tough for an actress to deliver a superlative performance in a Bollywood Action Thriller. @taapsee does it and HOW!!! #NaamShabana
Naam Shabana First Weekend Business
Naam Shabana had a reasonable first weekend of 17.75 crore nett over the weekend. The growth on Sunday was not really there at mass centres and it remained at low levels. The film has done decent business at multiplexes of the big cities over the first three days.
The weekend figures of this film are better than films like Rangoon, Commando 2 and Phillauri. In fact outside the cast films (Raaes, Jolly LLB 2, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Kaabil) these are the best weekend figures of the year. The collections of Naam Shabana over the first weekend are as follows.
Friday - 4,75,00,000
Saturday - 6,00,00,000
Sunday - 7,00,00,000 apprx
TOTAL - 17,75,00,000
The problem for the film is the acquisition price which was paid for two reason probably the brand value of Baby which is not there as that film is media appreciated and not public appreciated and the guest role by Akshay Kumar. The latter gave a little lift to the film on day one but more importantly the brand value had to work to justify the cost. That was never going to happen as there was no brand value.
https://www.thestatesman.com/entertainment/bollywood/shabana-azmi-unmasks-truth-behind-kangana-javed-truce-she-apologized-1503412582.html/amp...
Shabana tried to get Jyotika out of Dabba Cartel cast https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGNheshtXhL/?igsh=cDV2b3Q5djlxcTZp
Param Sundari review and box office https://x.com/umairsandu/status/1960372607494115457?s=46 t=gmo_g396jwmtO4eUOAuljw
https://youtu.be/OMoU0Pfibc4?si=IzGKng-zGyX3b49v
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
Mangal Lakshmi
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