Shanghai-From love,sex to politics.

From love & sex to politics

Dibakar Banerjee tells BT that his new film Shanghai is his most expensive yet

Meena Iyer

The first things that come to mind on hearing the title of Dibakar Banerjee's new film are Chinese martial arts and Jet Li. But Shanghai is not even remotely like that. PVR Pictures and Dibakar's Shanghai is a hardcore political thriller based on some of the most controversial and relevant topics of recent times — land grabbing and skewed redevelopment.
Made on a lavish budget, this mainstream film brings together two varied schools of acting in Abhay Deol (middle-of-the-road cinema) and Emraan Hashmi (hardcore commercial cinema), who have both undergone a complete metamorphosis for this film. Dibakar — whose current stock is at an all-time high owing to his National Award-winning films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and the avant garde Love Sex Aur Dhoka (LSD) — is currently working on the background score of Shanghai.
Talking of his actors — Abhay playing Krishnan (a south Indian) and Emraan playing Jogi Parmar (a hardcore wheeler-dealer) — Dibakar says, "I'm happy these guys trusted my script and went with their gut, doing a 180-degree turn with their existing images. Who would have imagined Abhay playing a south Indian, sporting a moustache, or Emraan moving away from his loverboy image? Besides them, two actors who are brilliant are Bengali superstar Prosenjit and Kalki Koechlin. Prosenjit is on the wrong side of 40, but all the women on my set found him drop-dead sexy. And Kalki, who was going through a personal low during the shoot of Shanghai, was able to bring out trauma onscreen so effectively."
Ajay Bijli of PVR Pictures says, "Shanghai is an extraordinary story, made even more powerful by Dibakar's artistry. The casting of Emraan and Abhay in co-lead roles is a masterstroke. Dibakar's engaging storytelling combined with the strength of PVR Pictures will deliver an entertaining and inspiring film for audiences."
The 60-second promo maintains a dangerous mood all through. "The thrills don't let up," Dibakar says and adds, "All through the film the principal characters are either hunting or being hunted."
This whodunnit could be the ideal recipe for a very polar Indian society for whom all land redevelopment is either good or bad. Shanghai hopes to put things in perspective.
Shanghai, presented by PVR Pictures, releases on June 8.