Shanghai

My review : Shanghai

Contemporary Indian society is such that the one who is honest & upright is a person who has not got any chance to get corrupted. If given a chance & power all those who preach & vouch for anti-corruption, social equality & just society would fare no better. If you brave enough to confront this bitter truth then you would surely enjoy “Shanghai” 4^th feature film directed by the most promising talent in Bollywood Dibakar Banerjee. Based on the novel “Z” by Vassillis Vassilikos “Shanghai” is a political thriller.

Movie actually tries to satire the current political climate in the country as a whole & most of the Hindi-speaking states in particular. But it also brilliantly espouses the fact that Politicians are not aliens who jump onto the earth from a far away planet. They are just a sample of the larger population as a whole. It is we who make them & make them what they are. They are just a reflection of the society of which each of us are a part of. And the fact is disillusioning & scary but the movie confronts this harsh truth.  

Except the last reel of the movie, rest of the movie is truthful & pragmatic. Cinematic liberty in the last reel does leave a bad taste but director was sensible enough to abstain from following cinematic clichés like chief minister getting convicted, the collector & the part-time photographer being celebrated like superheroes......!!

As a cinema “Shanghai” is the weakest of  Dibankar’s four movies. The tightness of screenplay, mastery over the emotional quotient & invoking the same in the audience are all not to the extent they were there in his previous movies. But this is the first time he has attempted a story of this scale & hence these dilutions are to be expected. First half actually gets over even before you get a hang of things happening around. Second half however is a bit length & also drags a bit. To sum it up, intensity seems to be lacking.

Abhay Deol has done a very good job as an honest IAS officer who conducts the enquiry into the attempted murder of the world renowned social activist. It is appreciable that he was not to do the routine Tamil stereotyping that Bollywood revels in. Emran Hasmi has also done a neat job. Actually he overshadows everyone in the first half but in the second half he does look lost. Kalki as usual overdoes her bit. He needs to understand the value of subtlety & underplay. Prosenjith Chatterjee is top class as the social activist Dr.Ahmedi while Farooq Sheikh lends adequate support.

“Bharath Mata ki jai ” is a rocking number from Vishal-Sekhar duo. Nikos Andritsakis’ cinematography elevates the production values of this small budget movie.

On the whole, “Shanghai” is an interesting watch provided one is willing to swallow the bitter pill.

Bottomline: India shining..!!! :P

3.5/5