Shanghai : Movie Review

Star Cast of Shanghai: Abhay
Deol as T. A. Krishnan, vice-chairman, IBP
Emraan Hashmi as Joginder Parmar, an adult
film maker
Kalki Koechlin as Shalini Sahay
Prosenjit Chatterjee as Dr. Ahmadi, a social
activist
Pitobash Tripathy as Bhagu
Farooq Sheikh as Kaul
Tillotama Shome as Mrs. Ahmedi

Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Producer: Ajay Bijli, Dibakar Banerjee, Sanjeev K Bijli, Priya Sreedharan
Music Director: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Lyricst: Dibakar Banerjee, Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar, Neelesh Misra, Vishal Dadlani

Shanghai, the new release of this week, is a film by film maker Dibakar Banerjee, who in the past has been known for making films, which are not only of a very high quality, but are also very entertaining. The director has in the past, come-up with films, which have subjects or storylines that have not been seen in Bollywood before. Dibakar Banerjee’s latest film Shanghai, despite telling the usual story of corrupt politicians also stands out just because the way in has been told.

Most people use politics to sensationalize their films. But, politics and the corrupt practices of politicians are not shown in a Bollywood movie in such a subtle manner as shown in Shanghai. The movie hits hard on reality that it is not only the politicians but even on the bureaucrats, who actually run this country from a back stage are equally wrong. Shanghai can actually be any city or state in India, which the politicians and bureaucrats feel is developing at a very fast rate due their policies but the reality is totally different.

Shanghai starts with a social worker Dr Ahmedi [Prosenjit Chatterjee] coming to a city to awaken the people against the injustice being caused to them, But before he can awaken the people about their rights, he gets killed. Though, the killing is made out to be an accident, a close colleague of Dr Ahmedi, Shalini Sahay (Kalki Koechlin), is sure that it was a murder and not an accident. Owing the pressure by the supporters of Dr Ahemdi and media, the principal secretary to the Chief Minister Mr. Kaul (Farooq Shaikh) has to set an inquiry into the incident under a senior government officer T.A. Krishnan (Abhay Deol). But Kaul tells Krishnan not to find anything substantial in his enquiry. Meanwhile, Shalini meets a man known as Jogi Parmar (Emraan Hashmi), who makes her meet another man, who supposedly has a proof of the killing but before he can hand over those proofs to Shalini, even he dies. The rest of the truth unfolds dramatically.

Dibakar Banerjee treats all his films differently. Just as you cannot compare his earlier works to each-other, you cannot compare Shanghai to any of his past film. Like his past films, this film by Dibakar makes the audiences anticipate what is going to come next. Yet apart from this one similarity, his films are unique and each film is distinctive than the other.

Shanghai raises many issues through its story. It narrates the tale of how politicians and bureaucrats make fool of people in name of development. It also talks of two different sets of people living in the same city and how they are poles apart.

Apart from the fact that the story is wonderfully told, Shanghai also makes you think because the story is so relevant today. It tells the tale of corruption among politicians and bureaucrats, which catches the society in its clutches in today’s India.

The direction of Shanghai by Dibakar Banerjee is excellent. The music, back ground score and cinematography of the film are okay though there is nothing special about them.

Emraan Hashmi looks excellent in the film. If the director wanted him to look like an ordinary guy in Shanghai Dibakar Banerjee has succeeded in doing what he wanted. The shape of Emraan’s teeth also look excellent in the film and goes well with his character. Abhay plays an honest and an uncomplicated man in the film. In fact, Abhay’s character is the back bone of the film. Both Emraan and Abhay give excellent performances in the film.

Kalki also looks excellent in her character. Though she has done such characters before, she still looks fresh in this role.

Apart from the leading star cast, Farooque Sheikh also looks excellent in his role. Among the remaining star cast, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Pitobash, Anant Jog and Tillotama Shome have done complete justice to their roles. Supriya Pathak on the other hand has a very small role to leave an impact. Another actor, who disappoints in Shanghai is Kiran Karmarkar. He is such a fine actor, who showed his talent on Television. He deserves better roles.

Shanghai is not another Bollywood film. It attacks our political system and bureaucracy in a very hard way. The film tells the story in a very interesting way to keep the viewer involved. Shanghai has something to say and it says very effectively. Just go and watch it.