The post-IPL movie rush has been anticipated keenly for quite sometime now and one of the front-runners in that respect, carrying with it a huge baggage of expectations, is Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Shanghai‘. It has been in the news for quite sometime now for a variety of reasons ranging from its political overtones to its rather unusual cast mix. Now to top it all the following are just few of the euphoria inducing sound bytes emerging over the last couple of days, ever since a privileged few watched its exclusive shows for press and friends.
“Dibakar Banerjee is the best filmmaker in the country. Period. There is no scope for discussion on this, visceral and stunning film ever made in this country”- Anurag Kashyap
“Shanghai is utterly terrifying and terrific. Don’t miss it.” – Anupama Chopra
“Raja Sen: Emraan Hashmi, Best Actor 2012.” – Raja Sen
and so on and on.
So is it worth all this hype? Has Dibakar Banerjee proved himself to be a true genius with this outing of his? Does the lead trio truly stun you beyond words? ‘Alas, I wish’ is my answer. However the movie definitely does make some good strides in the direction of quality cinema, but just has too many issues going against it to be called great cinema by any stretch of imagination.
The skeletal plot by now is pretty popular, but I will anyways go ahead and do the basics. Social activist Dr.Ahmedi(Prosenjit) comes to Bharatnagar to protest against the mass displacement of people in the name of ‘pragati’ to make way for the ‘India Business Park’. There is lot of tension in the meeting and amidst this, a van comes and smashes him and he slips into coma. His student, fan and local host(Kalki Koechlin) gets a warning about his safety even before he arrives in the city and looking at the turn of events she is convinced it is a murder plot. She eventually finds an ally in a sleazy local porn filmmaker who is on the spot(Emraan Hashmi) and has some key video footage. A ‘CM appointed enquiry commission’ under the IBP Vice Chairman(Abhay Deol) interrogates the incident amidst a very volatile political atmosphere and the rest of the movie is about the struggles and moral dillemas of the lead trio in the turn of events post the accident.
The movie has quite a few things going for it. There are a few standout scenes such as the Chief Secretary (Farooq Sheikh‘s) briefing with the police and Abhay when the commission starts, Mrs.Ahmedi’s breakdown in the kitchen, the climax scene exchanges between Abhay and Farooq, the one scene where the CM(Supriya Pathak) appears and so on. All of these are very shrewd, subtle, scenes with simple and sharp dialogues. There are also lot of very understated, thought inducing, crisp shots of situations such as political rallies and curfews, police behaviour within its ecosystem, the whole concluding montage in the film, and many others. On paper the high point of the film is the scene where Kalki discovers who the truck driver actually is and the overal helplessness about the situation. But this scene to a large extent is diluted by Kalki’s rather shreiking response to it. Music in the film is mainly about the 2 songs aired regularly on television(‘Bharat mata’ and ‘Imported Kamariya’) which are pretty good, there is hardly any BGM adding to a pretty ‘docu’ effect, editing is decent and dialogues in some scenes impactul but never razor sharp.
Now on to the negatives and a discussion on why audiences should definitely not elevate this movie to a ‘classic’ status. The first issue with Dibakar is there is a thin line between subtlety and superficiality and for every moment of subtle brilliance there are dozens of ‘lost-in-translation’ shots and situations which truly do not convey their final message. Kalki’s whole character suffers from moments such as this, including her phirang origin(which people mention quite a few times) and a totally ill-fitting background on her General father. The much hyped unconventional casting trio is ultimately weak in its output for a variety of reasons. Kalki is the weakest of the lot and there is definitely no grounds to cast her in the first place. Her situations are half baked for a large part and the one great scene she gets, she screws up with rather weird reactions. Abhay is pretty competent and balanced for large part, but his accent though thankfully not a routine bollywood caricature is still very ordinarily researched. He switches between a rather flawless hindi and uses a rather UP sounding twang for some of the beuarucratic lingo such as ‘form’, ‘order’ and ‘application’. Emraan is definitely the pick of the lot and is a natural. He brings in a lot of dillema and conflict effortlessly to his role but again in large chunks of the 2nd half he is hardly there.
In what is projected as a political thriller, the thriller is barely there as we know from scene 1 whether it was an accident or murder, there is hardly anything found by Emraan and Kalki(except in the last 20 mts) with their initial tape hardly being any evidence and we as sensible audience can all along second guess that something is eventually going to point to the CM and her team. This combined with the fact that there are also barely any truly jump out of your seat scenes for you to wow at, with the exception of the Abhay-Farooq confrontation in the end, give you a pretty disappointed and yearning feeling given the great backdrop and ensemble cast at disposal. Moreover, given that its a such a small town and Emraan is directly in the line of fire, it is pretty filmy for such a realistic film that he and Kalki can roam around between their homes and her maid’s home(in the heart of Bharatnagar) pretty effortlessly. The truly best moments of the film are the fleeting appearances of Prosenjit, Supriya Pathak and the rock solid Farooq Sheikh. Even with the little footage they get their roles both on paper and in execution are just fantastic.
All in all, ‘Shanghai’ in the end restricts itself to a gritty, realistic, watchable film with few good moments and occasional sparks of brilliance when it could have been so much more. Dont shower it with praise just because the intent is good(its not a short story, its a film for gods sake), your friend said he loved it, or every critic and his grandmother gave it 4 stars. Judge it on its scene by scene engagement value, how it score against its great potential and its performance against its so called ability to shock you out of your existence. 2.5 stars for the movie, 0.5 generous stars for the realism and a strict penalty of 0.25 points for overhyping and wholesale PR manipulation. 2.75 , no more.
i saw d movie last night, without reading a single review by any critic and hteir grandmothers, and loved it. The film is a set piece, the idea of a sluggish sytem and a lethargic mass that gets goverened by it is brought brought not just in the story but even in the treatment of the movie- the sluggish pace mimics how things move through red tape, the matter of fact blaseness with which things are revealed in the thriller, where everything is almost predictable, is cause that is how the system is, we all know what is goign to happen, and we all are resigned to it- the pace of the film, the editing, the silences, every single piece is a metaphor for apathy both on the ruler’s side as well as the side of the ruled. The movie is a very beautiful adaptation of the novel Z , indianized yet not loosing its core essence. The performances are what is required of them, could agree on Kalki being a little weak, but then again so is her character in the film. Shanghai definitely deserves a place among the films that can slap the powers that be well within the mainstream hindi movie confines.
@Ameet – Great that you liked it so much and I totally respect that. To me, the sluggishness was definitely a lack of engagement with the audience. The politics and bureaucracy@facebook-590416186:disqus side of it had a lot to offer, but what the central characters did in that setup was not well enough etched for me. In lot of places I felt they were just going through the motions. I was not expecting anything heroic or filmy at all but there was a lot else which could have been flushed out
Another friday… And comes Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai…If its a political thriller, then its without the thrills..A just about watchable film which left me unsatisfied as comparable to making love to a great woman with strong features, but the lady in question does not co-operate for a great climax.
The film has its moments and a worthy effort, but when a cricketer hits a century and if it does not lead the team to win, then all the effort is in vain.
Prosenjit is superb in a 10 min cameo, but never did i feel he had a command on Urdu. Emraan’s as you rightly said is hardly there post intermission, Farookh Shaikh shows why he is a veteran and Abhay Deol impressed me the most. But Kalki grates on the nerves with so many unsolved questions revolving around her character and its high time we dont see her in Hindi Cinema…Disappointed as Dibakar had a great material on hand.
Best review of Shanghai … Of course the film is much better than regular stuff, but definitely not a classic. And when you watch Z you realize it is a poor poor adaptation … Z made in 1969 is still better in terms of characteriasation, casting, pace and the overall film leaves you on a high … and makes you think. I was very happy when i first come to know that DB is remaking it, even though he does half the job, film will rock. But Characters are not well sketched … nobody leaves an impact … sorry not even farooq sheikh … He might be relatively best … and that’s where the film losses or rather adaptation falls apart … it should be Abhay’s character … It is not a thriller but a political drama. And end is typical Dibakar style … Can you believe that in a function, just a little “Kanaphoosi” will address such serious issue, where CM is charged with Murder. Realistic … Suck whatever you want! Lip syncing the “bharatmata” song and then calling it realistic.
On the other hand Dibakar should be lauded for doing such risky project, when everybody is doing commercial stuff including some big indie names, he did what he wanted to. Political thriller is risky as far as distribution is concerned, but he went ahead and made his film. He knew there are going to be comparisons between original Z and Shanghai, but it did not deter him by trying to do something different. Whatever even the great filmmakers have given duds, But real shame is the fucking hype. This thing is really killing good cinema. It is like “The Shepard boy and wolf” … you con audience into believing an average film as a classic … the best of the decade and whatever and next time there will be gud film and audience wont go … because he thinks it could be at the best Shanghai and next time distributors will say gud films wont run …. make masala … and then you say Masala films dominates the space … and you will wash your hands and the serious audience stops watching cinema. Thats is the reason today very small percentage of Indian population watches cinema in theaters. 4 and 5 stars for shanghai could well raise the expectations of the audience and eventually word of mouth could turn bad. Instead this kind of review would have given the film more chance. Let alone filmmakers and audience, it is the critics who should raise their levels first. He should be unbiased. He should not be influenced for money, reputation and personal relations. Otherwise you don’t have any right to criticize neither typical Bollywood nor any other kind. In a way we all deserve bad cinema for hyping Shanghai as capital of Galactic republic!
(Sorry for long comment,Spoilers ahead)
I loved the film.Yes,it wasn’t as great as Costa Gravas classic Z.The taut screenplay,the pace was missing in Shanghai but still this film is a must watch.And after seeing films like Rowdy Rathore & Bodyguard Indian audience doesn’t deserve film like Z.
Coming back to your review you wrote (in bold):
“In what is projected as a political thriller, the thriller is barely there as we know from scene 1 whether it was an accident or murder, there is hardly anything found by Emraan and Kalki(except in the last 20 mts) with their initial tape hardly being any evidence and we as sensible audience can all along second guess that something is eventually going to point to the CM and her team.”
Well there was no mystery involved in first place.we all knew what happened.the key was to know how the corrupt politicians try to manipulate it.
“Moreover, given that its a such a small town and Emraan is directly in the line of fire, it is pretty filmy for such a realistic film that he and Kalki can roam around between their homes and her maid’s home(in the heart of Bharatnagar) pretty effortlessly”
No where in the film it is shown that they were roaming effortlessly.Remember Emran’s studio gets ransacked and chase him when he goes back to get the CPU.that certainly cannot be called effortless atleast from where I come from.
The gist of the film was to show how fucked up we as country are.How corrupt we are as a people.on one hand that doctor Ahmedi talks about people of slumdwellers but is a womanizer who fancies his young female students.How Kalki’s maid backstabs her! (she pays for her daughter’s education & still his husband kills the doctor)
This film takes digs at the policy which state of Maharashtra adopted 5 years back with the aim to transform Mumbai to Shanghai & how they failed miserably.How politicians want the slums to exist,how they want them to remain uneducated “nahi to Gunde kaha se milenge”(Pardon for using hindi but cant translate this into English).who will be available to force Bandhs if there is a bomb blast ?
Even after all this problems we still feel India is great.
Not saying that this one of the best films ever made but definitely a good film.
I agree Emraan was searched in his house and he was chased when he had the CPU, but they spent a lot of time in Kalki’s place totally bindass. They visited the driver’s place bindass, and the driver after committing the crime was neither killed by his bosses or kept under watch(rather strange given the circumstances). When it is so difficult to reach the CM for other things, she calls and directly talks to the coalition guy on his phone and talks about this plot(again pretty dumb). I agree it succeeds quite a bit in showing how screwed up the country is, the whole maid angle I thought was fantastic(but for Kalki screwing it up with her wailing) . I agree there is enough in it for everyone to watch but it is pretty weak in creating memorable characters and scenes.
I think this film will be the next dil se or Sehar.
what a foolish review…..