Dibakar Bannerjee's career seems to be picking up at a fast pace.Debuting with the excellent black comedy Khosla ka ghosla,He got the praise of critics.Then he made another of the same genre,Oye lucky lucky oye which was an Ok kind of movie.The pathbreaking one was Love sex aur dhokha particularly known as LSD which is one of the best movies in bollywood.Now he is back with a political thriller Shanghai,which is an example of brilliant film making.Packed with powerful performances,this one should not be missed
The Plot consists of nothing special.The story takes place in Bharat nagar which is soon to be developed by International business park,A project which is supported by the ruling government.But the social worker Dr Ahmedi(prosenjit chattejee) i has a different opinion.His opposes IBP and conducts rally against it.He also shares a kind of illicit relationship with his one of his followers,Shalini(kalki).After his programme against IBP,he is hit by a truck driven by a drunk driver.This incident is viewed as an accident at first which turns out to be shocking conspiracy.Collector krishnan(abhay deol) is held in charge of the enquiry commission.Jogi(emraan hashmi) who is a cameraman claims to have a tape which reveals the conspiracy.The film deals with the efforts of these people to reveal the truth behind the incident.
Direction by Dibakar is top class.The movie,which is under 2 hrs is engaging from the start right till the very end.Ending could have been dramatized but film portrays it in a realistic way and does not go over the top.Absence of Background musicat most parts of the movie can be noted.Dialogues are good.This is not Dibakar's best work,yet the film will be another feather in the cap for him.
Coming to the performances,Emraan hashmi delivers one of his best performance till date.He had always been an underrated actor in bollywood and his potential was not much used by the directors.He comes in a never-before-seen avatar with his regular onscreen kisses missing which dissappointed his fans.He puts in a powerful performance as Jogi,a small time cameraman who finds his life turned upside down after the accident.With the evidence in his hands,He struggles to uncover the truth while endangering his life and that of others.His performance in the song Bharat mata ki jai is splendid.Kalki as Shalini does justice to her role and actually brilliant in some sequences and does better than her recent films.Abhay Deol is cool as the collector Krishnan.His tamil accent is just Ok but excluding that,He excels in his role of a tough officer.His performance near to the climax was excllent.Prosenjit Chatterjee as Dr.Ahmedi is good in a brief role.Pitobash Tripathy as Bhagu did well.Havent seen this guy before but he is certainly one to look out for.Rest of the cast does justice to their respective roles.
There are only 2 songs in the movie.Bharat mata ki Jai and Imported Kamariya.Baharat mata ki Jai song is well choreographed with excellent perfromance from Hashmi while Scarlett Mellish Wilson excels in Imported Kamariya song.I felt that Morcha song could have also been included in the movie.Its used as background in some parts of the movie.Other songs from the album are also absent but that could have slowed down the movie.
However,The film is not without its share of negatives.The plot is predictable to an extent and the movie has nothing new to offer.The direction and performances saves the movie and makes it a good thriller.This is not a regular bollywood film,the movies from Dibakar never has been and this movie also stays that way.Movie lovers cannot afford to give this one a miss.
Rating:3.5/5
