Very few movies make you sit up and notice a
detailed finesse and mastery in direction. Shanghai is one of them. Be it the
choice of subject, the storytelling, the cinematography, the edit, the casting,
the sound, the art design: every department reflect’s the director, Dibakar
Banerjee’s craft and eye for detail.
Based on a book ‘Z’ by Vassilis Vassilikos, cleverly
titled Shanghai is a riveting socio political drama that depicts the dangers of
India turning into a Shanghai (India Bana Pardes). Dr Ahmedi(Prosenjit
Chatterjee), an activist based in New York, arrives in the fictitious township
called Bharat Nagar. His aim is to raise awareness amongst the masses against
the existing company , India Business Park (IBP) backed by the ruling political
party, taking over their land to create malls and skyscrapers. Soon, in a spine
chilling incident, he is run over by a van and lands up in a hospital, fighting
for his life. His wife raises a protest, asking for an enquiry.
The chief minister(Supriya Pathak),entrusts IAS
officer, Krishnan (Abhay Deol) with the responsibility of probing the murder. Ahmedi’s student and lover, Shalini Sahay(Kalki Koechlin)is also hell bent on nailing
the people behind the murder. Only one man has access to the evidence: a small
time videographer- Jogi (Emraan Hashmi) along with his partner.
The fascinating plot and screenplay (Urmi Juvekar , Dibakar)maintains
the edgy tightness and intrigue right till the end. The unfolding of dramatic
events as we follow Krishnan’s investigations along with Kalki’s personal
involvement with brief glimpses into the
professor’s wife’s own unusual reaction,
keeps one hooked with its raw intensity.
Hashmi
running with a CPU, Deol and Kalki almost slipping on freshly mopped wet floor,
rallies’ frightening faces ,slogans and sounds, a basketball innocuously
appearing in the midst of a grim enquiry; are wonderful moments to watch out
for.
Every single actor right from the van driver and his
accomplice to the central actors, bring in rare, real performances. Abhay Deol as a controlled, silent and ambitious Tamilian
bureaucrat and Emraan Hashmi with his
stained toothy grin, are so true to their characters that after a while, one only sees them as Krishnan and
Jogi.
Farooque Sheikh who appears in this film after a
long hiatus, makes his presence felt with a remarkable performance as the
dubious political wheeler dealer. Supriya Pathak as the clever and calculating
chief minister, shows her immense versatility as an actor. Prosenjit as the
charismatic social leader, charms with a rare combination of intellect and sex
appeal. Pitobash as a small time goon, is noticeably good.
Kalki Koechlin’s kiss has been unduly hyped in the
promotional interviews. There is also unnecessary explanations of her white
skin in the film along with a brief romantic track with Prosenjit, that has does
little for either her character or the story. Despite unconvincing, sullen and
highly strung characteristics as dictated by the script , Kalki brings her own
intensity and does ample justice to her role.
Above all, the cinematography by Nikos Andritsakis captures
the dark and menacing mood with brilliant crowd shots. The first few seconds,
one shot -a still overview of the city, is most evocative. The fabulously
detailed art design, the sound design and the efficient edit (Namrata Rao) make
this film a class apart.
Vishal- Shekhar’s music does very little for the
movie, though two songs stand out for
their lyrics. ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ written by
Dibakar Banerjee has lines like 'Sone ki chidiya, Dengue Malaria, Gud bhi hain Gobar bhi...'(brilliant dance moves by Emraan and
Pitobash) and ‘Imported Kamariya written by Anvita Dutt Guptan aptly
depicts the movie’s theme.
Dibakar has been making films based on real subjects
like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Love, Sex and Dhokha. Both the films along with
his first film, Khosla ka Ghosla, stand out for their art direction besides the
unusual and hard hitting subjects.
Besides the relevant story, Shanghai is worth
watching for its superbly crafted treatment and cinematic brilliance.
For once I was disappointed with Dibakar. Sure he tried to portray a challenging subject. Sure he was as good as in his previous films in creating realistic sets, but...this one was quite a tough execution to pull through and he did.
ReplyDeleteI can't argue with you or other critics shining spotlight on Shanghai; if you got moved, well, you were moved.
I wasn't. It wasn't emotionally resonant. I shouldn't be intellectually getting moved by the subject, it should affect me, but his frantic-editing, loose-ends (not good writing), and self-conscious camera-work, resulted in a decent plot going haywire.
The idea that messed up the film was his multiple narrative. He took an already challenging story that doesn't focus on a single protagonist per se and made it tougher by trying to tell different tales and intending to merge them later.
Not that it can't be pulled-off but he didn't. Tension doesn't rise by going hand-held most of the time or abrupt cutting; it rises when the opposition of forces gets meatier by the minute. The chief active dude was Krishnan, the 'spokesman' of the story, in the sense that he shall not be corrupted. But...where was that struggle? It came and went off too quick. And the worst thing, again a sign of poor writing, the convoluted judgment on Farukh Sheikh's character which wasn't set-up at all! That was baffling coming from DB.
I agree that performances were all solid. Though I didn't agree that Kalki's character's kiss wasn't for much. It was her personal involvement with Ahmedy that gives her the additional impetus. She does seem dumbstruck at times, as many folks have pointed out, but...it's more due to lack of goo direction and editing. What fails in getting her going effectively is making her quite passive; you don't 'go' with her ambition to grill the criminals. But since she is also the biggest creation/deviation from original 'Z', she had to be provided some meat in carrying forward the plot, not just being a token player. She was on the fringes, which doesn't help.
The film hasn't done well at BO not because it's high-brow or 'arty', but...it failed to grip folks. I was in a plex where there was decent attendance and most were lost on what was happening.
Of course since it's a subjective domain many would have liked the characters, the setting and the show that has its merit. But is it a solid one? Brilliant? I just can't see it that way!
Film 'Z' is available on YouTube. Worth checking out.
It's a completely over-rated film. Performances and setting and subject are good. But it seems Banerjee's history, where he scored great, is making critics give him undue respect.
ReplyDeleteThere's hardly any tension. The film drags at certain places. There are too many characters and it keeps jumping back and forth, so much so that it takes you away from the characters.
Watch Z, shot simply but effectively. Banerjee seems to have got carried away with his style of LSD, applies it even more here but fails to provide something meaningful.
One expected much better from the intelligent director.