Shanghai (2012)

We have another great film from Dibakar Banerjee. He sure knows the importance of a story in a film. Khosla ka ghosla is still my favorite story. And now he has come up with a political thriller, though based on the acclaimed novel. The beauty of the film definitely lies in its awesome story, but there are other things too, to focus upon. The story revolves around a construction project which step by step unearthed the evil plans for its erection. This is one of the few Bollywood films, you ought to watch.

PROS:

The acting by almost all the cast was above average. Abhay deol looked too good as the IAS officer. Imraan haashmi has done a fine job, at least after the image that he has. The art direction definitely needs to be applauded. The locations were apt and the general look and feel was scary and dark at appropriate instances. The sound too was good. Some of the major characters were very nicely developed and analyzed. You are entirely into the film after just 10 minutes.

CONS:

When the film finished I really had the feeling that it wound up quickly. I felt that the second half should have been explored a bit more. There might have been a possibility of around 20 minutes more of the film. In the end everything seemed to happen so quickly that your mind is entirely on the details, but when you suddenly know that the film is going to finish, you want more to be shown on the screen.

MESSAGE: "You cannot always escape."

VERDICT: "A must watch."

Fmovies: "Until and unless you step out of your comfort zone and try something new, no new grounds will be broken, no new films will be launched, no new stars will be discovered, people won't get to see new stories and our industry will not be injected with new blood," director Dibakar Banerjee recently said.

With his latest film – "Shanghai," a political thriller - he appears to be staying true to his words.

With "Shanghai," which releases today, Mr. Banerjee takes an offbeat look at the drama of coalition politics and bureaucracy in India, featuring actors Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi and Kalki Koechlin in lead roles.

Set in a fictional city called Bharatnagar –set to become the "next Shanghai" as a redevelopment project kicks off – the film starts off with the murder of a social activist who had been opposing the project. The film is an adaptation of Greek novel "Z" by writer Vassilis Vassilikos.

A high-ranking bureaucrat, played by Mr. Deol, is put in charge of the investigation and a local videographer, interpreted by Mr. Hashmi, claims to have key evidence to resolve the case.

Mr. Banerjee has for long been synonymous with films that tackle big issues without being  overly preachy. There's the 2006 comedy drama "Khosla Ka Ghosla," about one family's struggle to get their land back from a property shark, or the well-crafted black comedy about a super thief in his 2008 film "Oye Lucky Lucky Oye."  Then, with his 2010 film "Love Sex Aur Dhokha" –shot entirely on a digicam – he turned to the subject of voyeurism, honor killings and sting operations.

I really enjoyed watching this latest Political thrillers like the west since our cinema mostly aims at only entertainment as an escape from the real life. The acting is great, the storyline is well written with adequate character development to let you get emotionally invested. The film is based on Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos' political novel "Z" on which director Costa-Gavras also made his project titled "Z" (French) in 1969, which means "He is Alive" in a symbolic form. But SHANGHAI actually scores much higher than all the earlier political thrillers made in the country mainly due to its subtle and calm treatment of an intense plot which keeps you engrossed especially in its second half.Emraan Hashmi has shown real talent that he is much more capable of apart from smooching leading lady. If you love true cinema, go for SHANGHAI.

Shanghai fmovies. When me and two of my closest friends, me and one of my bros were quite skeptical after reading the trashy review the people are giving on the social networking sites,but had it not been for my other bro, we were inches away from missing probably one of the best Indian cinema made in the last decade.

Taking a detour from every clichés of Indian political cinema, rather Indian cinema , This movie has no melodramatic dialogue, no over the top meaningless item number( imported kamariya does have an importance in the story, not just an added novelty and is presented in a way that we do not get distracted from the movie), no sad songs ( though i would have liked the inclusion of the song Duaa) and the biggest of them all, no ENTERTAINMENT. if you want to watch this on a Sunday evening with the family for entertainment, just forget it. if you want gritty realistic , will make you think type of cinema, your best bet. Good direction , wobbly camera-work, very less makeup , good script, even better execution, and the nest acting by the three leads in a long time.

If you want to be ignorant or want a movie just to let you release mind's pressure, don't come and watch this. cause, Cinema is eventually an art form to let the reality be known in a merge with over the top neo surrealistic situations. and Shanghai completes the first part in excellence

Dibakar Banerjee, Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi. There cannot be any better reason to watch this movie and well, it's worth the expectations. Shanghai, the Desi adaption of Z by Vassilis Vassilikos is a fine thriller.

First things first, you can feel the Dibakar Banerjee style in each and every frame of this around two hour movie. In first ten minutes itself, the culprits are revealed and there is no whodunit feeling in first half, but thanks to brilliantly panned screenplay (courtesy Urmi Juvekar and DB), the tension builds on in a continuum till the climax and climax pays it off.

The power of Shanghai lies in its characters and subplots. Director leaves much upon the imagination of viewers but, still it is amazing to witness such a powerful cinema with a short and simple story. Abhay, Emraan and Kalki play their milestone characters and they play with such an ease that it is impossible to picture any actors in their shoes. Prosenjit Chatterjee, though plays a cameo, makes his presence felt throughout the movie, which is incredible.

Shanghai could have been a loud political thriller with grungy background score and over the top acting, but DB chooses the path less traveled. Like his last three films he chooses his own subtle and proportionately dramatic storytelling that makes it a standalone from clichéd and crass political thrillers. In order to keep the intensity of such a mature subject, Dibakar has deliberately avoided soulful songs like Khudaya and Dua, and placed situational tracks like Bharat Mata Ki and Imported Kamariya, which is a courageous effort.

The negatives? First half takes a bit more of time to create the situations and subplots making the movie a bit drag occasionally. Apart from this, I can't find out any other loopholes in this movie.

Watch it or not? If you are a fan of "the real powerful cinema", do go for it.

Shanghai is a delight from head to toe. Dibakar Banerjee is without a doubt my favourite bollywood director of recent times. Already it's a hell of a job matching the standards of LSD, Oye Lucky and Khosla still he manages to pull off a gritty tale with such panache which compels me to compare him with the Hollywood great Quentin Tarantino. The city of Bharat Nagar is about to have a turn of fate as the ruling government tries to convert it into an infrastructure marvel but then there's a proclaimed personnel and social activist Aahmedi played by Bengal's very own Prosenjit Chatterjee. But the ruling party has other plans for him as he is brutally injured in a hit and run case which leaves Shalini(Kalki Koechlin) to fight it out to the find the truth behind the proclaimed accident. Imran Hashmi plays Joginder Parmar who's a videographer come pornographer who has some evidence that might help things fall into place for Aahmedi. The real kick comes when Krishnan(Abhay Deol) in given the responsibility to find out the truth. What works for Shanghai is that even though so much is going around all the time there is this definite attention given to each and every detail that you are just kept glued to the screen. Plus there is the fine twist in the end as well. The scenes without any background score, a Dibakar Banerjee trend I suppose, the gritty yet amicable screenplay everything is I personally love. You actually can feel through the scenes as they pass.

The performances are exceptional be it Abhay Deol, Kalki or even Hashmi as he steps inside shoes which one would never consider to fit him. But then that's the sheer genius of Dibakar Banerjee. Still though call me greedy I expected a little tiny bit more drama. But then nothing is perfect. After 'Kahaani' it is in my opinion the second best movie I have set my eyes upon in 2012. Take A Bow Mr.Director!