Review: Shanghai

It all started years back when our honorable chief minister declared that he wanted to turn Mumbai into Shanghai, a world class city. Soon the vision was ridiculed by the media and later by the city. Till date, The city's infrastructure is in an apathetic condition, let alone transforming the city into a world class one.

Dibakar Banerjee successfully picks up that theme and projects it on the silver screen. He goes further in conveying when dreams are envisioned by our political clad, what it takes to make it successful and how far they can go to achieve it.

The movie starts with local goons’ planning of assassinating an activist who is opposing a mega-scale slum redevelopment plan. The movie then takes us through a journey on how political and bureaucratic people control situations involving 3 protagonists and ends as a thriller that leaves a smile on the audience's face along with a sense of relief; finally it’s over!

Both lead actors in the past have stuck to singular style of their own; in Shanghai they rediscovered their versatility.

Prosenjit Chatterjee, an acclaimed actor from West Bengal, has already made a mark in Bollywood with "Chokher Bali". He could've had a larger role in the film but the given part didn't do justice to his capabilities as an artist. Thus, the 3 protagonists got the chance to light up the screen with a fine performance.

Abhay Deol, who has mostly portrayed a Delhiite in his past flicks for a change plays a South Indian high ranking bureaucrat. He justifies his character by adopting the accent which is charmingly delivered.

The director plays it safe by being tight with kalki koechlin's dialogues but as usual she managed to give a powerful performance by emoting her feelings through her expressive face.

Emran Hashmi plays an interesting character who is a photographer by day and a pornography cameraman by night. He has gradually broken out of his shell with the roles he has recently picked up and has been doing an excellent job with them. In shanghai he steals the show with his hatke performance that is sure going to be appreciated by all. In fact Emran is the character who gives us comedic moments in this serious political thriller that make you smile.

The story is hard hitting and thought provoking and matches with the current scenarios of Indian politics. Music is okay, with 2 songs already received well by audiences across the nation.

Dibakar Banerjee is sure to get critical acclaim.

At the end, this movie exercised the versatility of each actor. If you are a fan of serious political dramas, then this movie is for you, but if you are looking for a typical masala flick, you can afford to miss it or rather catch it up on the World Television Premiere ;)