'Shaitan' could have been a cult film. Sadly, it isn't.
Directed by Bijoy Nambiar, and presented by Anurag Kashyap, 'Shaitan' had plenty of promise to become the hard-hitting,
gritty thriller that it seemed to be from the quirky promos and
the music videos that had been airing on telly,
but the film does not live up to the expectations.
The devil-may-care attitude of the young and the restless
The devil-may-care attitude of the young and the restless needed to be showcased with far greater impact.
Dance of the Devil is what I had expected,
Dance of the Devil is what I had expected, the madness was palpable in the teasers, the film
was supposed to be trippy and irreverent......
however, in reality, the devil dances only for a brief while.......
the trip was tapered and tame.
Shiv Pandit, Kalki Koechlin, Neil Bhoopalam, Rajiv Khandelwal were quite impressive, and more than the other members of the prime cast.
But the one who shines fantastically, in a small role, is Raj Kumar Yadav. I also loved the delightful cameo by Rajat Barmecha. His segment in itself is superior compared to the entire film.
Shiv Pandit, Kalki Koechlin, Neil Bhoopalam, Rajiv Khandelwal were quite impressive, and more than the other members of the prime cast. 
But the one who shines fantastically, in a small role, is Raj Kumar Yadav. I also loved the delightful cameo by Rajat Barmecha. His segment in itself is superior compared to the entire film.
Directed by Bijoy Nambiar, and presented by Anurag Kashyap, 'Shaitan' had plenty of promise to become the hard-hitting, gritty thriller that it seemed to be from the quirky promos and the music videos that had been airing on telly, but the film does not live up to the expectations.
One expects quality work whenever the name of Anurag Kashyap features in the credit rolls, and the director though a first-timer had generated enough buzz when he had won a film-making reality show on telly, plus the rave reviews that were being publicized on social networking sites much before the commercial release made me a bit too hopeful about this new film.
I do not deny that there is some amount of newness, the fresh cast mostly delivers a top-notch performance, the visuals are absolutely brilliant, the musical score is pulsating, and the energetic & raw appeal often reaches a crescendo.
Yet, the film falters badly, far too often. Maybe it had tried to hard to walk along a tightrope, trying to impress and trying to go overboard in terms of technique and stylized narration with an otherwise simple morality tale.
Maybe the makers have tried to hard to walk along a tightrope, trying to impress and going overboard in terms of technique and stylized narration with an otherwise simple morality tale.
The over-indulgence in the script weighs it down to the detriment of the final product.
I sincerely hope, the talented director gets noticed - in fact, he already has garnered much interest in the film fraternity - and may he come up with excellent films in the near future.
3 comments:
I think the film had too many repetitive sequences, plus an uneven feel. While the first half was exciting, with some bits assembled like a music video, the latter half had dramatic bits which came unstuck. Some scenes were reality-driven, a few were of the surreal kind, but some fell flat as there was an attempt to skim the borders of melodrama. I liked Rajeev's cop act, though his hair had continuity problems (the same with the frame of specs worn by Neil).
For me, the movie was a letdown because it was just an age-old morality tale with some new wrapping and packaging. It was kind of a cross between a Ram Gopal Varma film and a Mahesh Bhatt film.
The film fell flat after the first half an hour or so.
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