Kasam yeh khai hai..Seher nahi..Shanghai Hai

“Kasam yeh khai hai..Seher nahi..Shanghai Hai !!” And with this war cry (of sorts!), Dibakar Banerjee welcomes the viewer to a world of chaos yet believable, full of characters who swear that India shining is just a stones’ throwaway. Based on the greek novel Z, which incidentally was the war cry of the Greeks in the original masterpiece, is a homage to the political conspiracies which surrounds us, in todays’ India. Armed with a tight storyline and wonderful actors, Dibakar reaches a level, where the viewer gasps for more of this potboiler. The best thing about Shanghai is small touches of small town india, laced with large dollops of tongue-in-cheek homour. Certain scenes are bound to take the viewers’ notice such as the scene in the toilet, where Emraan starts a conversation with Abhay, wondering about the hygienic sense of foreigners (Kalki in this case !) and how all of them are spies !! Though it’s well casted, rather super casted with fabulous actors, a special mention goes to the oriya actor Pitobash Tripathy,the veteran Farouqe Sheikh and Prosenjit Chatterjee. Pitobash oozes confidence while performing the character of an opportunistic man. Farouqe Sheikh reminds us how powerful actor he can be and the viewer reminiscences about his ‘Tumhaari Amrita’ days. Prosenjit gives a wonderful performance and it can be safely said that post “Autograph” and “22she Srabon”, the Bengali film industry is looking towards its new Mahanayok ( No offence to the original Mahanayok!!) But the stars of the movie are its male leads. Abhay deol is in his favourite arena, the thinking man’s cinema and he makes the viewer eat out of his hands, through his master portrayal of a no nonsense IAS officer. A shout out goes to the Emraan detractors as he shows them what he can be, if provided with a good director and wonderfully etched character. He’s an revelation, in this ensemble cast and constantly surprises the viewer with his I-give-a-damn attitude but slowly becoming the flag bearer of this saga. Brilliantly shot and well written, Shanghai defines todays’ India in a single line, “Sone ki chidiya, Dengue, Malaria..gud bhi hai, gobar bhi..Bharat Mata ki Jai !!!!” Must Watch !!