Naam Shabana

A spin-off of the 2015 film Baby, 'Naam Shabana' is a mostly crisp & decent action film, that rises on the strength of Taapsee Pannu's heroic performance. The usually under-utilized actress is kick-ass in titular role & offers the much needed punch to the proceedings.

'Naam Shabana' Synopsis: Shabana teams up with Indian Agents to take down her boyfriend's murderers & an international arms dealer.

'Naam Shabana' has an engaging first-hour, where Shabana's turn from a simpleton to a vengeful young-blood offers sharpness. The second-hour is a bit less engaging, but things remain crisp. In fact, the first-hour is more about Shabana's origin & why she turns into an Indian spy, while the second-hour focuses more on a conniving international arms dealer (Prithviraj Sukumaran), who Shabana is assigned to take down. I wish the Writing remained strong in the second-hour, as there was genuine potential here. Nevertheless, the film is consistently watchable.

Neeraj Pandey's Screenplay has a winning first-hour, but an ordinary second. Shivam Nair's Direction is sleek. Cinematography is well-done. Editing remains to the point. Art & Costume Design are fine. Action-Sequences are sharply choreographed.

Performance-Wise: Taapsee, it is! The actress is in top-form here, delivering her best performance in a Hindi film to date. Also, her skill for action/stunts, is commendable. Of the rest of the cast, the ever-reliable Manoj Bajpayee scores, while Akshay Kumar has a blast in a strong supporting role. Prithviraj Sukumaran is okay as the villain, while Shiva Dagar leaves a mark.

On the whole, 'Naam Shabana' is a showcase of Taapsee's talent. Watch it for her, if nothing else.

A very weak movie by Neeraj Pandey. Had high hopes from him before going for this one, after what he has delivered in the past - Baby, Special 26 & A Wednesday. It seems that the makers just wanted to earn a little more money with help of Baby's fame. Very loose script. Really bad acting by Tapsee Pannu. Reused the characters of Baby, but none of them getting any screen presence except Akshay.

Before watching this movie, i was kinda expecting too much, may b just on the level of baby. Starting from love scene, the serious tragic emotion on her face, her brave girl show off, her crying, etc. all seems like as if she was trying too much to go in that character but still failing to get it along. While watching i was kind of bored until Akshay comes on. That can be said as the relief for the guys. She looked good as a sidekick of Akshay but as lead she completely ruins it. One more thing to point out that lead actress life was extended too much before starting the real story. At last i can only say while watching i never felt connected to her character at all from starting. And ya at last she looked completely as a novice in Kungfu or whatever form of fight it was. Her stances, her moves seems nothing like the character she was playing. A simple tip: Songs weren't required. Some training would have helped her a lot. If she would have got some muscles etc while going through training in the movie, it would have been a plus point.

Worth watching for Taapsee. She looked perfect for the role (9/10). Prithviraj is ok. Akshay bad. Script has too many loose ends. Movie not as good as Baby.

I like these kind of movies where they take a character and try to build upon that. The character played by Tapsee seems to be tailor made for her, and she does full justice to it. I agree there are songs in the movie which could have been just edited away as the pace of the movie is quite good and keeps you interested and you are left off with the feeling, what the heck are the songs doing here.

was hoping for more acting from the character portrayed by Pritviraj, but that again seems to be hurried

Overall a good one time watch. Hope they don't make another one named 'Naam Om Prakash Shukla' :)