Shaque is a little-known thriller, but a very good one. The film boasts of some very good production values - it is technically very good and the setting is really impressive for the times. Aruna Raje and her then-husband Vikas Desai are the film's directors, and they did a very good job. Shaque is quite ahead of its time in terms of camera, cinematography, and indeed, the writing. The script was evidently very carefully written, and it is really well brought out on screen, with some very impressive attention to detail. The film is portrayed rather realistically, both in dialogue, which is very natural, the sets which give the film a lifelike aura, and in its everyday routine - the dinners, the conversations in bed, the wife cooking in the kitchen for a good few minutes, and just the relationship between the husband and wife, and their kid, which is very convincing, whether they drop him at school or go fishing together. All these, along with the overall authenticity of the proceedings, make the suspense really work, which is only aided by the way the story develops and its twists unfold. Even the songs are kept in the background and don't show up out of nowhere for a racy dance number. The film thus manages to be really gripping at some points and rather unpredictable.
The actors are exceedingly good. Vinod Khanna is excellent as the husband, but the film belongs to Shabana Azmi, who is wonderful as the conflicted and confused wife who loves her husband but at the same time not totally convinced of his innocence. It's noteworthy that even within mainstream cinema she knew which films to pick, as this one is clearly a middle-of-the-road sort of fare, and a very good one at that. Khanna and Azmi form a great couple, as seen in many other films where their chemistry is just great. Here they contribute to the film's successful depiction of suspicion and mystery, but they also manage to give their pairing a striking sense of regularity, which is seen through their every interaction, their little moments, and then their ups and downs, which makes them like practically every normal couple and, in turn, makes the film more than just a thriller, but also a commentary on relationships, which more than one could expect from films of this sort. Towards the end the film does veer into mess, but even then it is better than the usual fare. Shaque has style and suspense and it indeed works as a thriller but also as a credible drama - a very good film for its time which is worth watching today. Recommended.
