Shaitan

We all have some inner demons which we keep suppressing inside us. Some of us succeed and some of us don't. Shaitan, the movie, is also a tale of some entities fighting their inner demons while they are involved in a web of events that unfold as a result of a self-inflicted horror on their lives. Shaitan is a contemporary cinematic experience that explores the dark sides of humans belonging to different backgrounds.

It's difficult to draw parallels of Shaitan with movies we have seen before. A road accident ala 'I Know What You Did Last Summer', a young girl staging her own kidnapping ala 'Khiladi' and wild youth ala 'Rung De Basanti' maybe, but that's all there is in comparisons. When the debutant director Bijoy Nambiar combines these stories with other intriguing elements of Shaitan, they become a completely innovative experience never told to the Indian audience before. Luckily, Shaitan does not rely solely on these events. It offers much more to the audience in story and not just story, it simply excels in other departments too. It does have some gruesome details of torture and substance abuse, hence, the A certificate, but it's definitely not a Rakht Charitra. At times, it even got the audience into fits of laughter.

Kalki, as Amy, is a mother-less teenaged daughter of a rich engineer, who despises her step mother. She befriends a gang of outrageous youth and together with them gets involved in a crime. Enter Rajiv Khandelwal (Aamir and Sujal Garewal fame) as the belligerent, underpaid, hard-hitting cop who is also going through troubled marriage. It's a gripping story that has been told very well. By far the best work in 2011. Bijoy drives straight from Mani Ratnam way of film making. Authentic and intense.

Shaitan features the group of youngsters as the main cast; however, it never expects the audience to sympathize with them. The treatment and screenplay is spellbinding right from the introduction of the cast. The film is very strong on technical grounds. Madhi has done a phenomenal job with the camera. Watch out for the scenes in the church, views from inside a beer bottle from the center of a cricket bat etc. Sound design and Kunal Shamra's background scores are simply brilliant. 'O Yaara' is a beautiful song. 'Hawa Hawaii' of Mister India has been featured in a unique way but good old 'Khoya Khoya Chand' on a gun fight sequence is just mind blowing. That gun fight sequence itself is the best part of the entire film and something that has never shown in Hindi cinema before.

On performances, Shaitan a power house. Kalki steals the show with her genuine portrayal of a disturbed child. She is unbelievably good in drugs scenes and in her portrayals of insensitivity. Rajiv is not far behind either, although, his role is lesser than Kalki's. Kashyap and Binoy have gathered a wonderful ensemble cast for this project. Pawan Malhotra, Shiv Pandit, Gulshan Devaiya and Neil Bhoopalam etc. have done their respective jobs with sincerity. Nitin of MTV is a pleasant surprise. The actress playing a cameo as the divorce lawyer in the court scene is remarkable.

The film does have some low points which could have been handled in a better way. The repetitive emergence of Kalki's mother's sequence could have been avoided at some places. It was overdone and not explained well, although shot with utmost appetizing camera work. Kirti Kulhari who plays young actress in the group could have done a better job. Even her character towards the second half, lacks the intensity it showed in the beginning sequences. The humor sequence of an informer's Nikah was unnecessary. The reason why Rajiv and his wife are having troubled marriage has not been explained. These things have little impact on the overall film and story but could have improved it further.

Anurag would not cast a KHAN in his productions and will probably never sign up Pritam for the music. Kashyap brand of Indian cinema will always be unique but is also expected to have a limited audience. He experimented with a debutant director for Udaan and created a masterpiece. He has almost done it again with another debutant director Bijoy and has created another modern day classic. Anurag has little left to prove to the world that he can make beautiful films. What he does still need is to prove is that his films can do wonders on the box office. Shaitan, is a colossal attempt, however, it's still unlikely to set box-office ablaze. Watch it before it's off the cinemas already.

Anurag Kashyap .... yes.. that's the name everyone looks before going to watch a movie which has new actors, director, music directors, weird movie title (every body expects the title "Shaitan" to be associated with a horror one). And Anurag did it again by just being a produce. Its like "the MIDAS touch".

First, i was never going to watch this movie, but just gave a shot coz i am a huge fan of Anurag Kashyap. And.. taddaa ! I was not disappointed, even though the director is Bijoy Nambiar.

About Direction - Nambiar has his own style, can say the Guy Ritchie of Bollywood. Super slow motion, more involvement of camera as a character, fast paced flash backs, witty narration and good background music.

About actors - Really believable.. 'that's what is required in a movie'. Most of the lead actors were new ,but were well seasoned campaigners from the TV channels. Rajiv Khandelwal's role was very impact full, so was all the support actors.

About Music - Perfect ! just fitted the movie. It was just a character of the movie. Am really upset and wondering that ... y the songs.. "Khoya khoya chand and Hawa hawai" is not there in the OST? :(

About the Movie - Its the best Bollywood has to offer after "3 Idiots". Its... stylish, has good action, acting, music and its a zero VFX movie. The whole movie is real in its look (the roads, buildings, character, story). We can relate it to our own daily life routine. That's where the movie scores its mark. And above the all.. you can OR just watch this movie in theater... simply superb ! for its action, music, run chase, super slow mo scenes.

Aaah ! Shaitan ......

I learned about this movie couple of weeks ago through a facebook page. The storyline caught my attention and decided to watch it.and am glad i did.It is dark,dramatic and a bit of humor.I had to mention humor because it wasn't like those comedy scenes that you find in other Bollywood films.It made sense and that went with the story.'Shaitan' is realistic in every sense.

Movie has five main characters and the whole story revolves around the 'events' that they did.It shows the life of 5 young friends who is living life like hell.They drink,they shop lift,they fool around,pretty much everything that makes you feel alive.But a bit too much adrenalin rush followed by some unwise decisions turns their life around.

I absolutely loved the cast.Especially Kalki Koechlin and Rajeev Khandelwal.The direction was different and amusing.Although it was directed by Bejoy Nambiar, one can really see the hands of Anurag Kashyap behind this film.Its also said that this is an upgraded version of Kashyap's 'Paanch' which actually has to go through a lot of trouble with the sensor boards because 'it was too dark'.'Shaitan' has everything that i love in a movie.and i am so glad that they didn't destroy it with the cheesy songs and dances.I expect to watch more like these from Bollywood. Such movies can create a respectful place for Bollywood In Indian Cineam.

Ohh.. What a day yesterday, I had few tight sales meetings with the customers and was running between locals, auto and taxis across Mumbai. Also, it was raining heavily and I regretted not carrying an umbrella as I got drenched in rain and reached home by 9.30 pm. Back home , I badly wanted to refresh my mind from the day's events and decided to go for Shaitan, night 10.15 show and it turned out to be a perfect decision to wind myself from work and enjoy the time. Well, Shaitan opens up with Kalki Koechlin as Amy meeting Gulshan Devaiya as KC in a party. KC is a rich industrialist son and have 3 other friends – a struggling actress played by Kirti Kulhari , a sex obsessed computer geek Parsi played by Neil Bhopalam and a restaurant waiter cum drug peddler played by Shiv Pandit. Amy who had a tough childhood and has traits of mental disturbance becomes friends with these four characters and here starts the event of being naughty, being evil, being wrong but right in their own terms Their adventures and mischief's finally lands them in a trouble one fine Mumbai night when they accidentally run their Hummer over two scooter riders while flying high on speed and drugs. They try to forget it when a corrupt cop approaches them and asks them for 25 Lacs bribe to shut the case. These young kids don't want to go to their parents for certain reasons and plans the fake kidnapping of Amy. This brings in the entry of an honest but a very aggressive police officer Rajeev Khandelwal who is given the charge to solve this high profile kidnapping case and rest is what follows is a series of gripping incidents. The direction by debutant Bejoy Nambiar is really good. The way the events are created in the movie matching with real life incidents are the some of the best moments of the movie. There is one shot of gun fight battle between the cop and underworld agents in a chawl amidst the attempted rape of one of the friends and a dead body of a German tourist with "Khoya Khoya Chand" remixed version being played in the background. This scene is so well crafted and the screen play is mind boggling and is one the finest shots in the recent Hindi cinema. The song "Fareeda" which often plays in the background after the second half gives the pace to the movie and keeps you on your seats, if ever you feel too much violence and dark events. The only time the movie makes you feel boring is few sequences when Amy remembers her mother quite often. Rajeev Khandelwal as a tough cop makes his statement that he is such a fine actor and his talent is still unutilized by the industry. All the other actors have also played their role well. I can say that this is an out and out a Director's cut and kudos the debutant Bejoy Nambiar , who had assisted Maniratnam in Guru as he lives up to the expectations from an Anurag Kashyap's production. Go and watch Shaitan because it's dark and bitter but yet gripping and you will like it if you are not only an emotional drama lover and like watching different genre.

The movie as I guessed earlier, is a revamped version of Anurag Kashyap directorial debut (which is still in the claws of Indian Censor Board) "Paanch" starring Kay Kay Menon.And now after almost a decade of his first yet unreleased movie, Anurag Kashyap producing this movie and getting it through the censor board without any cuts is a good slam to the Indian Censor Board. Clearly the movie is more intense and dark than Paanch. The movie is a way more profane with mild to severe abuses, implicit sex and nudity, and explicit violent scenes. And yet the movie has passed without a cut (showing a fact that censorship has improved a lot).

The movie is almost perfect on cinematic aspects. Casting and Direction is flawless.Cinematography is something best I have seen so far. Every scene is shot in the ultra stylish way leading to a brilliant story telling.Music and background score adds a new dimension to the movie.

First half of the movie is extremely engaging and entertaining, the second half lacks a bit by predictable turns and twists.

All the subplots of the movie like their characters are very strong take it as subtle love story of Rajeev Khandelwal (So graceful on the screen) or the one with Amy's mother, every character has its own story to tell and they tell it in their own ultra stylish way.

The "Shubhu" cameo (By someone who has done commendable job in AK's last produced movie) and Nikhil Chinnapa add the surprise factor to the movie.

Yet again a brilliant piece of cinema by Anurag Kashyap Production and kudos to Bijoy Nambiar.