Shagird

Cast: Nana Patekar, Anurag Kashyap, Mohit Alawat, Rimi Sen

Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia

Genre: Action

Plot:

Writer: Tigmanshu Dhulia

Soundtrack: The score and songs for the movie are composed by Abhishek Ray.

All about the movie: Shagird sees writer-director Anurag Kashyap honing his acting skills. Shagird is the third movie after James and Shiva, which will have Mohit Alawat acting as a cop.

Hanumant Singh (Nana Patekar) is a corrupt police officer, who tries to fool corrupt minister Rajmani Singh (Zakir Hussain) into giving him Rs. 15 crore. He uses underworld don Bunty Bhaiya (Anurag Kashyap) to reach his goal. Mohit (Mohit Ahlawat) is Hanumant Singh’s protégé. Read the review of Shagird for more.

Business rating: 1 star

Star cast: Nana Patekar, Mohit Ahlawat, Zakir Hussain, Anurag Kashyap, Rimi Sen.

What’s Good: The interesting twists and turns in the script; the extraordinary dialogues; comic punches; performances of the stars.

What’s Bad: The confusing screenplay; the routine nature of the subject; poor music.

Verdict: Shagird is a well-made film but it will sink at the box-office.

Loo break: At a couple of places.

Watch or Not?: Watch it for the performances and the fun-filled dialogues but don’t expect anything more.

Reliance Entertainment and Faizee Production’s Shagird (A) is about the police-underworld-politician nexus. Hanumant Singh (Nana Patekar) is a corrupt police officer who is close to minister Rajmani Singh (Zakir Hussain). He takes new recruit Mohit (Mohit Ahlawat) under his wings and tries to induct him into the world of corruption but Mohit is principled and does not want to partake in Hanumant Singh’s corrupt activities. Bunty Bhaiya (Anurag Kashyap) is a don who has been arrested by the police. Bunty Bhaiya, who is also close to Rajmani Singh, pleads with him to get him set free.

Mohit is in love with Varsha Mathur (Rimi Sen) who is a television journalist working for a channel. One day, a dreaded terrorist agrees to meet three journalists including Varsha, for an interview. The three journalists are thrilled that they are going to get a scoop of a story and head to the pre-decided destination. Instead of an interview, they are held captive there and in return for their freedom, the terrorist demands that Bunty Bhaiya and two other terrorists be released from jail. Hanumant Singh secures the freedom of Varsha and a foreign journalist in return for setting Bunty Bhaiya and the two terrorists free. The third journalist (Murali Sharma) gets killed at the hands of the terrorist.

Anyway, Hanumant Singh immediately takes Bunty Bhaiya into captivity to blackmail Rajmani Singh to give Rs. 15 crore. Although it appears that Rs. 15 crore is the price for keeping Bunty Bhaiya’s mouth shut about Rajmani Singh’s nefarious activities, it is actually Hanumant Singh who wants the money so that he can send the same to New Zealand where he has already sent his wife (Kishori Shahane-Vij) and their little son and where he, too, wants to settle shortly, after quitting his job.

Then begins a game of double-crossing. Does Rajmani Singh agree to pay up? Does Hanumant Singh get the money? Does he reach New Zealand? Does Bunty Bhaiya agree to be part of Hanumant Singh’s deal? What is Mohit’s role in this drama? The pre-climax and climax have the answers to all these questions as new equations and relationships emerge.

Shagird Review – Script Analysis

Tigmanshu Dhulia and Kamal Pandey’s story is interesting and their screenplay has plenty of twists and turns. But the unfortunate part is that there are so many twists and turns that it does get confusing for the masses although the classes would be able to follow the drama better. However, the action thriller is basically a mass film rather than for the classes or the multiplex audience.

The entire track of the journalists being held captive and the suspense behind the captivity drama, when revealed, look contrived and too round-and-about so that the audience gets the feeling that a simpler approach could’ve led to the same conclusion. Another minus point of the drama is that the viewer does not know with whom his sympathy should lie as each time a new twist or turn is revealed, it emerges that the person with whom he was sympathising is not worth the sympathy.

Dialogues (by Tigmanshu Dhulia and Kamal Pandey) are extraordinary and full of punch-lines.

Shagird Review – Performances & Direction

Nana Patekar shines in a role that seems to have been written for him. He is excellent with his dialogues and evokes laughter at a number of places with his typical dialogue-delivery. Mohit Ahlawat gives a restrained performance and does the fullest justice to his role. Rimi Sen is natural. Zakir Hussain is splendid as the wily politician and deserves distinction marks for a great show. Anurag Kashyap is pretty effective. Vishwajit Pradhan makes his presence felt. Sitaram Panchal is very good as Panditji. Murali Sharma, Khan Jehangir Khan (as police officer Shamsher Singh) and the others lend able support.

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s direction is appropriate to the script. His narrative style keeps the audience engrossed completely. However, having said that, it must be added that the confusing script appeals more to the classes than the masses but the film, its genre, subject etc. would hold more appeal for the masses. In fact, the excessive violence and gore would not go down too well with the classes and the multiplex-going audience but, unfortunately, that’s (multiplexes) where a good chunk of the revenue comes from. Abbas Ali Moghul’s action and stunts are good. Cinematography, by Yogesh Jani, is quite nice. Music (Abhishek Ray) is functional. Editing (by Pravin Angre) is sharp.

Shagird Review – Komal Nahta’s Verdict

On the whole, Shagird may be a well-made film but it has several things going against it – lack of face value (Nana Patekar alone doesn’t sell), dated look, lack of promotion, dull title and horrifyingly poor initial. It will, therefore, sink at the box-office without a trace.