This was my most anticipated movie of the year and i had huge expectations with it. I loved all the hype around it which made me want to see it even more. And i must admit that I was not disappointed. Although, i agree that hype was a bit too much.
GOW starts in style with bullets pouring all over and takes the aid of flashback for rest of the story. At first impression, it seems a movie tailored for Manoj Bajpai who steals the show from some really great artists present in the movie with Tigmanshu Dhulia of Paan Singh Tomar as the baddest of all.
Plot is quite lengthy, confusing and involves number of characters. I was literally struggling to keep up with the names. Manoj Bajpai's character is an elaborate one, which is exteremly calm or even cheerful when he kills, scared when with wife, a great philander, perservant and stylish with villains. He hits the target bang on. Richa Chaddha did her job fine, Piyush Mishra's voice as a narrator does have an impact with others also portraying some challenging characters really well. Movie works great because stellar story telling of this confusing plot in a rather easy way. Anurag presents us with really innovative direction sequences and great crude dialogues. Camera work is just superb. I am big fan of background score in Anurag's movies and he did a great job again. Most of the songs are situational and do help complementing the environment and mindset the movie is trying to create. Jiyo Re Bihar Ke Lala is the climax song for part 1 that surely deserves an applause.
Despite all its positives, Dev D and Gulaal are stiil my favorites. Part 1 seems really long and the movie is yet to provide anything that audience can take away. Nonetheless, i have equally higher expectations from part 2. By the way Gangs of Wasseypur part 2 trailer blew me away. Oh! haven't you seen it? Remember to see that at the end of credits :).
I totally respect Dibakar as an artist and a realist who has made couple of great movies. Therefore, I went in to see the movie with huge expectations but I guess I didn't like it very much. From LSD, I could sense that Dibakar's filmmaking is drifting towards an entirely different style which Bollywood has not seen so far. I guess it was a right thing to with LSD as it surely creates an impact on the social issues we are facing today.
However, Shanghai is a thriller which runs in one of the most abused genre in Bollywood i.e. politics. But for me, Shanghai seems a political drama that fails to create any thrill. It remains very much predictable throughout the 120 minute runtime. It relies on a raw, documentary style of filmmaking( but there is surely a step back from what LSD was). Shanghai moves at its own constant slow speed throughout and does not even tries to arouse the curiosity of audience. Redundant street setting with fireworks, music and was also at point boring.
I liked the music by Vishal and Shekhar. Bharat mata has become one of my favourites and Imported Kamaria isn’t bad either. But Where is background Score? I totally missed that and that is why I call it more of a documentary-like. I love how Anurag Kashyap plays with background score and I also loved how Oye Lucky Lucky Oye was made.
I would say it is not for all, not really a commercial cinema. Even then Shanghai remains watchable because of superb acting by the cast. Anyone in the film shies away from dialogues but when it happens you know that Dibakar has done a fabulous job with screenplay.
Overall, Shanghai tries to meddle with documentary style of filmmaking without raising any social issue, while commercially it is unexciting slow mover which is saved by great dialogues and scintillating acting.
