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.
