Shiva

Shiva review:

After Jalal Agha's Goonj (1989), it was Ram Gopal Varma's Shiva which highlighted the violent student politics of that time. This was RGV's debut in Bollywood and the director hit a six off the first ball...or should I say delivered a knockout sock!!

This was probably the first time when the punches delivered by Nagarjuna appeared real instead of the usual fake sounding "dhishoom bhishoom". Nag was Shiva, a hot headed student, who gets on the wrong side of the local gangster Bhavani (Raghuvaran, brilliant) after he stands for college elections against his candidate JD (Chakravarthy of Satya).

RGV's execution is rooted in reality and I loved the way he handled the action scenes. The cycle chain sequence became extremely popular and became a style statement of sorts for rowdies. "Botany chodenge matinee dekhenge" composed by Ilaiya Raja caught up in college campuses across India.

Shiva released at Metro Cinema, Mumbai in its first week after which it went on to celebrate silver jubilee at Minerva in matinee shows. The 4 track stereophonic sound at Minerva was said to give a spectacular viewing experience to the audience specially during the 'maara maari' sequences. Crash boom bang!! Shiva was real. Shiva was unique. Shiva was mind blowing. Kudos RGV!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.