Sunday 8 February 2015

SHAMITABH- The SH & Amitabh make for a good mixing & an intresting watch!!

In an industry which  dishes out mostly masala brainless commercial potboilers which mint money globally, there were few directors in Bollywood who have their own creative zone and originality in their thinking and film making style. One such  exponent of  such a  director who  has created his own style is R Balki  who has previously directed critically acclaimed films such as Paa &  Cheeni Kum.  

R Balki is back  with his latest directorial venture  'Shamitabh'  starring Balki's  favourite  Amitabh Bacchan & Dhanush as the main protagonists. Kamal Haasan's  youngest daughter Akshara  Haasan makes her acting  debut with this film.  Has R Balki been able to continue his good run post Paa & Cheeni Kum with this film?











Here's my analysis of the film:

The Plot

The film is based on Danish( Dhanush) a poor slum dweller in interior Maharashtra who is fascinated by films right from small age and who imitates the style of the actors he sees in theaters. And he harbors dreams of  becoming a big star in Bollywood by going to Mumbai. But the problem is  that Danish is mute and deaf. So that is a big hurdle in him achieving his dream.


Then enters Akshara who is an Assistant Director  working for a famous director who spots immense talent in Danish's acting skills and decides to help him out. But after facing many rejections they realise that without a voice Danish can'not become a star. So they both decide to find a voice for  him which can make him fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a star.

That voice happens to be of Amitabh's o is a grumpy old man who has seen lot of failures in his life because of his voice and who takes support of whisky to  sooth his pain. The main plot of this film is how Danish & Akshara convince Amitabh to provide voice to  Danish and  thus the creation of  the screen name Shamitabh.  The ego clashes between the two main protagonists and how Akshara  tries to play the mediator between these two characters forms the crux of the plot.

Strengths

The  uniqueness of  the storyline is big strength for this film. Such a story has not been witnessed in the recent past. R Balki is known for  bringing  originality in his storytelling and  he  achieves that through Shamitabh as well. The plot is original and fresh.


The  performances from both Dhanush &  teh veteran Amitabh Bacchan deserves a mention. Dhanush  potrays the deaf and mute character with complete aplomb. He breathes full life into his character and proving to the world as to how talented an actor he is.  Other southern actors like Suriya( Raktha Charithra)  &  Vikram( David & Raavan) have tested  failures in Bollywood despite giving good performances but  Dhanush with Ranjhaana captured the attention of the Hindi  film audiences  and with his role as Danish in Shamitabh is sure to establish himself firmly  in  Bollywood.  Kudos to his outstanding performance. He has  outperformed  Amitabh  Bacchan  which is a big achievement.


Here below is a glimpse of the confrontation between  Dhanush & Amitabh  in this film. A very  nice scene showcasing both their talents very well.



As wine gets better with age, so does Amitabh  Bacchan.   He  exceeds expectations of  film going audiences every time he acts in a film. His dedication for a film is something all actors nust learn from him for sure.  Amitabh  completely immerses himself as the drunkard and looser part with complete  affluence and ease. His grumpy attitude and  rugged hairstyle really suited the role perfectly.  And  Balki  has  fabulously  has paid a tribute of sorts to Amitji's  strong  baritone through this film.  As the voice of the upcoming star Shamitabh,  Amitji delivers a superb performance. His performance in the climax especially is worth mentioning.

Akshara Haasan  definetly delivers a noticeable performance despite debuting with such fine performers like Dhanush & Amitabh.

Weaknesses

The screenplay of this film is not as strong as it was in R Balki's previous films. The editing was not upto the mark. The second half could have been trimmed by 15-20 minutes to make it an even better and tighter film. The ego clash or war between the two protagonists is the main aspect of this film and that was not shown that  well.  It could have been portrayed better.  The music by  Illayaraja is a big disappointment. Although  the background score was good throughout the songs lacked imagination and picturisation of the songs also wasn't that nice. The songs were not required for such a film and the song placement can be questioned.



Final Verdict

Shamitabh  should definetly be seen to witness the acting prowess of  Amitabh Bacchan &  Dhanush.  The unique storyline and  the strong performances from the lead actors make this a good watch. Although compared to Paa & Cheeni Kum this film falls short on execution.


Rating:  3.25/5



2 comments:

  1. Good review.Dhanush has matched BigB in performance.

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    1. Yes I completly agree with you on that.!! Dhanush is a fine versatile actor whose facial expressions and gestures spoke louder than words!!

      A perfect example for the fact that Actions speak louder than words!!

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