Keyur Seta
Mumbai, 13 Jul 2017 11:17 IST
The major issue with director Onir's Shab is the writing as it falters at the screenplay level.
Big metros have a magnetic effect over people from small towns or villages. There's a perception, and rightly so, that cities give hope when it comes to making it big professionally, especially in the glamour world. But city life can be cruel too and has its own disadvantages. This theme has been explored a number of times in Hindi cinema. Madhur Bhandarkar has been a regular exponent of this genre.
Director Onir’s Shab is also based on the same theme. The film has an interesting premise, but it still fails to make an impact for a number of reasons.
The story takes place in Delhi of today’s era. Mohan (Ashish Bisht) migrates to the city from a small hill station in Uttarakhand to make it big in the modelling world. But he lacks the confidence and skills required to be a model. Therefore, he fares badly in a modelling competition. He later contacts one of the judges of the competition, Sonal (Raveena Tandon), who is a big name in the modelling world, and expresses his urgent need for a job.
Sonal helps him out by using him to satisfy herself sexually when her busy businessman husband (Sanjay Suri) is travelling. She pays him a handsome amount and launches his modelling career. She gives him a new name too — Azfar.
Shab is also the story of Raina (Arpita Pal Chatterjee), who moves into the city with her younger sister. She works at her close friend’s (Areesz Ganddi) cafe. She becomes close to her new French neighbour (Simon Frenay). Fate ensures that she crosses paths with Mohan too. What lies in store for these characters in a metro makes up the rest of the plot.
Onir has confessed in recent interviews that the idea for Shab was born 17 years ago. It seems the content has been reworked a lot to fit the current era as it doesn’t feel dated at all. The film has pleasing visuals too. Unfortunately, these points hardly matter when the film falls short in the content department.
The major issue with Shab is the writing as it falters at the screenplay level. Too many things happen in the first half and with little conviction. One example is Bisht and Tandon's gigolo track. Plus, as the characterisation is shallow, we hardly feel for the characters. This stands true most for Bisht, one of the lead characters. There is no depth and we are hardly given any background about him. Instead, the focus is on too many issues like casting couch, infidelity, greed, love, heartbreak, homosexuality etc.
The film also has questionable and, at times, illogical behaviour by the characters. This becomes a regular feature in the second half, as the film goes further downhill. The flow is improper with some scenes being barely a few seconds long. Amid this, the narrative keeps dragging without much purpose.
Debutant Bisht has the vulnerability required for the character, but shows limited acting ability. The lack of depth in his character, as mentioned before, also goes against him. The rest of the actors have done a pretty good job. Tandon delivers the punch needed for a character with grey shades.
Pal Chatterjee, the famous Bengali actress who is making her Hindi film debut, displays a mature act. There are times when she succeeds in speaking through expressions. Ganddi and the French actor Frenay provide fine supporting acts. The actor playing Tandon's homosexual friend also makes an impact. Suri's cameo isn't bad.
Overall, Shab has a promising premise, but the execution lacks depth.