New Stills from ‘Chakravyuh’ with Esha Gupta, Abhay Deol and Arjun Rampal

‘Shanghai’: Movie Review (2012)

Movie Review (2012)
 Film: “Shanghai”
Cast: Prosenjeet Chatterjee, Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin, Supriya Pathak and Farooque Shaikh
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Rating:  3.5/5

Watching “Shanghai” is revisiting your daily local newspaper, full of scams, conspiracies and crime stories. In short, the film is a slice of today’s India.
Adapted from “Z”, a 1966 novel by Vassilis Vassilikos, Dibakar Banerjeer brilliantly exposes the reality behind the irony of India Shining.
The scenes are verbatim daily newspaper briefs.
Set in present day nondescript shanty called Bharatnagar, it sees Dr. Ahmedi (Prosenjeet Chatterjee), a US-based professor and activist, visiting Bharatnagar to enlighten its inhabitants about ‘pragati’ (progress).
He opposes the transformation of the shanty town into a zany township, a la Shanghai. But he is murdered by the opposition who try to pass off his death as an accident.
After that the story moves ahead with Shalini Sahay (Kalki Koechlin), Ahmedi’s besotted student and daughter of an ex-army general who is involved in a scam, IAS Officer T.A. Krishnan (Abhay Deol), videographer Joginder Parmar (Emraan Hashmi), Ahmedia’s wife Aruna (Tillotama Shome), chief minister (Supriya Patak) and her PA (Farooque Sheikh).
While the film grips you, it’s the system that gets to you.
“Why did you do commit the murder, when you knew it is wrong,” Shalini asks the murderer.
Another dialogue – “Jeene se haraam lagta hai. Par marne se darr bhi lagta hai…” clearly shows the hunger for survival. It’s a sorry state of affairs, where the common denominator is the victim.
There is a simplistic nature to the narrative and archetype.
The performance of every character is realistic and matter-of-fact. Emraan impresses with his rustic portrayal, quite different from his usual flamboyant characters. Abhay Deol, as the IAS Officer, bowls over the audience with his grit and, of course, unmistakable Tamil accent. Kalki slips effortlessly into the character, yet again, revealing her versatility.
However, what you take home is not the memories of a character well-performed, but the story.
The film is frighteningly true.
The strength of “Shanghai” is its tight screenplay by Urmi Juvekar and Dibakar Banerjee and the meticulous details leave no scope for arguments.
What adds to the flavour is excellent cinematography by Nikos Andritsakis and the marvellous use of sound, both ambient and otherwise, to build up the tension in the political drama.
The controversial song “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and the item number “Imported Kamariyaa” are well-picturised and the latter is on the way to become the next favourite numbers at all ‘basti’ celebrations.
Despite its simplistic and down-to-earth locations, “Shanghai” has a nice hard-boiled vibe and a sense of semi-exotic danger. Definitely gives you a lot to ponder about.
Don’t miss this one.

Mumbai Congress asked ban on ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ song

The Mumbai unit of the Congress party Tuesday called for a ban on the song ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ featured in a forthcoming Bollywood movie “Shanghai”, saying it hurts patriotic sentiments and degrades India.
In a letter addressed to union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ambika Soni, Mumbai Congress vice-president Charan Singh Sapra has contended that the content of the entire song is an insult to all countrymen who respect India as their motherland.
Hence it is very likely to inflame the feelings of all Indians, resulting in disharmony, rioting, breach of peace and tranquility within the country, Sapra said.
The song contains controversial words like Sarkari Hathiyaar, Dhandha, Chanda, Dengue, Malaria, Gobar (cowdung), which Sapra alleged are deliberately used to defame the country.
Such defaming language has been used despite the full knowledge that the same shall definitely wound the patriotic feelings and sentiments of the people, besides ridiculing and degrading India in the eyes of the world, he urged.
Sapra has sought an immediate and total ban on the song from being broadcast/telecast in any manner, deleting it from the movie and to fix accountability and initiate action against the concerned censor board officials who cleared the offensive number.
Based on the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos, “Shanghai” is a political thriller directed by D. Banerjee and stars Emraan Hashmi and Abhay Deol and is slated for release this Friday (June 8).

New ‘Chakravyuh’ Still with Arjun Rampal and Abhay Deol

Abhay Deol to play a Naxalite in CHAKRAVYUH

Abhay Deol is one actor who isn't afraid of experimenting with his roles. While he will be seen as the 40 year old IAS officer in SHANGHAI, it will be interesting to see him playing a Naxalite in Prakash Jha's CHAKRAVYUH. And as Abhay loves getting into the skin of his unconventional roles, he is working hard on his character for the film to make it look authentic.
This is also the first time that Abhay is working with director Jha and is sure that the film will reveal a lot about Naxalites which is rampant in many parts of the country. The shooting of the film is currently on in Bhopal.

Shanghai (2012): MP3 Songs

01 - Bharat Mata Ki Jai Download

Vishal, Keerti, Arun, Mandar, RN Iyer, Dibakar
02 - Imported Kamariya Download

Richa Sharma, Shekhar Ravjiani, Vishal
03 - Duaa Download

Shekhar Ravjiani, Nandini Srikar, Arijit Singh
04 - Khudaaya Download

Shekhar Ravjiani, Raja Hasan
05 - Morcha Download

Vishal Dadlani, Raja Hasan
06 - Bharat Mata Ki Jai (Remix) Download

Vishal Dadlani, Keerti Sagathia
07 - Khudaaya (Remix) Download

Shekhar Ravjiani
08 - Mantra Vishnu Sahasranamam (The Thousand Names Of Lord Vishnu) Download

Srivatsa Krishna

Abhay Deol, Aamir Khan, Asin, Hritik Roshan and Nargis Fakhri on Cover/Scans of Filmfare May 2012

Arjun Rampal Gears Up For Prakash Jha's 'Chakravyuh'

Arjun Rampal has wrapped up shooting for Madhur Bhandarkar's ambitious film Heroine and now the RA.One star is gearing up for Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh.
 The film deals with issue of Naxalites and will be shot in Madhya Pradesh. Arjun, who will play a cop in the movie, jetted off to Bhopal last night.
 "On flight heading to Bhopal. Goodbye all wish me luck a grueling 2 months await me. Chakravyuh begins. Love and luck to all," tweeted Rampal on his page.
 Reportedly, Arjun will do some heavy duty action scenes for the film and has been training hard to get into the skin of his character.
 Meanwhile, the 39-year-old star has also signed Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer remake in which he'll essay the role of Sher Khan.
Charavyuh went on floors yesterday and features Esha Gupta, Abhay Deol and Manoj Bajpai alongside Rampal.

‘Shanghai’ (2012) Movie Stills

Abhay Deol Grazia Men Magazine Cover/Scans April 2012

Shanghai Movie (2012) Trailer

Shanghai is an upcoming Hindi political thriller film directed by Dibakar Banerjee[1], and starring Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Pitobash.[2] The film is currently being shot in Maharashtra. Based on the life of Politicians and their greed. The film is slated to release on June 8, 2012.

With Abhay Deol flaunting old school Babu whiskers in ‘Shanghai’, is it the new success mantra?

Bollywood’s affair with tiny bristles over the upper lip is an old one. Brave revolutionaries to roadside Romeos have all flaunted various versions of the great Indian mooch. In ‘Shanghai’ Abhay Deol has his very own. A prominent yet not overwhelming, neatly combed moustache. He plays a diligent IAS officer in the film who has been posted in a state outside his native where he is working on a serious case.
His character is that of a Tamilian Brahmin, a caste that has always been portrayed as ostensibly religious and conservative. So while lessons to master the Tamilian accent did help, a neat set of upper lip hair helped him convey all that and more. You see him here looking positively grim as he discusses an important case with a colleague played by Farooq Sheikh.