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3.0/5
Shamshera is Karan Malhotra’s homage to such films as Kranti, Baahubali, and Taras Bulba. It’s a fictionalised account of a tribe’s struggle for survival against the oppressive British Raj. It’s a heroic tale of the tribe’s two leaders, father and son duo Shamshera and Balli, both essayed by Ranbir Kapoor. The villain of the piece, ironically, isn’t a British officer but a cruel Indian jailor, Daroga Shuddh Singh (Sanjay Dutt). There’s also a nautch girl, Sona (Vaani Kapoor), in the mix. Sona moves like a well-toned diva, and since she’s the jailor’s favourite, she has the right to come and go as she pleases. You get the picture.
Shamshera sacrifices his life to get his tribe out of the fort-like jail they’ve been imprisoned in. Balli grows up to finish the job. It’s a simple, uncomplicated story which has been worked upon numerous times since cinema began in India. So there are no surprises there. The only new aspect that the makers could have worked upon is the treatment. Thankfully, Karan Malhotra has been quite imaginative when it comes to that. Shamshera’s graph, that of a concerned tribal leader who lives and dies for his people, is serious and stoic. Balli is shown to be a boy growing into a man. His beginnings are rather frivolous and then take on a grimmer tone as the film progresses.
The director has added a supernatural element as well to the proceedings. The gathering of crows heralding Balli’s arrival is a nice touch. The birds were computer generated, of course, but they look true to life. The visual effects have been top-notch throughout. Whether it’s Shamshera’s hazard-filled climb on a vertical hill, Balli’s run atop a train which ends in an explosion or the sandstorm sequence, everything has been executed nicely. The live action sequences have been imaginative as well. We’ve not seen horses being used to such good effect in a while. Kudos to the stunt double who executed the sequence where Balli is in danger of being mauled by a distressed horse. The lathi fight scene and the confrontation between Shuddh Singh and Balli in the climax are well-executed and certain to win accolades from the masses.
Shamshera is the sort of mass entertainer that Hindi film audiences have been craving for. It has something for everyone. A coming-of-age story with well-placed emotional moments, sprinkled with great action and VFX. That seems to be the winning formula these days and has been executed well.
The film heralds the comeback of Ranbir Kapoor to the big screen after four years. He was last seen in Sanju (2018), where he played Sanjay Dutt. Here, Dutt is keeping him company as the film’s villain. He’s no stranger to daaku films and if the film was made 20 years ago, then he’d have played the hero, with perhaps Amrish Puri or Anupam Kher playing the villain. Here, he brings all his larger-than-life persona and charisma to his role. He knows this sort of role has been a staple for screen villains. So he doesn’t give much to the formula and plays it with just the right amount of irreverence.
Ranbir has always made acting look easy and he does it here as well. His Shamshera is different from his Balli, no mean feat for any actor playing a double role. He’s always had this image of an urban hero, but he makes a smooth transition as a rural protagonist. And we’ve mostly seen him as a romantic lead, but here he has shown he can do justice as an action hero as well. It’s good to see him back on screen. His kind of versatility has been missing for a while, and now, one can envision him as a protagonist across genres, whether in historical, mythological, or even straight action films. Vaani Kapoor has been taken to provide the oomph quotient and looks good in dances and romantic portions.
The South film industry has been making such films for the last few years, and Shamshera is Bollywood’s bold attempt at replicating the formula. The Hindi film industry needs a renaissance and let’s hope this film becomes a catalyst towards it.
Trailer : Shamshera
Rachana Dubey, July 22, 2022, 4:49 PM IST
2.5/5
SHAMSHERA STORY: Tribal leader Shamshera loses his life trying to secure the freedom of his people. His son rises to the cause 25 years later, avenging his death and freeing his people from the clutches of the communal leaders and the British.
SHAMSHERA REVIEW: Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor), a tribal leader, uprooted from his soil with his people, is forced to plunder the wealth of the rich, who consider themselves a higher caste. Shudh Singh (Sanjay Dutt), an Indian officer of the British forces, betrays Shamshera’s trust, and enslaves his tribe along with him. While Shamshera loses his life trying to free his tribe from the dual clutches of the British and the high-caste people, his son Balli (Ranbir, again) dedicates his life to this rebellion 25 years later. How he succeeds in avenging his father’s death and setting his tribe free, forms the crux of the narrative.
From the first frame, the background score and the slick VFX-led visuals suck you into this fictitious world created around the late 1800s India. After lending a quick, comic-book style context to the tribe’s roots and their causes, the film plunges into Shamshera’s story. That’s the point from where the film begins to slow down. And consistently so, it remains a slow-paced action-drama, involving a caste-led battle, a revenge plot with a romantic angle and collision with the British Raj.
Without giving away too many details of the film, one can say that by the end of it, you’ll be fatigued. The film feels far too stretched for its wafer-thin storyline – in fact, it crawls through the runtime with quite a few minor, but unmissable technical snags. Having said that, Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt remain the lifeblood of this drama. Despite a weak storyline and a weaker screenplay and dialogues, the actors deliver honest performances. As always, it is a treat to watch Ranbir on screen again after several years, even while he makes great effort, trying to elevate an underwhelming story. Ditto Sanjay Dutt, who delivers well as a menacing character. In fact, each time the actors are together on screen, their exchanges are quite powerful.
The supporting characters, like the ones played by Ronit Bose Roy, Saurabh Shukla and Iravati Harshe have very little to contribute to this drama. It would have helped a great deal if their characters had been curated with more attention and care. It’s surprising that they had such little scope to perform. In fact, even Vaani Kapoor’s character, Sona, who’s a dancer, falls quite short in terms of an emotional curve.
The action choreography of the film, particularly in the scene before the interval point and in portions of the climax, is very well done. The film’s album has some tracks that will play on your mind – like the one that introduces Balli in the film or the romantic ballad that depicts Sona and Balli’s love for each other. The film’s cinematography, background score and VFX are the highlights of the film.
To sum it up, director and co-writer Karan Malhotra surely seemed to have had a grand vision at the onset, but it’s his execution that seems to have betrayed him. Given the scale, the canvas and talent the makers had at hand, we only wish that it had all been pieced together better than what one saw.
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