'Shamshera' movie review: K Shera Shera!

Film ShamsheraDirector Karan MalhotraActors Ranbir Kapoor Sanjay DuttRating 35Soon after names in cheap gold lettering start flashing on the screen for opening credits keeping it tacky in a way that the junta might hoot for bettermdashthe screen in this film dims into a dark world of mountains and caves that you could even identify with Mandwa from the remake of Mukul Anandrsquos Agneepath 2012 by the same director Karan MalhotraMore so because Sanjay Dutt is up there as the demonically uglylooking unwashed baddie with goldplated teeth albeit in police uniform Shudh Singh Dutt was just born to nail these blabbering mythical roles In another time this lsquoKancha Cheenarsquo type could well be the thanedaar from Thanedaar 1990 Only this film is set in the late 1800sAlso ReadRanbir Kapoor Really wish my father was alive to see ShamsheraShudh Singh is up against ShamsheramdashldquoKarm se dacait dharm se azaad dacoit by profession free by persuasionrdquomdashwho leads a tribe thatrsquos been done in by history and eventually collectively tricked into imprisonmentThe Shamshera title track sounds a lot like Omkara And never mind the filmrsquos title the hero is actually that characterrsquos son Balli who grows up to look like exactly like the father In a way that no one around in the movie let alone in the audience will wonder for a second howBecause wersquove seen these double roles in Bollywood movies forever why else As the son shows up so does the sun on screenmdashopening into vast vistas of ravines and rocks horses on dust crows in the sky The reason Irsquom giving you a sense of the beginning which is no different from a sense of the ending is because films such as these rely on expensive extensive exquisite worldbuilding aloneAlso Read Karan Malhotra Ranbir Kapoor and Vaani Kapoor have a sensual chemistry in ShamsheraDespite a change in the screenrsquos colour tone certain monotony could set in too with such straight and simple sort of classical storytelling at play And as an audience yoursquore either in or yoursquore out the exit door or passed out As you can tell Irsquom pretty much inWhich is no different from say a film like RRR 2022 although at the moment itrsquod be unfair to compare SS Rajamouli with director Karan Malhotra besides their basic intention which is to engage audiences through an escapist yet gritty period fantasymdashaiming sufficiently at a grand operatic theatrically immersive experience Itrsquos a tough featHow else do RRR and Shamshera seem unwittingly connected Both deal with communitiestribesmdashGond in the case of RRR a fictional Khameran in Shamsheramdashfighting against Indian forces aligned to the British EmpireFrom the looks of it the Khamerans in this picture have been screwed over more by the uppercastes in their region a reason they have to resort to bravely choreographed heists and relentless acts of violence in order to revive themselves through revengeThe ultimate villains are the colonialist conniving goras still I hear some Brits who saw RRR for instance were quite annoyed by the exaggerated portrayal of the evils of the Empire Which is a small price to pay for history I guess given that so much of actual stuff that happened has been almost whitewashed for British kids otherwise noIf anything Shudh Singh here is worse than any British official will get He mostly talks in verse as does another character Saurabh Shukla from the fighting tribeIt will take a proper superhero though to take on such a villain with so many footsoldiers behind him besides the might of the Empire itself This is how you can also see Shamshera and Ballimdash as superheroes of sortsAnd thatrsquos how you see the dazzling bearded Ranbir Kapoor in the centrestage all throughmdashflying off rocks and other surfaces performing summersaults banging it with martial arts and as the highway man riding ridinghellip At one point I felt he was going to give his Balli the kid a wholly funny Deadpool touch but thatrsquos just a touch and goThe level of action sequences is doubtlessly outstanding heading towards a rsquo90s picture that from the front rows wersquod viscerally yell ldquomaar saalerdquomdashas the hero gets into ldquotakkarrdquo with the villain who has absolutely zero redemptive quality You can gauge the daunting effort every minute of the waySadly or befittingly conversations for a movie of this scale only boils down to how well it did at the boxoffice There is no way to know as an audience besides to suggest K lsquoShera Sherarsquo whatever will be will berdquo K for Kapoor in a double role giving it his all Including with romance in love with a nautch girl Vaani Kapoor The soundtrack with item numbers and lipsynching songs is completeAs you put your feet up recline your shoulder place popcorn tub on your lap lapping it all uphellip Must let you know since the nautch girl also warns in the film itrsquos a ldquolambi ladairdquo a longassed battle with multiple climaxes Make sure you grab a supertall mug of dark coffee too

'Shamshera' movie review: K Shera Shera!

Film: Shamshera
Director: Karan Malhotra
Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt
Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / 'Shamshera' movie review: K Shera Shera!

'Shamshera' movie review: K Shera Shera!

Film: ShamsheraDirector: Karan MalhotraActors: Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay DuttRating: 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Film: Shamshera
Director: Karan Malhotra
Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt
Rating: 3/5