Shaitan Movie Reviews

The lives of the affluent and illustrious have often been chronicled in newspapers and television. The achievements get as much prominence as the heinous crimes they commit. Recall the number of drunken driving cases that led to fatal accidents and causalities or abduction of moneyed kids to make that extra buck. SHAITAN too borrows from real life. It maps out the lives of five youngsters -- three of them belonging to the upper crust

I haven't seen Anurag Kashyap's Paanch yet. The director's first film remains unreleased - although circulated on DVD among certain film aficionados - due to problems starting with censorship and, later, finance. His second film, Black Friday, got stuck in the courts before getting a delayed release, and Gulaal had to wait for a few seasons before it was put out for public consumption. Before Kashyap developed a sort of 'fan following' with his trademark films

Debutant director Bejoy Nambiar, in a pre-release interview of SHAITAN revealed that he was in the process of making the film since four years. Reason? Because no producer was willing to produce the film. Finally, just a week before the film went on floors, Anurag Kashyap decided to co-produce it and things started falling into place. It's baffling to know why producers turned down a script like SHAITAN, which had all the ingredients of a taut thriller

Shaitan may or may not be the best thing to happen to Hindi cinema, and reactions to the film will probably differ. But whether you hate, love or are left indifferent by it, give it a shot. Mainly because it’s made by a filmmaker with a unique voice. Most don’t have any.

On the whole, SHAITAN is bound to raise eyebrows thanks to its contemporary, thrilling, hard-hitting and forceful content. One of the most ingenious and entertaining thrillers I’ve seen in a long time. Also, it’s one of the most stimulating and intense films to come out of the Hindi film industry. I am sure everyone would be able to connect with SHAITAN. Try not to miss this one!

Is there a road back from hell? Does the spiral of violence spin relentlessly in one direction only: towards doom? Is there hope for the reckless and rootless young people who have all their dad's money to splurge and no motive of life to pursue? Shaitaan isn't your run-of-the-mill Bollywood youth film that looks at life through rose-tinted prisms. On the contrary, it turns the camera three-sixty degrees and brings you the grime of a subterranean sub-culture

Shaitan is a next-gen film, an ember of ideas in the midst of the scattered mediocrity that is Indian cinema, lighting the path for the journey ahead in its glow. Shaitan’s strength is its technical finesse and masterful control of the director, Bejoy Nambiar. He shows his wide-eyed audience an uncompromised rendering of his vision, stretching the medium to its visual extreme. However, in an ironic metaphor, Shaitan has its own demons and imperfections

If you are looking for a typical Hindi film, this movie is not for you, and don't even bother to read this review. Even if you think you are cool, Shaitan jolts you out of your cosy reverie, once too often. And that's the kind of experience that is sorely needed for viewers and filmmakers, who have perhaps become too complacent in the regular dal-chawal fare. Shaitan is the story of five youngsters, who think they own the world and nothing is beyond their reach

"What do you call a dildo that's gone nuts?" asks one. "Dildo paagal hai," he answers himself. You laugh. It's the kind of pun on the Yash Chopra flick that those growing up in the '90s will recognise instantly. It's like why Devdas remains frustrated forever: He has two beautiful women in his life. Yet, when they sing for him together, they both go, "Dildo-la re!" In a similar vein, the film derives itself almost wholly from a pop, counter-cultural new wave of late '90s

Hindi cinema seldom makes films about unapologetically amoral characters. The protagonists in director Bejoy Nambiar's 'Shaitan' are a group of five wayward youngsters who snort cocaine, get drunk, and drive around recklessly through the streets of Mumbai. This is a group of mostly 'poor-little-rich-kids' who're emotionally estranged from their families. When they mow down two innocent people in a rash-driving accident, they must come up with big money

A toddler, doll in hand, reacts to her mother’s loving call and runs towards her. The mother — her face stained with mascara and tears and her mutilated wrist coloured by her own blood — caresses her smiling knee-high daughter and then attempts to drown her in a bathtub, the two-year-old’s helpless pleas renting the air as the mother smiles and cries at the same time. Shaitan is the most edgy and irreverent Bollywood ride you would have taken

Shaitan is the upgraded version of Anurag Kashyap’s debut film Paanch, which was banned in 2001 because the Censor Board deemed it too dark and destructive to the country’s moral fiber. Paanch was about a group of hard-drinking, pot-smoking wannabe rockstars who attempt to make money by pretending to kidnap the richest kid among them. But the plan goes horrifically wrong and violence begets more violence until you reach a point where bodies

Shaitan loses steam, becomes repetitive and ends in a whimper. Which is a shame because Nambiar has talent to burn.

Welcome to the Anurag Kashyap universe. Populated exclusively by the very coolest of character actors, backgrounded by a blaring retro-loving soundtrack, and shot dizzyingly in hypertechnicolor. It is a world where even chaiwallahs wear smartarsed FCUK tee shirts and brutal cops have a thing for Van Gogh. Hipness is the language of choice. Debutant director Bejoy Nambiar shows his own twisted side with Shaitan, but the film has producer Kashyap's pawprints

Shaitan Review by Komal Nahta Business rating: 2/5 stars. What's Good: The racy screenplay; the stylised making of...