There is one decades long trend or habit of Bollywood that if any one particular project of a novel style gets appreciated all over, then we get to see numerous similar kinds of ventures offered to us after its release. And they all have the same kind of feel and ambience just trying to en-cash that new wave and nothing else. However, among this bunch of similar movies we have some good as well as many bad films which take away the freshness of the subject and disappear.
Luckily, SHOR IN THE CITY falls in the category of those good watchable films made in the same genre but at the same time it offers nothing new or fresh in terms of content. As discussed above, the film is another crime thriller, revolving around 3-4 different storylines with distinctive characters which get inter-linked with each other as the movie progresses. The backdrop of all these stories remains Mumbai, its under-world and the wannabes who want to make it big in their respective fields.
Though it has few engrossing moments and some good performances too but still the overall pace of the movie is not as energetic as it should have been. The tempo keeps dropping at regular intervals especially after the intermission and moreover some scenes also give you a feeling of seen before or going monotonous. And the main reason for this feeling is that the script has nothing fresh to offer to the audience, other than only one refreshing scene dealing with a bomb explosion. But sadly that scene too seems to be highly inspired from a similar kind of sequence seen in a 2010 British black comedy called “FOUR LIONS”. No, the film is not completely inspired or lifted from this smart comedy but its influence on the overall concept of SITC is quite visible.
Now since story-wise the viewer doesn’t get anything great (or not seen before) throughout the film, therefore he doesn’t have any strong impact or impression of the film while leaving the theater. At the most he can say, that’s its an ok watchable film with some good performances but that’s it. If only the writers had thought of something more exciting and novel re-inventing in the same genre, then the film could have been a different enriching experience in totality. But at present, it has the same extortion, looting, arms selling, bank robbery, revengeful killings and corrupt officials for the viewers which we have already seen umpteen times before. Particularly the cricket selection board scenes in the film remain its weakest part, written and directed with some minimum efforts which do not impress at all.
But here I would to like to mention one interesting insertion in the movie and that’s the Pirated Book-Publishing profession of Tushar which has been used for the first time in a Hindi Film. (Try remembering all the children selling those Best-Sellers books at the Red Lights with poor page quality) In fact this is the new Piracy snake biting the Publishing Industry today just like the uncontrollable Pirated CDs business hitting the Film Industry badly from so many years. And it was really an intelligent addition to their film by the directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. which at least had something new to reveal to the audiences.
The cinematography and background score gel with the theme of the film perfectly but I seriously felt that the script here missed something unexplored or virgin having a punchy surprising element for its viewers. Music is used in a minimal way as needed but thankfully it neither excels nor disturbs the overall pace of the movie.
As visible in its posters, SITC is an all men movie, wherein Tushar gives a heart winning performance and looks cool. Pitobash gives his all to his act, but as I said before we have seen many such spirited performances in the gangster genre before too so though his act will not go un-noticed but he may not get the benefits as desired. Nikhil Drivedi is just fine. Sendhil has his screen presence and is natural. Rest of the male cast including Amit Mistry and Zakir Hussain don’t get anything new to do on the screen. In the female section, Radhika is the best, Preeti Desai looks great and inviting and Girija is ok.
So in all, SHOR IN THE CITY has a fine direction, good performances and some well executed sequences too. But with nothing new to reveal or surprise in its content, for me it just remains a good one time watch and not anything more than that as being projected.
Ratings : 2.5 / 5
Tags :
SHOR IN THE CITY Movie Review, Just a good watchable attempt but nothing exceptionally new, Review By Bobby Sing at www.bobbytalkscinema.com, Tushar Kapoor, Nikhil Drivedi, Films on Mumbai Underworld, Pirated Book Publishnig Business, New Hindi Films Reviews By Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bollywood Movies Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bobby Sing Bollywood Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Released, New Hindi Films Reviews, New Hindi Movies Reviews, New Hindi
