Mach gaya Shor saari Nagri Re, saari Nagri Re
Shor or Noise as would love to prefer it, is an inseparable part of life, if you are living in one of the big metroes in India, or even the smaller cities like Nagpur or Vishakapatnam of Coimbatore. The noise starts right at the crack of the day, when the servant or the milkman or the newspaper wallah, knocks on the door, hits a peak, when you drive to work or college, with all the honking, vehicles making screeching sounds, shouts of the pavement sellers, and it does not leave you way till the night, with some meeting or function or marriage going on all the time.
And during the festival times, the Shor just increases in intensity, what with all those pandals, blaring out loud music, tuneless devotional songs, the priests chanting, the conch shells blowing, the massive religious rallies, that continue late into the night.
Shor in the City directed by Raj and Krishna, who had earlier come up 99, a quirky look at the betting mafia, this time explore 3 different stories, that interconnect at some point or other. And to make the point of Shor playing a major part in our lives, the entire plot is set against the backdrop of the 10 days Ganapathi Puja in Mumbai. While the Ganesh Puja forms the backdrop, the focus here is on how the noise during the festival, significantly impacts the events in the story. On an ordinary level, the characters in the story are people like any one else, going about with their lives, but it is at the ending, where you see the significance of Shor in the entire context.
Abhay( Senthil Ramamurthy) is an NRI, wanting to set up a small business in India. He begins to date an aspiring model Shalmili( Preeti Desai), and is soon sucked into Mumbai’s hip and happening party life. It is however not a party for him at the work place, the local dadas led by Premal(Zakir Hussain), begin to harass him, demanding their pound of flesh. The police advise him to make a deal with the dadas, as this is festival time, and they can’t really take much action. Abhay gives in to their demands, but soon decides to hit back, giving them a taste of their own medicine. Excellent track in the movie, especially in the latter half.
Tilak( Tushar Kapoor) is a small time crook, publishing pirated copies of best selling novels, and selling them, hanging out with his two buddies Ramesh( Nikhil Dwivedi) and Mandook( Pitobash Tripathy). Mandook is pretty much a loose cannon, reckless, stupid, dim witted whose actions quite often cause trouble to the trio, Ramesh on the other hand is the more level headed. A chance robbery by Ramesh and Mandook, makes them stumble on a huger arms consignment, which could prove to be a key to their fortune. The best track in the movie for me, especially the scenes between Tilak and his wife Sapna( Radhika Apte).
Sawan Murthy( Sundeep Kishan) is an aspiring cricketer, who dreams of playing for the national team. However he finds it is not easy, with all the board politics, nepotism, corruption. On the other hand, Sawan has to deal with his long time girl friend Sejal( Girija Oak), whose mother wants to get her married off soon. Sawan is caught between two ends, his cricketing career which seems to be going to nowhere, unless he adopts some underhand means and his girlfriend whom he might just end up losing.
While many say its a Dark comedy, Shor in the City, was more of a slice of life movie, looking at the lives of 3 different persons, and how they intersect at points. The people in the movie, are ordinary people, just like you and me, with their own frustrations, leading a rather ordinary life. You really can’t condemn or criticize some of the choices these people make, they are defined by circumstances. But to me the best part was in the climax, that is where the significance of the title really hits you. The characterization is spot on, Abhay speaks like a typical NRI, in accented Hindi, Americanized English, while the lingo used by Tilak and his friends is pure Tapori style.
Some great scenes in the movie
1) All the scenes between Tilak and his wife Sapna, very natural and warm.
2) The bank Hijack wala scene, total fun.
3) The scene where Tilak and his friends try to detonate a bomb just for fun.
4) The scenes where Abhay is threatened and harassed by the goons.
Performances: Senthil Ramamurthy is excellent as the NRI Abhay, right down to the accent, and also in the scenes where he begins to get even with the goons. After a long time Tushar Kapoor, gets a good role, and he does well as Tilak, the crook with a conscience. However the best would be Pitobash as the loose cannon Mandook, superlative performance, wishing we can see more of him, this guy is an immense talent. Nikhil Dwivedi as Ramesh and Sundeep Kishan as Sawan, put in earnest performances, while Zakir Husain is menacing enough as Premal. Another noteworthy performance is by Amit Mistry as the fixer Tipu, utterly natural and convincing.
Great soundtrack with Saibo, Karma.. being my favorites. The camera work is brilliant, capturing the seamy underside of Mumbai in all it’s glory. Krishna and Raj, have again come up with a movie, that is quirky, witty, entertaining all the way. Just go for it.
PS: By the way to those wondering about the title for my Review, it comes from an old Hindi song in Amitabh’s movie Khuddar, that is picturized on a backdrop of Krishnashtami celebrations.