NONSENSE No. 1!. Review on Shadow

A blind man as a hero…that’s something really novel and interesting! And this blind hero dances, does daring stunts and doesn’t look visually impaired at all. Unfortunately, in order to exhibit blind actor Nasser Khan’s greatness, the director and the screenwriters paid no attention to other factors and came up with a pathetic product, which due to some reason is titled Shadow. The loopholes in the narrative are big enough to drive a tanker through! Seriously, what were the writers thinking while scripting this film? Even kindergarten kids could have come up with a better film!

The story of the movie: Arjun Sherawat (Nasser Khan) is a serial sharp shooter who since few months is giving the Mumbai Police sleepless nights. He kills his victims and doesn’t leave any clues at all. Inspector Sanjana (Sonali Kulkarni) who is entrusted this case tries hard but fails to get any information or whereabouts regarding Arjun Sherawat. In real, Sherawat is a jovial car mechanic called Raju who has the ability to impress any girl by mouthing some crap dialogues in the most pathetic manner! Coming back to Sanjana, she gets clues that point that reporters Sheetal (Hrishitaa Bhatt) andRahul (Milind Soman) (the latter who’s hell bent on criticizing Sanjana and Mumbai Police) may be Arjun Sherawat’s allies. But Sanjana is proved wrong when Sheetal informs her about Sherawat’s next victim. Sheetal couldn’t save Sherawat’s target but she’s able to kill him. Intermission time! Now we all know that picture abhi baaki hai and that Arjun Sherawat must be alive and that he’s not going to die just halfway. And as expected, he is indeed alive! He sends an audio clip, challenging Police that he’ll kidnap Builder Habib Faizal (Mushtaq Khan) on September 1-rok sake to rok le! If you want to know what happens next, you’ll have to commit an act of bravery, i.e. see this film!

The film could have been an engrossing fare, never mind the glitches, but even that doesn’t happen as songs are placed just anywhere in the film which badly hampers the pace of the film. There’s a scene where Sherawataka Raju the mechanic fixes a screw in the car of a hottie (Sonia Mehra) who in turns gets floored and offers him1000 bucks. Raju and his two colleagues feel that this is a reason to celeberate and so they visit a pub and break into the song ‘Yaariyan’! All this had no connection with the main plot and yet, director Rohit Nayyar happily wastes time on such stupid scenes!

The police are shown as utter fools while Arjun Sherawat is projected as an intelligent ‘sexy’ criminal who can escape from the cops right under their noses. And even characters were not well sketched. Even after the film ends, one doesn’t understand Hrisihita Bhatt’s connection with Nasser Khan. Milind Soman in the initial portions is shown as a reporter but later, we learn that he’s actually a senior cop of Delhi Crime Branch who was working on Sherawat’s case. Again, no explanation provided as to what Milind gained by pretending to be a reporter. Maybe, the director felt revealing Milind Soman’s true identity would give viewers the biggest shock of their lives!

Then there’s Sonali Kulkarni’s father (Vishwajeet Pradhan) who is the police commissioner and whom Sonali hates. This track served no purpose other than increasing the film’s duration. Post-interval, Sonali Kulkarni does a stupid item number (it was the most terrible sight I have seen in recent times) and then falls in love with Nasser Khan. Again, there was no need of this romantic angle in the plot. And how can I forget Home Minister Shiv Shankar (Sachin Khedekar) who used to pass his spare time raping young girls and killing them every week! Undoubtedly, Shadow was Nonsense No.1!

The climax of the film seemed little rushed-maybe the director felt that he has wasted enough time showing Nasser dancing and romancing and should finish the film ASAP. Surprisingly, the film has some good points-background score, music and Sameer Aftab’s performance. He was the only one who looked like a good actor in the film!

Nasser Khan, as we all know, is a bad actor with negligible dancing skills and pathetic dialogue delivery. But I’ll like to appreciate him for his efforts. It was next to impossible for a blind person doing such stunts, acting and even dubbing (the latter requires one to see). And he has also co-produced the film. If only he had improved the story and direction, then maybe Shadow would have been appreciated, notwithstanding his performance.

The film has lots of fine actors and it’s shocking to see them in such a film. Sonali Kulkarni impressed in the role of the cop initially but disappointed later with the item number and the pre-climax scenes. Milind Soman’s role was laughable and so his performance also got affected. Sachin Khedekar as the villainous serial rapist cum Home Minister gives a good performance. I hope he never ever signs such films! Samir Aftab, who played Khedekar’s PA, looked charming and he was the only one in the film who didn’t underperform or overact at all. Hrishitaa Bhatt, Vishwajeet Pradhanand Mushtaq Khan were fairly okay. Sonia Mehra was terrible.

Anand Raj Anand’s music was alright. ‘Khumariyan’ was the only good song of the lot. Raju Singh’s background score was the only thing that rocked in the film. CinematographersJalees Oberoi and Raju Badiger could have done a better job in the action scenes.

Rohit Nayyar failed as the director. He managed to showcase Nasser Khan but failed to come up with a well-made film. Mostly, action flicks manage to work in rural areas. But Shadow did a shoddy job even in rural places! In fact, after watching Shadow, I realize that Kamaal Rashid Khan’s Deshdrohiwas so much better!

On the whole, Shadow was undoubtedly the worst film I have seen in my life. Stay miles away from this film. It’s worth recommending to your foes!

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