It was with some deal of expectation that I went to watch Shikhar with my 2 very good friends. Coming from the maker of Sarfarosh- John Matthan, with an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgan, Shahid Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Amrita Rao, we expected to have an entertaining 150 minutes.

While Sarfarosh dealt with the penetration of cross-border terror into our society with a brief insight into the “Muhajir-perspective”, Shikhar deals with the very contemporary issues of deforestation and of the builder-politician nexus.
The characters are clearly defined in the first 40-45 minutes of the film- the “will-not-stop-at-anything” GG (Ajay Devgan playing the desi Gordon Gecko), Natasha (Bipasha Basu) who loves and obeys GG blindly, the idealistic tycoon-turned-Guruji (Jawed Sheikh), Jaidev (Shahid Kapur)- Guruji’s son and Madhavi (Amrita Rao)- who loves Jaidev.

The basic premise of the story is simple. GG has a dream to build a city and for that he needs the land occupied by Guruji’s Ashram and the surrounding forest areas inhabited by the tribals. He, along with a minister, tricks the tribals into shifting to Mumbai. However, thanks to a petition by guruji, all his construction work comes to a standstill. The other interesting angle in the story is that the land on which the Ashram stands is leased land from the government and the lease expires in a year. GG can’t wait for the year to end. What does he do? He manipulates Jai into siding with him on his gameplan. He uses all the old tricks in the book to trap Jai- money, wine and woman. He even uses his muse-Natasha to fool Jai. And Jai falls into the trap. And Madhavi can only watch the man she loves moving away from her. Jai finally realizes his follies and sets things right.
Now, using this story as the skeleton, the director has woven a tale which highlights some issues that most citizens are concerned about, but do little by way of action. The characters associated with guruji in the film are extremely concerned about deforestation. In fact, Jai and his sidekicks even undergo a crash course abroad on reforestation. The issue of builder-mafia nexus is beautifully depicted.

Before dwelling on the plusses and minuses of the film, let me salute John Matthan for the premise on which his story is based. There have been only handful of films in the past where the protagonist of the story is an issue or a thought. Two recent films that I can think of in recent times- Swades and Hazaron Kwahishein Aisi…
Alas!! What could have been a wonderful film fades away as just another confusion rather than a fusion between commercial films and the “art” films… the film suffers from a major defect- “the-good-1st half-but-bad-2nd half” syndrome. The film needs to be trimmed by at least 25-30 minutes. The details on horticulture have to be deleted. The songs act as a barrier in the narration. The music is not up to the mark with only “Fitna dil” offering some solace. Remember “Hoshwalon Ko Khabar” from sarfarosh which was so beautifully rendered by Jagjit Singh. He however does not register an impact in this film with his rendition of the title track-“Shikhar”.
Amrita Rao is miscast as the gaaoon ki gori, or should I say, ashram ki gori. So is Jawed Sheikh as Guruji. It is indeed wonderful to see an actor from across the border acting in a hindi film, however he lacks the screen presence which the character of Guruji demands. Bipasha does justice to her role though it has no meat in it. Sushant Singh is jarring in the comedy track. You would hardly notice Farha in the film. Manoj Joshi is strictly okay.

Shahid Kapoor plays his role really well and is full of energy. However, the cake goes to Ajay Devgan. You cannot imagine any other actor playing the role of GG with such panache. He is extremely stylish and emotes his scenes brilliantly (sample the scene when he shakes hands with Shahid Kapoor in the climax). His role reminds one of Amitabh Bachchan’s role in Trishul. However while Bachchan’s Vijay had shades of grey, Devgan’s GG is more scheming, cold and black. John Abraham is passable in his cameo.
The cinematographer has done a brilliant job in the film- be it the serene beauty of “Songarh” or the scenes in Thailand.

The film tends to be a documentary at times (the scenes of Shahid Kapur paying a visit to his company would remind any B-school student of the typical Pre-Placement Talks preceding placements). It could have been less preachy. One can laud the film for what the film could have been, but the end result is disappointing.
When we came out of the hall (my 2 friends and me), one of my friends remarked that certain portions reminded her of “Krishidarshan” shown on Doordarshan. Maybe this comment was a trifle too harsh, but the impact the movie registered on the ticket-buying movie goer was such. It would be surprising if the film goes on to be a hit across the country.
The final word: be prepared for some heavy duty stuff…

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