Shaitan (film)
Encyclopedia
Shaitan is a 2011 Hindi
thriller film, directed by Bejoy Nambiar
starring Rajeev Khandelwal
, Kalki Koechlin
, Gulshan Devaiya, Shiv Pandit, Neil Bhoopalam, Kirti Kulhari, Rajit Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra and Raj Kumar Yadav
. The film was released on June 10, 2011. It released to critical acclaim and was a commercial success as well.
), who is mentally disturbed deeply affected by the attempted suicide and eventual institutionalization of her mother. She moves from Los Angeles
to Mumbai
, where she meets KC (Gulshan Devaiya) at a party her parents forcefully take her to. KC introduces her to his gang - Dash (Shiv Pandit), Zubin (Neil Bhoopalam) and Tanya (Kirti Kulhari). They lead a directionless life, having fun, drinking, using drugs and driving around in a Hummer. On one such occasion, they started racing a random car and won, but in the celebration rash, they run over 2 people on a scooter killing them instantly. They quickly leave the spot but are easily traced down by a slimy cop, Inspector Malwankar, who demands 25 lakhs to make a lose on the case and go away. Dash tells them about a friend who faked his own brother's kidnapping and pulled out 20 lakhs from his own parents. Therefore, they hatch a plot to kidnap Amy, who volunteers to be kidnapped. Amy's father immediately approaches Police Commissioner (Pawan Malhotra
) for help. Police Commissioner assigns an uptight cop Arvind Mathur (Rajeev Khandelwal) to solve the case unofficially as he is suspended after he throws a corporator off from the first floor of his own house for allegedly beating up another woman. Inspector Arvind Mathur is shown having a disturbed married life and nearly divorces his wife. The event of Amy's kidnapping quickly turns into a media circus, which puts pressure on the youngsters who go on a gruesome and disturbing killing spree. KC kills a man who attempts to rape Tanya and meanwhile the police inadvertently solve another case involving kidnapping of a German girl whose description matched Amy's. Tanya freaks out and convinces Zubin, who has feelings for her, to take her back home. Zubin goes to bring a cab. Amy finds cocaine in Dash's satchel. Under the influence of cocaine, Amy catches Tanya on Zubin's phone and assumes that she had called the police, while she had actually called her sister. Amy acting aggressively gets into a fight with Tanya while KC intervenes and knocks Tanya to a nearby wall in anguish when she accuses him of getting all of them in trouble, she is left unconscious in a pool of her blood. Zubin discovers this and quickly flees from the spot in fright and is eventually found and arrested by the police. Later Dash discovers the scene and escorts KC and Amy away to a church and instructs them to stay there. Meanwhile, Tanya is hospitalized after she was found by a sweeper. Zubin confesses everything to the police, and they trace down Malwankar, who is nearly killed in the chase.
Then police trace down Dash, KC and Amy to a church when KC had called his father on seeing his sister being traumatized by the insensitive media and requests him to help them out. Dash, however, is reluctant to KC's action and kills KC after their disagreement turns into a bloody fight. Dash tries to force Amy to run from the scene but is killed by Amy who is now high on cocaine, who has a violent flashback about her dead mother trying to drown her (while she was a kid), while Dash holds her down in the church. She then stabs Dash to his death, ending the mayhem. The police finally wrap up the case declaring that all four friends were kidnapped by Dash. To save the reputation of the police force, the commissioner clears the name of that Inspector Malwankar by saying that he was injured while solving the case. Inspector Arvind Mathur reunites with his wife after she returns back to him.
One must note that the story of this film is painfully similar to Anurag Kashyap's Paanch which did not release due to "too much blood and gore" in the film...
in Guru, approached Kalki Koechlin
to play a role in the movie. But since the film was not moving for two years, Anurag Kashyap
agreed to produce it on a smaller budget.
from Bollywood Hungama
gave the film 4/5 stars and said "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." Pankaj Sabnani from Glamsham also gave the film 4/5 and said "Shaitan is a spellbinding thriller with 'awesomeness' written all over it." Nikhat Kazmi
gave it 3.5/5 stars and wrote "it turns the camera three-sixty degrees and brings you the grime of a subterranean sub-culture that throbs amidst a certain section of metropolitan maverick twenty-somethings." Anupama Chopra
from NDTV
gave the film 3/5 stars. Mayank Shekhar from Hindustan Times
also gave the film 3/5 stars. Ankit Ojha of Planet Bollywood praised the film and it's thematic element to a large extent, giving the movie 9 stars out of 10, thereby also writing, "Nambiar has managed to impress each and everyone of the discerning film viewer and movie buff. This is Hindi cinema finally coming of age! Recommended for more than one watch, as to absorb the totality of the film’s context and subtext! Outstanding stuff!"
One negative review came from Raja Sen
of Rediff.com
. He gave it 2/5 stars and wrote "Populated exclusively by the very coolest of character actors, backgrounded by a blaring retro-loving soundtrack, and shot dizzyingly in hypertechnicolor."
, Amar Mohile, Ranjit Barot
, and Anupam Roy. Lyrics are penned by K. S. Krishnan, Sanjeev Sharma, Colin Terence, Abhishek, and Shradha. Ironically, Khoya Khoya Chand (remix song by Mikey McCleary, vocals by Suman Sridhar) is not included in the track lists by the producers. The popular number "Hawa Hawai" from the 80's superhit, Mr India, composed by the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal has been reused in the film. There has however been numerous talks about an almost "lip-lock" between Kalki Koechlin
and Kirti Kulhari in that song.
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
thriller film, directed by Bejoy Nambiar
Bejoy Nambiar
is a Indian director, producer and screenwriter. He is mostly known for his critically acclaimed short films, Rahu and Reflections. He marked his debut with the Hindi film Shaitan for which he received rave reviews....
starring Rajeev Khandelwal
Rajeev Khandelwal
Rajeev Khandelwal is a popular Indian film actor notable for his versatility and choice of scripts. He has played the harrowed Dr. Aamir Ali in his critically acclaimed 2008 debut film Aamir and powerfully depicted the torn ACP Arvind Mathur who battles his inner demons in Shaitan...
, Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...
, Gulshan Devaiya, Shiv Pandit, Neil Bhoopalam, Kirti Kulhari, Rajit Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra and Raj Kumar Yadav
Raj Kumar Yadav
RajKumar Yadav , is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films. He is graduate from Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India, Yadav was a theatre person before he was cast in with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex aur Dhokha in 2010. He is rumored to be cast in BHHOOoo, a horror film, to be...
. The film was released on June 10, 2011. It released to critical acclaim and was a commercial success as well.
Plot
The film starts off with Amy (Kalki KoechlinKalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...
), who is mentally disturbed deeply affected by the attempted suicide and eventual institutionalization of her mother. She moves from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, where she meets KC (Gulshan Devaiya) at a party her parents forcefully take her to. KC introduces her to his gang - Dash (Shiv Pandit), Zubin (Neil Bhoopalam) and Tanya (Kirti Kulhari). They lead a directionless life, having fun, drinking, using drugs and driving around in a Hummer. On one such occasion, they started racing a random car and won, but in the celebration rash, they run over 2 people on a scooter killing them instantly. They quickly leave the spot but are easily traced down by a slimy cop, Inspector Malwankar, who demands 25 lakhs to make a lose on the case and go away. Dash tells them about a friend who faked his own brother's kidnapping and pulled out 20 lakhs from his own parents. Therefore, they hatch a plot to kidnap Amy, who volunteers to be kidnapped. Amy's father immediately approaches Police Commissioner (Pawan Malhotra
Pavan Malhotra
Pavan Malhotra is a Hindi film and television actor. He has played lead roles in Buddhadev Dasgupta’s National Film Award-winning Bagh Bahadur and Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro both released in 1989...
) for help. Police Commissioner assigns an uptight cop Arvind Mathur (Rajeev Khandelwal) to solve the case unofficially as he is suspended after he throws a corporator off from the first floor of his own house for allegedly beating up another woman. Inspector Arvind Mathur is shown having a disturbed married life and nearly divorces his wife. The event of Amy's kidnapping quickly turns into a media circus, which puts pressure on the youngsters who go on a gruesome and disturbing killing spree. KC kills a man who attempts to rape Tanya and meanwhile the police inadvertently solve another case involving kidnapping of a German girl whose description matched Amy's. Tanya freaks out and convinces Zubin, who has feelings for her, to take her back home. Zubin goes to bring a cab. Amy finds cocaine in Dash's satchel. Under the influence of cocaine, Amy catches Tanya on Zubin's phone and assumes that she had called the police, while she had actually called her sister. Amy acting aggressively gets into a fight with Tanya while KC intervenes and knocks Tanya to a nearby wall in anguish when she accuses him of getting all of them in trouble, she is left unconscious in a pool of her blood. Zubin discovers this and quickly flees from the spot in fright and is eventually found and arrested by the police. Later Dash discovers the scene and escorts KC and Amy away to a church and instructs them to stay there. Meanwhile, Tanya is hospitalized after she was found by a sweeper. Zubin confesses everything to the police, and they trace down Malwankar, who is nearly killed in the chase.
Then police trace down Dash, KC and Amy to a church when KC had called his father on seeing his sister being traumatized by the insensitive media and requests him to help them out. Dash, however, is reluctant to KC's action and kills KC after their disagreement turns into a bloody fight. Dash tries to force Amy to run from the scene but is killed by Amy who is now high on cocaine, who has a violent flashback about her dead mother trying to drown her (while she was a kid), while Dash holds her down in the church. She then stabs Dash to his death, ending the mayhem. The police finally wrap up the case declaring that all four friends were kidnapped by Dash. To save the reputation of the police force, the commissioner clears the name of that Inspector Malwankar by saying that he was injured while solving the case. Inspector Arvind Mathur reunites with his wife after she returns back to him.
One must note that the story of this film is painfully similar to Anurag Kashyap's Paanch which did not release due to "too much blood and gore" in the film...
Cast
- Rajeev KhandelwalRajeev KhandelwalRajeev Khandelwal is a popular Indian film actor notable for his versatility and choice of scripts. He has played the harrowed Dr. Aamir Ali in his critically acclaimed 2008 debut film Aamir and powerfully depicted the torn ACP Arvind Mathur who battles his inner demons in Shaitan...
as Inspector Arvind Mathur - Kalki KoechlinKalki KoechlinKalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...
as Amrita Jayshankar a.k.a. Amy - Shiv Pandit as Dushyant Sahu a.k.a. Dash
- Neil Bhoopalam as Zubin Shroff
- Gulshan Devaiya as Karan Chaudhary a.k.a. KC
- Kirti Kulhari as Tanya Sharma
- Rajit Kapoor as Amy's Father
- Pawan Malhotra as Commissioner of Police
- Nikhil Chinapa
- Rukhsar as Tanya's elder sister
- Abhijeet Deshpande
- Raj Kumar YadavRaj Kumar YadavRajKumar Yadav , is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films. He is graduate from Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India, Yadav was a theatre person before he was cast in with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex aur Dhokha in 2010. He is rumored to be cast in BHHOOoo, a horror film, to be...
as Inspector Malvankar(Pintya) - Sheetal MenonSheetal MenonSheetal Menon is an Indian model and actress.Menon is trained as a Bharatanatyam dancer and began her career as a model with the agency headed by Atul Kasbekar. During her final year in college she joined Anupam Kher’s course, Actor Prepares. Her first acting role came in Nari Hira's Bhram – An...
as Nandini (Arvind's wife) - Rajat BarmechaRajat BarmechaRajat Barmecha is an Indian film actor who is best known for his lead role in the multi award winning 2010 Bollywood film Udaan.-Childhood:...
as Shomu (Cameo) - Imran Rasheed as Rehmat
Production
Director Bejoy Nambiar, who assisted Mani RatnamMani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi starring Anil Kapoor in 1983...
in Guru, approached Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...
to play a role in the movie. But since the film was not moving for two years, Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap (director)
Anurag Singh Kashyap is an Indian film director and screenwriter. As a director, he is known for Black Friday , a controversial and award-winning Hindi film about the 1993 Bombay bombings, followed by No Smoking , Dev D and Gulaal...
agreed to produce it on a smaller budget.
Reception
The film received positive response from critics in India. Taran AdarshTaran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh is an Indian film critic, journalist, editor and film trade analyst. He is also a former producer and screenwriter. He is the son of film director and producer, B.K. Adarsh....
from Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama is a leading Bollywood entertainment website, owned by hungama.com....
gave the film 4/5 stars and said "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." Pankaj Sabnani from Glamsham also gave the film 4/5 and said "Shaitan is a spellbinding thriller with 'awesomeness' written all over it." Nikhat Kazmi
Nikhat Kazmi
Nikhat Kazmi is a senior correspondent and well-known film critic from India, who has been writing for The Times of India, since 1987.-Books:* If Shakespeare was a gun: a play. Writers Workshop, 1984....
gave it 3.5/5 stars and wrote "it turns the camera three-sixty degrees and brings you the grime of a subterranean sub-culture that throbs amidst a certain section of metropolitan maverick twenty-somethings." Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra is a noted author, journalist and film critic. She has written several books on Indian cinema and has been a movie reviewer with NDTV and India Today.-Career:...
from NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
gave the film 3/5 stars. Mayank Shekhar from Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
also gave the film 3/5 stars. Ankit Ojha of Planet Bollywood praised the film and it's thematic element to a large extent, giving the movie 9 stars out of 10, thereby also writing, "Nambiar has managed to impress each and everyone of the discerning film viewer and movie buff. This is Hindi cinema finally coming of age! Recommended for more than one watch, as to absorb the totality of the film’s context and subtext! Outstanding stuff!"
One negative review came from Raja Sen
Raja Sen
Raja Sen is an Indian film and television director, and the winner of three National Film Awards from Kolkata, West Bengal, India.-Career:...
of Rediff.com
Rediff.com
Rediff.com India is a news, information, entertainment, and shopping portal. It was founded in 1996 as "Rediff On The NeT" and is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New Delhi and New York City, USA....
. He gave it 2/5 stars and wrote "Populated exclusively by the very coolest of character actors, backgrounded by a blaring retro-loving soundtrack, and shot dizzyingly in hypertechnicolor."
Soundtrack
The music is composed by Prashant PillaiPrashant Pillai
Prashant Pillai is a music producer and composer from India. His music style has diverse influences and elements of jazz, electronica, funk, world music and more...
, Amar Mohile, Ranjit Barot
Ranjit Barot
Ranjit Barot is an Indian film score composer, music director, music arranger and singer. He is a long time associate of A. R. Rahman and has done music arrangements for him in many of his works....
, and Anupam Roy. Lyrics are penned by K. S. Krishnan, Sanjeev Sharma, Colin Terence, Abhishek, and Shradha. Ironically, Khoya Khoya Chand (remix song by Mikey McCleary, vocals by Suman Sridhar) is not included in the track lists by the producers. The popular number "Hawa Hawai" from the 80's superhit, Mr India, composed by the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal has been reused in the film. There has however been numerous talks about an almost "lip-lock" between Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin
Kalki Koechlin is an Indian film actress of French descent who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed 2009 Hindi film Dev.D...
and Kirti Kulhari in that song.