The moment I saw the theatrical trailer of Shamitabh I was licking my lips and was eagerly waiting for this movie to come out. The combination of Mr. Done it all, Amitabh Bachhan, and an impressive new comer to hindi films, Dhanush, with Balki at the helm to direct them seemed all too good to lose out on. Add an interesting plot to the mix and I thought we had a winner on our hands. But 30 minutes into the movie and I realized that the plot line was paper thin and too much was left up to the brilliance of the 2 main leads of the movie. The climax was unconventional albeit predictable. In the end I was left with a feeling similar to the one of an unsuccessful Indian cricket defense in an ODI and saying “What if they could have done this… Only if they would have done that..”
Shamitabh almost seems like a movie born out of a conversation at a party etc. The idea is brilliant and very innovative, just like all the other Balki movies. In a nutshell Shamitabh is about an aspiring mute actor Danish, who needs Amitabh’s voice to realize his dream. Together they become the superstar Shamitabh by combining their names. But beyond the core idea and some witty dialogs in between the movie fails to deliver content wise. Even the character back stories are borrowed from real life stories. There are pockets of brilliance in the movie where you get hooked on for say about 15 minutes but then the next 15 minutes seemed like a drag and I heard myself saying, “Kya paka rage hair”. Thankfully the songs did not interrupt the flow to add to my woes and provided somewhat of a background score for most parts. “Only if” the editing would have been a bit tighter. The end credits were one of the coolest parts for me and a very nice way of paying a tribute without explicitly saying out loud. Also I felt there was a subtle attempt to celebrate Amitabh Bachhan’s voice.
With all the issues in the content of Shamitabh, the performances by Bachhan and Dhanush are simply superlative. Amitabh Bachhan proves once again that no one and I mean absolutely no one can match him for the drunk scenes. The way this man is defying his age and is carrying on is simply amazing. Dhanush stands up toe to toe with his senior counterpart, proving Ranjhana was no fluke and displays an array of emotions. Akshara Hassan is clearly the loose end in the acting department of this movie. A fellow viewer in the theatre summed it up for me when he said “kahan se laaye hai yaar isko?” (Where have they got her from?). She looked like a teenager who lacks the charisma and skill and just fails to stand up even half as tall as her co stars.
Music by Illayaraja is pleasant on the ears but lyrics don’t really help the cause. In the end ‘Pidly si baatein’ is the only song that stuck with me. Extra points to Amitabh Bachhan for his vocals. There are no two opinions about Balki’s talent as a story teller. I felt there was just too little content here to make a full feature film. This could have been a great addition to one of the 'Bombay Talkies' short films.
I would not say its a horrible movie, but its definitely DVD/ satellite TV material for me. An opportunity missed for sure. For the 2 bright star actors of the movie I would rate it 6.25 on 10.
http://www.desimartini.com/reviews/gaurav-gadre-shamitabh/rd28755md3462.htm?fb_action_ids=10153064165201718&fb_action_types=og.comments
http://www.desimartini.com/reviews/gaurav-gadre-shamitabh/rd28755md3462.htm?fb_action_ids=10153064165201718&fb_action_types=og.comments
