the underworld is back...
Lying waste in Ramu's factory was a story of female gangster, Shabri (Eesha Koppikhar), who kills a cop after his brother is unjustly killed in police custody, and goes missing. Murad (Raj Arjun), an underworld bookie, helps her hide from massive police hunt. This upsets his boss, the underworld supremo Rajdhar Bhau (Pradeep Rawat). When Rajdhar kills Murad, Shabri surfaces to turn the gun on him. Delayed by alsmost five years, the director Lalit Marathe almost lost hope. But finally the film sees the light.
Personally i had a high hope on the Debutant Director Lalit Marathe, who wrote the screenplay of Swades. And Ramu's protege didn't disappoint that way. The film reminds you of the time when RGV was unleashingd some kick-ass underworld movies one after one. I can see all those tones, camera movements, loud sound effects in Lalit's work. Sometimes, even better than his guru. His approach is more sublime, less noisy, but moves with a great pace. But the pace could have hold back a bit, for it goes a bit fast at the end, forcing a botched climax despite having the shock value at the end.
The film fails to cash on on the good start it got. After the second half submission sets in. As a viewer, Shabri ends too early for me, half empty. The khallas girl (Eesha) delivers a very poised performance as the sari clad, cold-blooded protagonist, who doesn't talk much, and keep an icy silence through out. Like Verma's similar movies, the gun language it is. Zakir Hussain's character as the cop is the weakest point; it remains confused, and becomes irritating too. Pradeep Rawat, the ghajini villain, makes quite an impact.
on the whole, Shabri is a decent watch if you're a fan of underworld movies. You've seen it before, but an intense drama with powerful portrayal from the cast make it worth your money. and the real difference is what the tagline tells us, "it's the female gangster...". After a longtime, here's a Bollywood film with a female protagonist in the lead, which doesnt disappoint, and in all modesty, it's really worth the money.