Shivaay Movie (2016) – a Viewer’s Review

It’s Deepawali week and yes even the box office seems to have caught the feel of festivity at its end. Two big banner films are releasing this week namely Ae dil hai mushil directed and produced by Karan Johar and Shivaay in which Ajay Devgan is seen wearing multiple hats namely of producer, director, story writer & actor.

Ajay Devgan did his directorial debut in early 2000 with a rather forgettable movie called ‘U Me Aur Hum’. After this ill-fated movie he hadn’t directed any other movie until Shivaay happened.

Incidentally, the story of this movie has also been co-written by Ajay himself.

What Worked for Me:

• Songs: Music given by Mithoon has done wonders. All the songs whether it is the title track or romantic number or the song Ek Tu Hai Aur Ek Main Hu are catchy. Especially the song Bolo Har Har in the voices of Mohit Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh & a rap done by Badshah is spectacular. 

• The opening sequence of the film is a piece of marvel. So my sincere advice to all those going for this movie is – Don’t miss the beginning!

• Ajay Devgan has done acting, action & stunts all with great finesse.

• The child actor, Abigail, adds the cuteness quotient to this action-drama flick.  

• The first chase and the action sequences are well planned and executed well. Only a few times you would be reminded of the great friendship of Ajay Devgan and Rohit Shetty.

• The story is good and very fresh. Kudos!

• Ajay Devgan has shined as the director with some brilliant shots in the film.

• Locations of the movie have been stupendously selected from the snow-capped Himalayas in Dalhousie area of India to Bulgaria. 

• The issue voiced in the film of Human Trafficking is one thing that actually needs to be discussed out and solved globally.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• The length of the movie is the biggest set back for this film. 

• After intermission, there are scenes in the film which are overly dramatic and remind you of old Indian drama films. Scenes like the father saying the child to run, hero after multiple injuries finishing off villain and more.

• The ending could have been cut short but since Ajay Devgan loves to make children-centric movies, he might have planned to end on a father-daughter relation high.

• The different chase sequences though are filmed good but could have been of shorter duration.

• Some of the seasoned actors like Girish Karnad, Saurabh Shukla, I feel have been wasted with such petite roles.

• Vir Das doesn’t really  live up to the expectations of the audience with his comic role.

Story:

An Indian local mountaineer (Ajay) meets a foreign girl (Erika) on one of his expeditions. In a short span love brews between them and follows the birth of a one-sided wanted child. Erika leaves the father – daughter duo to get back to her country and pursue her goals. After nine years, the little girl (Abigail) finds out that her mother is alive and convinces her father to meet her mother once. They leave for the foreign land and this when their lives take an unpleasant twist. Next seen is a father facing extraordinary circumstances and doing everything to protect his world that simply is his daughter.

Verdict:

I will give this film a 3.5/5 stars.

The choice between two big banner films in a festival weekend is tough to make. Since one doesn’t want to get bored to death or waste the precious festival time. If we compare just the trailers of both movies, a die-hard romantic like me would have preferred Ae Dil Hai Mushkil but trust me on this that ‘Shivaay’ wouldn’t disappoint you at any level apart from its length. After watching this flick (also mentioning here that I haven’t yet seen ADHM), honestly, I have lesser hopes that ADHM would be as good as Shivaay! Only keep the Pop Corns or Nachos going and you would like Shivaay!