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Eesha Koppikar in Shabri

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Business rating: 1/5 star

Star cast: Eesha Koppikar, Raj Arjun, Zakir Hussain.

What’s Good: The fast pace of the film; Eesha and Zakir Hussain’s performances.

What’s Bad: Lack of novelty of subject.

Verdict: Shabri will fail to make its mark.

Loo break: Not really.

Watch or Not?: Watch it for Eesha’s performance.

User rating:

Reliance Entertainment and Ram Gopal Varma’s Shabri (A) is the story of survival, dignity, determination and triumph of a simple woman in the face of adversity. Shabri (Eesha Koppikar) works in a flour mill to support her parents and a younger brother, Bandya (Vijay Khadechkar), who is struggling to find a means of livelihood. Bandya looks up to Murad (newfind Raj Arjun) who runs a matka den. On his part, Murad has a soft corner for both, Shabri and Bandya. He does not want Bandya to follow in his footsteps.

One day, the innocent Bandya is rounded up along with other unruly boys of the neighbourhood by the dreaded police inspector Khare (Datta Sonawane). Bandya succumbs to police torture. This infuriates Shabri so much that she ends up violating the law. Much as Murad would like to help Shabri, he realises that he is helpless. Murad’s desperation leads him to kill his immediate boss, Kisnya (Niraj Kumar), who is the brother of Rajdharbhau (Pradeep Rawat), the matka don of the city.

Now, Murad and his partner, Vilas (Manish Wadhwa), flee the city with Shabri. But Rajdharbhau closes in on Murad and Vilas. Murad is killed. Shabri then swears revenge against Rajdharbhau, the man who took away all she ever had. Is she able to avenge the murders? Or does the arm of law on the one hand and the matka king’s reach on the other prove to be too much for her?

Shabri Review – Script Analysis

Lalit Marathe’s story is the usual tale of oppression of the poor by the rich and influential. The difference, however, is that the protagonist in this case is a female instead of the usual male in subjects of this kind. Other than this, the story affords no novelty. Marathe’s screenplay is also routine as there’s more of plotting and planning, swearing revenge and actual confrontation scenes than anything else. Although there’s nothing wrong with the screenplay of the revenge drama, its biggest drawback is that it is too routine to make much of an impact. Lalit Marathe’s dialogues are quite nice and go with the film’s mood.

Shabri Review – Star Performances

Eesha Koppikar delivers a very good performance in the title role. She plays the avenging angel very efficiently. Raj Arjun is good. Manish Wadhwa also does well. Pradeep Rawat is effective. Zakir Hussain is brilliant as inspector Qazi. He is delightful to watch. Sanjay Kulkarni (as inspector Kadam) and Datta Sonawane (as inspector Khare) lend good support. Niraj Kumar, Kishore Nandlaskar (as Shabri’s father), Vimal Mhatre (as Shabri’s mother), Vijay Khadechkar (as Bandya) and Swapnil Dinkar (Bandya’s friend) provide able support. Parvez Fazal Khan, Ragesh Asthana, Shridhar Patil, Sudhir Mayekar, Ishaaque, Jaya Kolekar, Santosh Shetty, Dhanu, Wilson, Ganesh Shetty, Babla, Ashok Mhatre, Sharad Gurav, Raj Solomon, Pramodini, Sunil Jadhav, Sugath Uthle, Balwant Jadhav, Rajendra Jadhav, Aslam Wadkar, Sagar Kale and Navnath fill the bill.

Click next for more on the direction & box-office verdict

Starring Eesha Koppikhar, Shabri, written and directed by Lalit Marathe, is a story about how a simple woman from a Mumbai slum ends up threatening the biggest corridors of power in the matka gambling underworld of the city. Writer-director Lalit Marathe says “Most achievements are directly proportionate to the ferocity of hunger and the finality of the pangs. Shabri feels raw hunger. She is driven as much by the passion for vengeance as the terrible desire to live her life her own way. When inspired nothing in the world can stop what must rise. When everything is at stake there is nothing to lose. Shabri is an underdog whose stubbornness to have her way against all odds will touch a chord in all those who dream to soar.”

Reflecting Shabri’s spirit on the eve of the film’s release Lalit Marathe says, “I feel like a dog who will have his Friday!”

The film stars Esha Koppikhar, Raj Arjun, Pradip Rawat and Zakir Hussain.

Gul Panag is all praise about her Hello Darling co-stars. “Eesha is a brilliant actor. I’ve worked with her before in Hello, so we share a good professional relationship. Celina completely blew me away with her brilliance. She can talk about anything under the sun!” Gul raved.

The girls are obviously shooting for a song, so how does Gul feel about donning some dancing shoes? “There wasn’t supposed to be any naach-gaana in the script initially but director Manoj Tiwari added a song later on and I had no choice. But Eesha and Celina were a great and they helped me a lot with the steps.” And the lovely dimples are back.