Shabri

Cast: Eesha Koppikhar, Manish Wadhwan, Pradeep Rawat, Raj Arjun, Zakir Hussain

Writer/Director: Lalit Marathe

Producer: Ram Gopal Varma

Plot: Day in and day out as she powers on the grinding machine of her flour mill Shabri senses time is running out for her. She wants to live her life her own way but is burdened with reponsbility of supporting her parents and younger brother. Opportunity presents itself in the most unlikely way and Shabri a common working woman from  a Mumbai slum ends up threatening the biggest corridors of power in the Matka gambling underworld of the city.

Shabri’s neighborhood is full of young jobless desperate boys whose heroes are the local Matka gambling den operators. Her brother Bandya looks up to Murad who runs a Matka den.

The sensetive Murad wants Bandya to have a better life than him. Years ago he was suked into the black hole of survival that the neighborhood breeds and does not want Bandya study, get a degree and break free from the shackles of the slums. He helps Bandya with money time and again and inspires him of a world beyond.

Shabri’s life takes a turn when the dreaded Police Inspector Khare rounds off the innocent Bandya alongwith other unruly boys from the neighborhood. Bandya succymbs to police tortue. His death becomes a moment of truth for an impassioned Shabri. She ends up violating the law.

Shabri’s only hope Murad discovers how incapable he is of helping her in dire need. His desperation lands them in further trouble as he ends up killing his immediate boss Kisnya, the brother of the notorious Matka don, Rajdharbhau.

Hounded by the cops as well as the Matka kingpins, Shabri rises to take charge of her life. Making sure this time that things turn u[ exactly the way she wants.

Eesha Koppikar is on a revenge spree once her innocent brother dies in police custody. She loses her friends too. Read the review of Shabri for more.

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.

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