Genre: Comedy
Release Date: 18th November, 2011
Cast: Shubh, Pratik Katare, Saurabh Shukla, Raghubir Yadav
Writer/Director: Shubh
Producer/s: Saritaa Deepak Jalan, Hrishitaa Bhatt
A group of four friends (Shubh, Chitrak Bandhopadhyay, Harsh Parekh & Pratik Katare) is caught by the airport police and are mistaken to be terrorists. Can they prove their innocence? Read the review of Shakal Pe Mat Ja for more.
Business rating: 0.5 / 5 stars
Star cast: Shubh, Chitrak Bandhopadhyay, Harsh Parekh, master Pratik Katare, Saurabh Shukla, Raghubir Yadav.
What’s Good: Nothing at all.
What’s Bad: Everything right from the story to the screenplay, the performances, the direction, the climax et al.
Verdict: Shakal Pe Mat Ja is a resounding flop.
Loo break: Any time, any number of times.
Watch or Not?: Watch at your own risk.
Linc Entertainment and Ipix Movies’ Shakal Pe Mat Ja (A) is the story of four young boys who are mistaken to be terrorists by the police on duty at the airport. Ankit Sharma (Shubh), Rohan Malhotra (Chitrak Bandhopadhyay), Bulai (Harsh Parekh) and Dhruv Sharma (master Pratik Katare) are four friends who have come to take photographs of aircrafts at the airport. They get picked up by the police and one misunderstanding leads to another till they are suspected to be terrorists. Soon, the Anti-Terrorist Squad officer, Chavan (Saurabh Shukla), and police officer Om Prakash (Raghubir Yadav) are convinced, the four are indeed terrorists. What happens thereafter? Are they able to prove their innocence? If so, how?
Shakal Pe Mat Ja Review: Script Analysis
Shubh’s story about four young boys being picked up by the police and suspected to be terrorists is so juvenile that it hardly makes sense. Shubh’s screenplay is more irritating than the story. Even an idiot would realise that the four aren’t terrorists from the way they behave and from their naivete. Assuming for a moment that the police and the ATS did not understand that the four are not terrorists, the question that begs an answer is: in that case, why is the police treating them with kid gloves? No terrorists or even suspected terrorists are treated the way the four are. So it is almost like the police and ATS on the one hand and the foursome on the other are playing a cute little game with each other. The way the four boys behave when they are suspected to be terrorists and even when they are pronounced terrorists is ridiculous, to say the least. Likewise, the behaviour of the police and the ATS officers is so idiotic that nothing at all makes any impact whatsoever.
The second half, in which the four set out to run away from custody, is again so long-winding, boring and childish that the audience loses its patience. The entire sequence of the bomb scare at the airport and of the bomb diffusion has been so stupidly handled that it would seem, the writer would have the audience believe that it was a Diwali cracker he was talking about that would explode any moment, not a bomb. It remains unexplained why hundreds of passengers refuse to leave the airport premises even when the bomb is about to explode and, instead, prefer to wait and watch if it gets diffused or not. Were they so excited about being blown to death if the diffusion failed? And the way the ATS chief, Chavan, behaves when the bomb is about to explode and when it is being attempted to be diffused is seen to be believed! Truly, the writer doesn’t seem to know the difference between a real bomb and a Laxmi bomb that is burst on Diwali. The tracks of Amina (Aamna Sharif) and of Prachi, the girlfriend of Ankit, seem meaningless. All in all, the screenplay could easily bag an award or two for the worst screenplay. Even the dialogues are unbelievably poor!
Shakal Pe Mat Ja Review: Star Performances
Shubh acts naturally although he doesn’t look like a hero. Chitrak Bandhopadhyay is quite nice but his accented English will hardly be understood. His farting scenes are overdone and are irritating more than entertaining. Harsh Parekh is hardly average. Master Pratik Katare irritates. Saurabh Shukla is not sure whether he should be doing comedy in serious scenes or should be serious in them. He hardly creates an impact. Raghubir Yadav is at least earnest. Aamna Sharif is wasted. Umang Jain also gets no scope in the role of Prachi. Mushtaq Khan overacts. Aditya Lakhia is alright. It is sad to see Zakir Hussain being so hopelessly wasted. Joy Sengupta tries to be funny but fails. Others lend weak support.
Shakal Pe Mat Ja Review: Direction & Technical Aspects
Shubh’s direction is as dull and disjointed as his script. Music (Salim-Sulaiman) is average. The lyrics are too commonplace to be true. Amar Mohile’s background score is rather dull. Camerawork (Sahir Raza) is average. Sets (Sunil Nigvekar) are hardly worth mentioning. Editing (Nipun Gupta) is terribly weak. Production and technical values are pathetic.
Shakal Pe Mat Ja Review: Komal Nahta’s Verdict
On the whole, Shakal Pe Mat Ja is a poor show from start to finish and will meet with a disastrous fate.
Shakal Pe Mat Ja Trailer
Komal Nahta, the Editor of Koimoi.com, is Bollywood’s most trusted trade analyst & film reviewer. You can follow him on Twitter and check out his Video Blog.