Shamitabh | Hindi Film | Bollywood Movie Reviews

Acting is a very specific art. You need to pretend doing things very convincingly which you may not do in your real life. If you are good at doing so, you are definitely a legend. Sometimes you need to look tired when you are actually very fresh, you need to smile when you are going through sad moments, you need to look dead when you are actually alive,… The list can go on and on. If you are a Bollywood movie fan and if you are asked that who can act the role of a drunk (Sharabi) convincingly, Amitabh Bachchan is the name comes to your mind for sure. Watching him doing it so convincingly may surprise you knowing that he actually doesn’t drink! Well, that is – the acting, and that is why he is a legendary actor.

There are a very few actors who have ordinary persona and can still make a place in the glamor world, where looks are very important. Remember Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja? Well, you may remember him by his screen name Dhanush. He played protagonist fantastically in a movie named Raanjhanaa. And he gave a sensatonal hit song – Kolavery D – before that. He is one such actor.

R. Balki have given us movies like Cheeni Kum and Paa. His talented wife Gauri Shinde gave a nice movie named English Vinglish. R. Balki’s association with Amitabh moves on and they are again came together in this film – Shamitabh.

This time Balki came with a different concept, integrate a mute but brilliant actor and voice of a drunk but fantastic voice over artist! So dhanuSH and AMITABH comes together to become SHAMITABH.

The movie speaks about some latest voice technologies, Bollywood behind the scenes stuff and much more, but the USP of the movie is its unique concept, nice execution and tremendous acting by the lead pair – Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush. Life is a very strange thing, Amitabh was rejected a job due to his voice on Radio in his early days, and in this film, his voice is one of the heroes!

In addition to Amitabh and Dhanush, the performance of the kid playing Young Danish is fantastic. For example, just see his school scene and you will be fan of him. He is so convincing and natural that you cannot expect someone else playing the role. The only person we found in the movie, who need to work on her acting skills is Akshara Haasan.

The pace of the film works in favor of the same. However the end of the film may not be liked by many, as most of us want to see the “happy ending” stories. The Robert De Nero scene is also not so appealing. There are various cinematic liberties taken by the makers, so don’t expect everything realistic. And by the way, it is a movie about Bollywood, an industry which sells dream, so how can you expect everything to be realistic. The director takes a couple of good shots on the Indian Film Industry (especially Hindi Film industry – popularly known as – Bollywood – very intelligently). It also addresses the passion and dreams a lot of people approaches the film industry with. Around the midway the movie takes traditional route and becomes a typical masala movie though.

To cut a long story short – should you watch the movie?
Simple small answer is: Yes.

An original concept, over the top performances by principal cast members, good story and background score, a couple of good songs and comparatively good editing works in favor of the movie. Though, don’t go by expecting just another masala movie.

Here is the movie trailer:

A bird’s eye view at the story of the movie:

Danish is a young boy who cannot speak, lives in a small village with his mother. He is a big fan of movies. He always remains caught in his fantasy world and was unable to concentrate on his studies. His mother is very much worried about her son’s future. Despite of being unable to speak and took no official training of acting, Danish is a born actor with very good acting skills. His only passion was to become a film actor, and that too, the protagonist (or the hero).

Eventually her mother is able to convince him to take job of a bus conductor.

After the death of his mother, Danish come to Mumbai. He then tried contacting various film makers to get a chance in a movie. During his furious unsuccessful attempts to contact any remarkable film maker, he eventually meets Akshara. With Akshara’s efforts and her father’s support and vision eventually Danish is exposed to a “live voiceover” technology. Though this path-breaking technology one person can produce the voice of another person connected with him(or her).

Now they started desperately looking for someone with fantastic voice skills (i.e. a voice actor). They found a drunkard named Amitabh Sinha and immediately like his voice. He is a very tough and moody man to convince though. Eventually they are able to convince him to join Danish and land his voice to him. There came a new hero to the Bollywood – SHAMITABH. An actor with ordinary look and powerful acting skills who posses a very mesmerising voice!! The audience like the “out of the box” hero and he immediately becomes a success!!! But “he” means who? Danish or Amitabh? Who is Shamitabh? Who is better? Who is actually the righteous reason for the success? Will their union last forever? Will the viewers will ever be able to know that Shamitabh is not a person but a union?

Curtsey: Poster – WikiPedia, Trailer – YouTube

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