There hasn’t been much that one can go by to determine whether the movie would be a success or not. There still hasn’t been any official information or trailer to go by. But taking into consideration the past success of the star cast we can expect a fairly decent movie in the least. Although, now that the release date is fixed, we should be expecting the trailer soon.
Imagine watching Abhay Deol essaying the character of Krishnan, an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu posted in the North and Emraan Hashmi, flaunting a paunch, playing a street-smart small town guy out to make money. The film in question is Shanghai, helmed by Dibakar Banerjee, the man who gave us engaging films like Khosla ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye and Love Sex Aur Dhoka.
The film will also hold a mirror to present day Indian politics. Says Dibakar, “No film can divorce itself from real life situations. We've adapted the story of Z to the Indian context. The characters reflect Indian politics and democracy as we see it today.”
The unusual casting has added to the curiosity of the film, scheduled to release in June. Didn't Dibakar consider casting a South Indian actor to essay the role of an IAS officer who hails from Tamil Nadu? “Abhay Deol's character is that of an IAS officer who has spent 14 to 15 years in the North and is fluent in Hindi. There's only a faint Tamil accent. I wanted an actor who is fluent in Hindi. This role is not a caricature of South Indians that you normally see in Hindi films. Personally, I know many Punjabi IAS officers who, because of being posted in the South for many years, are conversant with Tamil and Telugu. In Abhay's character, we've barely hinted the cultural difference,” explains Dibakar.
Shanghai narrates the story of what happens when these two polar characters cross each other's paths. “In real life, these two unlikely men would have never met,” says Dibakar. On the title Shanghai, he says, “People who live in dirty, fume-filled Indian cities dream of a glitzy city like Shanghai. In between this reality and aspiration lies a whole lot of darkness. The film explores this area.”
Dibakar is happy that the audience appreciated his previous projects that didn't tread the regular path. “I finished Khosla ka Ghosla in 2004 and had to struggle till 2006 to release it. I felt vindicated when the film was accepted by people. It opened the floodgates for me. I feel delighted when films like Paan Singh Tomar and Kahaani are getting such good response,” he says, signing off.
So, We hope this movie will be very popular in history of Bollywood film.Best of luck for this movie.
