Shivaay 2016 Movie Review

Shivaay 2016 Movie Review: I have never been a great fan of Ajay Devgn, but I couldn't resist myself from watching this film just for the sake of poking fun at the ridiculous proceedings as evident from the trailers. Ajay Devgn has what we call the acting chops to portray a diverse range of characters, but this second directorial action thriller fails to herald him as a man at the helm which should have been understood, done, and dusted way after the release of U Me Aur Hum, a lazy adaptation of The Notebook.

Now honestly, the film isn't as bad as some reviews are making it out to be, in fact the film is mostly engaging thanks to its excellent cinematography, good action set pieces (for Bollywood standards) and Ajay Devgn's powerful performance. Yes, the rumors are true! This film is highly inspired by the Liam Neeson actioner Taken! Another factor which may go against here, especially if you are not an Ajay Devgn fan, is that the film feels like a three-hour tribute to Devgn and his myriad talents, an unrelenting showcase of his many qualities and a chance for everyone else in the cast to pronounce - at random moments in the film - how wonderful, upright and "hot and sexy" he is.

Here he is an action hero who can slide down treacherous mountain slopes without a scratch, a fierce father who single-handedly takes down a trafficking ring in faraway Bulgaria that has kidnapped his daughter, and also be a female magnet. What works for the film is that it stays true to being an out and out action film with more of fight sequences/trekking and less of words. It does have some breathtaking visuals of mountains and action sequences, despite being mounted on a weak and arbitrary premise of a father-daughter relationship and wider issues like child trafficking at international level. The story follows Shivaay (Ajay Devgn), an orphan ace mountaineer who is a daredevil in the plains and on the peaks.

The day job of this rough and ready adventure junkie, who grandiosely refers to himself in the third person, is to take enthusiast climbers on expeditions. On a trip he meets Olga (Erika Kaar), a Bulgarian who has speaks Hindi quite well due to her time spent at Delhi University. After an avalanche lands them both in a tent suspended above a sheer drop, and rather than scrambling for help like a good mountaineer would, Shivaay uses the opportunity to consummate his relationship with Olga. Due to her broken leg, Olga has to wait it out in the Indian hill station before returning to her home country.

What follows is Love, drama and an unwanted pregnancy. Shivaay convinces Olga that she can leave once the baby arrives and promises to keep himself & the baby girl out of her life. Eight years later, the girl Gaura (Abigail Eames) is growing up to be a mini version of her father Shivaay, nimble on her feet and daring on the mountains, but she's also mute. Her desire to meet her mother takes the father and daughter to Bulgaria. Due to Shivaay's interference in a child prostitution situation, Gaura is kidnapped by a crime ring that sells children to the flesh and organ trade. Once Gaura goes missing, Shivaay turns into a deadly killing machine, wanted by the local cops for murder.

His only allies are good guy hacker Wahab (Vir Das) and Anushka (Sayyeshaa Saigal), a diplomat working in the Indian Embassy. With the clock ticking Shivaay must do all he can to find bring his daughter home. Shivaay lands into what sort of troubles? Who become his enemies and why? How does Shivaay fight back? Is he able to explore the nexus of child trafficking? Sounds a lot like Taken right?. The Bulgaria portions are derivative of American action films set in European capitals, especially the Liam Neeson hit, but at the least, they prove that Hollywood is not the only film industry in the world that can stage car chases, gun battles and reckless action sequences in which a lone man reduces his adversaries to pulp. For some reason, there is an unresolved sentimental side-plot about Saigal's character, Anushka, and her relationship with her wheelchair-bound father (Girish Karnad).

The setup is pretty rundown with a tried-and-tested story riddled with mind-numbing superhero characteristics. The drama starts with Shivaay's feats as the audience are supposed to gasp in unison watching him free-fall from the mountains without a proper harness. Gasp! Self-appreciation is acceptable, but the degree here is intolerable, which is further aggravated by the dialogues which make the central character look like God. The story has an unexpected plot twist towards the end . Nothing too major but enough to prolong the hunt a little bit. There is a visual clue early on in the story that tells you of the impending twist. The climax has two components. The first is a fall sequence which is very well crafted.

The second sequence was a hand-to-hand combat style fight. This part though was way too heavy on the wire work. I found it a bit unreal and wasn't buying it. The attempt at humor is horrendous and cringe-worthy, and fails to induce any laughter. But, the secondary unintended humor does drive the narrative into that territory, making the film and its characters a laughing stock in front of an audience who are well-versed with Hollywood action sequences. The characters are seen romancing in a free-falling tent, seems like a cool idea, but for crying' out loud you are spiraling downwards into a dark trench of nothingness. Muddled with improper placement of songs, the film solely depends on the cat and mouse chase which is the whole of second half.

What works are the action scenes -ambitiously designed, well executed and often pulsating, with background music and cinematography to match. Well the action of the film is very good and brilliantly executed but some scenes stretch too long to leave a lasting impact. Major liberties come into play with Shivaay conveniently managing to get hold of mountaineering gear on multiple occasions so that he performs a death-defying stunt unlike better action films (Mission Impossible) which make smart use of ordinary objects to pull off extraordinary feats. As an actor you can't really help it if your director treats every scene like it's an extended show-reel. But hold on! Ajay directs and acts here and that perhaps is the biggest flaw of the film.

There are moments when you admire his vision and be awed at the scale he has attempted to make things work but a man can only do that much, before things go bad. A common problem, which every film has, when the lead is also the director and producer of the film, is that, he doesn't allow the editor to cut much of the film, and that's the biggest problem with this film. It could have easily been trimmed down to a 120-130 min film. The result? None of the characters are allowed to blossom. We feel no connect whatsoever in all those emotionally charged father-daughter scenes or between Devgn and his lady love. It's like they know it's a gimmick, and refuse to take the center stage.

Even if we consider the actors' quickly-changing countenances, the emotions either are missing or are not properly showing, which all makes the viewing-experience an irritating exercise of the mind. Devgn has worked hard here, and his efforts are clear, but he rather stick to what we have grown up loving and respecting him for - his acting. The foreign actors are fine with their portrayals, while newcomer Sayyeshaa Saigal is likable. Vir Das and Girish Karnad are wasted. Abigail Eames as his daughter does a good job. Polish actress Erika Kaar plays her part well. On the whole, 'Shivaay' is a passable thriller that scores high on the account of its breathtaking visuals, and a high octane Ajay Devgn performance, yet disappoints due to its vapid storytelling.