Shagird Hindi Movie
The '90s cinema actually witnessed a lot of high octane drama, heroism and jingoism. Among the many actors that actually became instant favourites of the masses was the unconventional star Nana Patekar who with his unflinching flair of calling spade a spade struck a chord with his audience and gave many hits.
In the recent times too he's had many great roles to his credit however; they've all been character roles. Now in the times when the choices of cinema goers have become very unpredictable comes Tigmanshu Dhulia's Shagird that rides high only on Nana Patekar. It only remains to see whether the audience accepts it or rejects.
Shagird is about a corrupt crime branch officer Hanumant Singh (Nana Patekar) who has his ways of minting money both from the public as well as from Politicians. He works closely for Politician Rajmani Singh (Zakir Hussain). Mohit i.e Mohit Ahlawat joins the team as a sub-inspector under Hanumant Singh. How Mohit learns the tricks of trade being under Hanumant and becomes his true Shagird in the end is what the film is all about.
Shagird with all its jaded sensibilities appears to be a film of the yore which has lost its market in the present times. However, filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia still tries to pitch it as Yeshwant or Ab Tak Chhappan but fails miserably at it. The film lacks not just in narrative which is very haywire but also in screenplay, acting and direction. The story of the film proceeds in bits and chunks, each running in tangent from the other at times making you wonder how and why a certain scene popped up out of nowhere. For a one line plot as this, it has many unnecessary scenes which only test the patience of the viewer. For instance, the romantic angle between Mohit and his journalist friend played by Rimi Sen or the terrorist angle where three renowned reporters gullibly fall for a trick and get kidnapped.
Shagird only works for Nana's act of a cynical cop where you get a glimpse of his brilliance. However, even his character takes a serious beating due to the faulty script. Mohit Ahlawat in his part hardly offers anything to look out for. Zakir Hussain as a scheming Politician acts well and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap as an underworld gangster Bunty Bhaiya is brilliant in his part. Rimi Sen barely has anything to do in the film.
Over all, Shagird is a disappointing film for this week. Easily avoidable. Watch Ab Tak Chhapan once again instead.
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