braddugg Huge disappointment for me as a fan of Dibakar Banerjee. Its shocking in a bad way.There is a scene in the movie in which Ahmedi's wife makes IBP as the agenda, the very idea which her late husband fought against. Now is this satire, not sure but surely this is not comical and yet I was laughing the way it was shown. I was wondering what was good about this movie all through even at the end. How can this be hailed by movie critics as a superb film is what is baffling.May be I am not on their side, but I am on the side of entertainment and this film truly did not entertain me in any way, neither is it shocking nor is appealing and least engaging. When I knew who had attempted a murder and who did it, why would I like it just to know how they caught the evidence for it. Abhay Deol was mostly murmuring throughout, Kalki has performed till date her worst, Emraan Hashmi is mis cast and Pitobash, Prosenjit just are characteristically confusing. Kalki kisses Prosenjit who is married and has a wife and in-fact is his student and then also romances Emraan, Oh, so what do you I have to infer of such character. Many question marks are raised and I have not seen any answers anywhere. But the whole point is missed which is of putting a political satire on how men and issues will be used for their own empowerment by politicians. If thats the point, I surely think its waste of an effort.Screenplay is misguided and editing is never even done, look at the song between Emraan and Kalki an you realize why. Cinematography, I am afraid was done with either HD SLR cams like 5D and that too with few frames shaky, an awful job it was done, its neither showing a dramatic face or is making it a documentary cut out. Sound design and Background score were also misleading. For a drama, we need to have loud music and mostly drum beats. I will go with 1/5 for this movie. May others like it, but this is not for me. Sorry Dibakar but you disappointed me.

stark_reality I am happy after watching this movie not because the movie has a optimistic feel to it (its actually the exact opposite,as it should be) but on seeing how dibakar has used a story that is so real and holds true to a country like India where the present political system is so corrupt and the power hungry mongers will go to any extent to achieve money and power without thinking about the implication that it might cost. Now coming back to the movie,the location used looks like a true Indian city or a town. People who are fed up of seeing lavish houses in most of the Indian movies or only foreign locations and fell guilty as more than 90% of the people don't have that luxury will be content. Acting wise i am happy with all except Kalki Koechlin,some how she seems too plastic in her acting but i think she did her best. So looking at the way Indian politicians and its citizens our behaving India has a bleak future but if such movies are made which have an overall good story,acting,locations and such and puts forward realism than hypocrisy as in many other Indian films,Indian cinema has a bright future. So hats off to the whole team involved especially Dibakar Banerjee for his efforts in making a movie such as this. Good work Keep it up.

Jeet Srivastava Shanghai is a movie far higher the standards of regular Bollywood and Indian cinema. Yet it has a slow first half and quite predictable yet interesting plot. Abhay Deol has surpassed any member of Deol family in terms of his acting talent, while Emraan is consistently getting better. We have too thank Dibakar Banerjee for making such movies which are catering to the vast Indian audience who want to see quality movies with little non sense. His direction is ultimate while his ground research just like in his previous movies has portrayed all his characters in originality, the best being Indian bureaucrats(IAS). Music is good and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jay', rocks. Movie may not show its Box office performance, which it deserved and Rowdy Rathore eating away its revenue but then Indian audience too amateur to appreciate such cinema. It really deserves to be watched to know Indian politics, bureaucracy while enjoying quality

Kalpitt Tandon It takes a maverick director to craft a cinema so bleak and brutal in its portrayal of truth that it has the power to provoke debates and lead to heavy handed argumentation. Dibakar Banerjee steers a political thriller so acidic in its content and so bitter in its handling that it hits you hard in your guts and leaves you wanting for more.When an activist leader, Dr. Ahmedi (Prosenjit Chatterjee) is mowed down by a fast moving truck in what appears to be an accident, the hypothetical city of Bharatnagar boils down into a war field of riots and horrors. A student of Dr. Ahmedi, Shalini (Kalki Koechlin) becomes convinced that it was not an accident and was a preplanned murder. She along with a local photographer Jogi (Emraan Hashmi), who claims to have decisive evidence, fights for justice in a city brimming with deceit, bureaucracy and corruption. A high ranking official Krishnan (Abhay Deol) is given the responsibility of investigating the case. At its core, Shanghai carries the notion of development at the stake of humanity. As the slogan of a prominent party IBP in the movie goes, "Kasam khoon ki khayi hai, Sheher nahin Shanghai hai", Shanghai is treated as a metaphor for all the progress and evolution that the party promises in bharatnagar. Yet, regardless of the ballgame and skin crawling riots and unforgiving violence, the citizens of bharatnagar, proudly sings, "Bharat Mata Ki Jai". 'Shanghai' is a painfully slow movie. So, the viewer who has to sit back in the first hour only has his comfort in the beautiful little nuisances spilled across the screen. Dibakar Bannerjee has an eye for the details and he hits all his notes correct in detailing the landscape of silver screen. It is in the second hour that the movie grips the audience and sucks us into the world so true yet so oblivious to our naked eye.Dibakar Bannerjee who previously directed Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006), Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (2008) and Love Sex Aur Dhoka (2010) shows superlative skills of direction and writing. The script is savage and brutally raw. Shanghai is an atmosphere driven movie and the screenplay scores brownie points by depicting the circumstances as authentic as they could have been manifested on the silver screen.The film tends to get distant from the viewer and is deliberately a tad sluggish. Kudos to the star cast with Emraan Hashmi leading from the front with a visceral portrayal of a middle class citizen. With Shanghai, Abhay Deol gets another coat in his armor and he is undoubtedly, 'the dark horse' of Bollywood cinema. Kalki Koechlin shines again as a lone girl seeking for justice in a ruthless system.'Shanghai' is merciless and forces the audience to ponder over the state of our nation. It is by no means a yet another 100 crore blockbuster. It is an intelligent political thriller with a noble intention and a callous crime drama at its heart. Rating: 3.5 / 5