Shiva - Review

Courtesy: UNI
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Music, filming and cinematography made the film a visual treat
Ramgopal Varma's latest flick Siva-2006 will enthral the mass audiences because of its excellent action sequences and the extraordinary taking of the director-cum-producer. RGV has become very popular in Bollywood because of his capability in making the visuals quite appealing. He steps into the shoes of the audiences and explain the scene in a way they expect. Not only the action scenes, he takes extra care in the dance episodes as well and present his heroine in a way which is feast for the eyes of the youth and mass audiences.

Story:
Shiva Kumar (Mohit Ahlawat) gets appointment as sub-inspector. His colleagues, however, tell him to be cool and his job is only to follow the superiors' orders. He accidentally meets a crime reporter Sandhya (Nisha Kothari). Both fall in love. Shiva comes to know that a gangster-turned-politician Bapu (Upendra Limaye) is behind the local mafia. When a gangster called Kutney attacks Shiva, he overpowers him and in the interrogation, Kutney reveals the name of Bapu. The latter goes underground to escape arrest. Meanwhile, Home Minister Sadanand (Dilip Prabhawalkar) summons Shiva and tells him that he just can't change society. Sadanand even threatens that there was a danger to his girl friend if he remains tough. In a bid to avoid embarrassment from Bapu, Sadanand decides to kill him. But Shiva with the help of four of his colleagues shifts Bapu gang from the jail. This attracts disciplinary action. Answering the memo, Shiva says he became a police to serve society. He and his colleagues resign and start cleansing act on their own. Bapu's gang escapes from Shiva and in the process kidnaps Sandhya. While trying to save Sandhya, two hired killers attack Shiva and Bapu. Shiva explains the murder plan hatched by Sadanand to Bapu and makes him an approver. The home minister commits suicide and the film ends on a happy note.

PLUS:
Action episodes by Ram-Laxman, cinematography by Amal Neerad, Ramu's excellent taking, the brilliant shots and scenes, a couple of duets choreographed on the lead roles can be said as highlights of the film. Moreover, music by Ilayaraja lifted the tempo in different scenes. The introduction of hired killer Kutney was also shot well. Performance wise, the action scenes elevated the image of the hero Mohit Ahlawat. Nisha Kothari's glamour is an added advantage. She did not feel shy to shed clothes during the duets. Among the villains, Dilip Prabhalkar (Home minister's character) walked out with honours. His character was portrayed like a true politician.

MINUS:
The main draw back of the film is that it lacked novelty. Moreover the script is also not effective. Those who compare the film with the original Shiva that came in his debut direction with Nagarjuna and Amala in the lead, this film stands nowhere. Mohit Ahlawat needs to improve his body language and be more careful in histrionics. He is unable to express his feelings in his face. The director should have taken more care in moulding the character of Bapu and Upendra Limaye remained a comedy villain.

COMMENT :
The director-cum-producer tried to fight against the corrupt police officials and politicians. RGV rightly portrayed how the corrupt police officials support the mafia and underworld dons and at the same time how the politicians support the thugs for their petty political gains. While the first half devoted to the narration of corrupt practices, the second half made the audiences sit tight. The technical values are quite high. The film might attract the mass audiences more. However, it is no to Shiva.

Cast: Mohit Ahlawat, Nisha Kothari, Suchitra Pillai, Shereveer Vakil, Dilip Prabhawalkar, Zakir Hussain, Raju Mavani, Nagesh Bhosle, Pankaj Jha, Upendra Limaye, Vinod Jaywant, Ganesh Mayekar, Dinesh Lamba, Ranveer Shorey, Ninad Kamat and others.

Credits :

Dialogues - Kona Venkat,
Lyrics - Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry,
Music - Illayaraja,
Cinematography - Amal Neerad,
Editing - Amit Parmar, Nipun Gupta,
Action - Ram-Lakshman,
Presents - Ad Labs, Producer,
director - Ram Gopal Varma.

Baner : RGV Film Company

Release Date: September 14, 2006.