Shorgul Review : Decent Plot Marred By Poor Execution
Filmmakers usually avoid controversial issues relating to caste politics and riots when making their films, so I was truly surprised when the trailer of Shorgul seemed to touch upon subjects like love jihad, violence towards minorities and the 'beef ban' theory.
However, it is when the film is seen that one realizes that the makers made the mistake of taking a plot meant for a hard-hitting political drama and turning it into a commercial fare, which leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Set in Uttar Pradesh, Shorgul is about a town on the boiling point following hatred between Hindus and Muslims, which is further aggravated by a Hindu boy Raghu's love for a Muslim girl Zenab (Suha Gezen), which leads to clashes fuelled by political leaders Ranjit Om (Jimmy Sheirgill) and Alam Khan (Narendra Jha), which result in death and disaster for everyone from the noble Chaudhary (Ashutosh Rana) to Salim (Hiten Tejwani), a moderate Muslim to Raghu (Anirudh Dave), who is Chaudhary's son. How the hate politics perpetrated by politicians affect everyone, forms the rest of the plot.
Directed by Pranav V Singh and Jitendra Tiwari, Shorgul had the potential for a hard-hitting socio-political drama. However, the makers decided to lure the 'masala' entertainment-seeking crowd too by inserting an item number and putting in dialogues that seem to have been written in the 80s.
The fact that most of the characters seem to be based on real life politicians might provoke your curiosity (Ranjit Om is allegedly based on Sangit Som, Alam Khan is based on Azam Khan, Chief Minister Mithilesh is based on Akhilesh Yadav) and so on and so forth. However, in the absence of a powerful storyline and an impressive screenplay, such gimmicks are bound to make the film fall flat on its face and this is exactly what happens with Shorgul. Also, the fact that the second half seems to go on and on, adds to your frustration.
The songs in the film are totally unnecessary and take away the focus from the main plot. As for the performances, Jimmy, who can usually be relied on to give a solid performance, seems distracted while Ashutosh Rana, who has a powerful screen presence and personality, seems miscast in his role as the gentle Chaudhary, who doesn't believe in the 'eye for an eye' theory. Narendra Jha doesn't have a meaty role as such.
Suha Gezen looks delectable enough, but her dialogue delivery proves to be her undoing (she does tend to sound like Sharmila Tagore) and she ends up over-emoting at times. Eijaz Khan puts in a decent performance as a radical Muslim youth, who is easily swayed by fiery speeches.
In conclusion, if the execution had been impeccable, Shorgul could have been a decent and hard-hitting political fare.
SHORGUL Official Trailer | Jimmy Sheirgill | Ashutosh Rana | 1st July 2016
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Release Date : 01 July 2016
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Producer : Swatantra Vijay Singh, Vyas Verma
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Director : Jitendra Tiwari, Prashant V Singh
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Cast : Jimmy Sheirgill, Eijaz Khan, Ashutosh Rana, Sanjay Suri, Hiten Tejwani, Narendra Jha, Deepraj Rana ,Hrishita Bhatt, Aniruddh Dave, Suha Gezen
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Genre : Drama
