Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Forumrxes
Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
Josephina
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
krishnadevagupta
Pure cinema at its best!!! what needs a special mention is the small nuances in the story which makes the story move forward and the attention to details which the director wants the audience to observe.Shanghai is edge of the seat political thriller one will ever get to see from Bollywood in years!!Dibaker Benerjee gets the story downward spiraling and gets the audience feel part of the story and the interrogation. The symbolic addressing of the movie theme to the socio-political arena adds to the tension of the plot and creates the atmosphere which makes it a perfect watch spearheading to a nail biting end.Do yourself a favor, watch Shanghai if you haven't yet.
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.
Shivam Sharma
I used to be a fan of Dibakar Banerjee. I literally loved his direction in 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye' and 'Khosla's Nest'. 'Love Sex and Dhokha' was an unusual item in the bag. With great anticipation i went on to see the first day first show of 'Shanghai'. Incidentally i was with a girl and it was her B'day. I had her believed that Shanghai would be a great movie. The trailers were critical and i knew this was going to be a dark subject movie unlike the previous ones.I might not be a good critic but i can profoundly say that the movie sucked on every level. Keeping aside the 1500 odd movies that i have seen, even if i was a naive i would rate it awful! I mean the story, acting, direction and whatever it takes to make a movie were essentially dismal. i destroyed a B'day....please you don't.DON'T WATCH IT
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
