Story
Bharat Nagar is a small town that is going to become renown for hosting International Business Park (IBP). But there is a catch. Setting up IBP requires making lot of town people landless. Ahmedi (Prosenjit Chatarjee) is an activist who staunchly opposes idea of IBP and he motivates people against. Ahmedi is killed in an accident. Jogi (Emraan Hasmi) is a small-time video-grapher. Krishnan is an IAS beaurocrat. Shalini (Kalki) is a staunch follower of Ahmedi and she makes a huge protest that it’s not an accident, but a perfectly executed murder. Jogi stumbles on a crucial evidence. Krishnan is given the case to investigate on the accident. Rest of the story is all about how the trio - Jogi, Krishnan and Shalini try their best to expose it.

Actors:
Emraan Hashmi who is known as serious kisser has got a really different and realistic role that has yellow stained tooth. He is at his best as a small time scamming videographer who becomes a honest fighter while helping a noble cause. It is yet another different role for Abay Deol who played the role of a typical honest Tamil IAS bureaucrat. Prosenjit Chatarjee is perfect in the role of an activist. Kalki emotes well. All the actors are perfectly cast in this film and they made sure that they bring authenticity to the movie with their performances.

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of this film is inspired by a French film titled Z (1969) which is adapted from a book of the same name which in turns gives an account of a Greek politician’s assassination in 1963. Director Dibakar comes up with a beautiful adaptation by having the backdrop of industrial corridor which is a burning issue in India now. The story explores the criminal nexus between MNCs, Industrialists, politicians and bureaucrats. Dibakar has taken realistic canvas and narrated it in a taut way with a gripping screenplay. He has also made sure that the runtime is not over 2 hours with crisp editing. There is an item song in the film which is used as a situational song by inter-cutting it between two crucial incidents happening at two different places.

Other technical departments: Cinematography by Nikos Andritsakis is of top class. He has chosen the rustic texture and the placement of camera and framing is innovative (at the same time it’s not tough on eyes). Music by Vishal Sekhar is nice. Special mention should be given to excellent sound editing (Pritam Das) and superb background score (Michael McCarthy). Dialogues are realistic and intense. Editing by Namrata Rao is crisp.

Analysis: Shanghai is an intense political thriller. Plus points of the film are realistic set-up, gripping screenplay, strong story telling coupled with right casting and performances. On the flip side, it is an open-ended film unlike big bang commercial climaxes we see in regular movies. If you like films like Chinatown (English) and Black Friday (Hindi), you will fall in love with Shanghai. Dibakar Benerjee is surely going to win awards, critical acclaim and box office appreciation for his efforts in Shanghai. You should watch it if you are into intense films.

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