"Bhaarat Mata Ki Jai"

An adaptation of a greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos' novel "Z", Shanghai is a political thriller directed by ace filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee who gave us classics like 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye' and 'Love Sex Aur Dhokha'. Dibakar Banerjee has been consistent in showcasing his brilliance throughout all of his previous films choosing avant-garde subjects and he hasn't failed in this one either. Just one thing he needs to know is 'making purely realistic cinema in today's time won't have your viewers attention'.
Bharat Nagar is a small Indian city which is being prepared by the ruling party for an outshining infrastructure project which will convert Bharat Nagar into 'Shanghai' (many people won't know why the hell the name is Shanghai). Dr. Ahmedi (Prosenjit Chatterjee), a social activist is against this development in the name of IBP which will cost the poors their houses and lands. After one of his speeches (worth mentioning: "baahar mausam kharab hai, oley padh rahe hain") a speeding truck hits him and lands him into a critical condition. One of his students, Shalini (Kalki Koechlin) believes that it is not an accident but an attempt to kill him and tries to find out proofs related to it and meets Joginder (Emraan Hashmi), an adult filmmaker who claims to have a shocking proof about the incident. Meanwhile the chief minister sets up an inquiry commission headed by T.N.Krishnan (Abhay Deol), an IAS officer and also IBP's Vice-Chairman. The story revolves around these four characters and how they get involved in this whodunnit case.
The 'hero' of the film is it's visionary director who has shot every bit of the film with honesty and adhered to reality throughout the running time. The intellect of the film is worth praising (only if you've proper knowledge of politics and all the incidents happening around) but it actually is the main demerit of the film (single screen viewers literally watch the film open-mouthed wondering what all is happening).
The film's pace is too slow which ultimately leads to lack of viewer's attention. If it is not for performances the film would go on an absolutely dull note. Be it Abhay Deol as a Madrasi-IAS officer or Emraan Hashmi as a porn videographer, the cast totally outshines each other.
The screenplay is brilliant (Urmi Juvekar and Dibakar Banerjee) and some dialogues wins applaud. The cinematography by Nikos Andritsakis (as superb as in LSD) is eye-catching and those constantly unstable camera shots creates a feel for the film. Namrata Rao's editing is good and Vishal-Shekhar's music is above average (though the film has only 2 songs and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' is best among them).
Shanghai is not a film for everyone (definitely not for masses) but it's a film about everyone. A perfect political thriller (though you'll not be thrilled anyhow, you may yawn) of all times which leaves an impact and reveals our bureaucratic conditions where the states have their own "Shanghai Dreams" where they want to build a city full of economic growth and development and on the other side they crushes the small-town dreams of people who just wants their basic neccessities and not a "SHANGHAI".