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Release date:
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March 31,
2017
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Director:
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Shivam Nair
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Cast:
Language:
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Taapsee Pannu, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manoj Bajpayee, Akshay
Kumar, Veerendra Saxena, Anupam Kher, Zakir Hussain
Hindi
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Early in director Shivam Nair’s Naam Shabana, the eponymous heroine asks her beau why he loves her.
He replies: I doubt if any man has said this to a woman before, but I love you
because being with you makes me feel safe. Since there is no logical or
biological reason why the fellow should assume that no man feels emotionally safe with a woman, I assume
the allusion here is to a sense of physical security inspired by the feisty
Shabana’s exceptional martial arts prowess.
It is an odd reason to love another human being. More to the
point, it is the first of many unsatisfactory responses to the question why
repeatedly crying out to be addressed by this film.
Here is one why, not from
Shabana but about her: Why does that
uninspiring chap Jai love Shabana though she is so unappealing and so listless
except when in a sporting ring?
There are more whys coming up later in this review.
Taapsee Pannu plays Naam
Shabana’s Shabana Khan, a college student and kudo practitioner who is
recruited by a top-secret, off-the-grid Indian intelligence agency. Shabana
lives in Maharashtra with her mother. Jai is not the only one with an eye on
her. An invisible someone is tailing this beautiful, middle-class woman from a
congested Mumbai colony. When tragedy strikes her life, we are told that the unnamed agency was tracking her as a potential recruit.
Naam Shabana is a prequel to the 2015 hit Baby directed by Neeraj Pandey starring Akshay Kumar, with Pannu in
a small but memorable supporting role. The new film – produced by Pandey –
tells us her character’s story preceding the events in Baby. Since Pannu’s performance and her evident skill in Baby’s action scenes drew audience and critical acclaim in 2015, it
makes sense that someone thought of making a film placing the spotlight on her.
Now if only they had devoted time to building up her character
and developing a credible story around her. Although Pannu is first-rate in Naam Shabana’s many fight scenes, her
acting is off the mark in the rest of the film and Shabana is half-baked. In the effort to portray a woman who suppresses her
feelings, Pannu ends up delivering a bland performance except when she is
indulging in fisticuffs. When she is throwing punches, she is captivating. When
she is not participating in a tournament or bashing up some evil wretch, she is
dull.
Southern Indian audiences know Pannu well. Hindi viewers got the
full blast of her acting talent in last year’s Pink. She falls short of expectations in Naam Shabana, a victim of inadequate writing and direction.
Like her, the story too never rises above being a promising
concept. The team of Naam Shabana – in
the footsteps of Akira’s team last year – seems to have been more focused on
making a film that can be labelled “woman-centric”,
rather than creating a woman character of some worth. In the absence of an
engaging protagonist and well-thought-out script, what we get are efficiently
choreographed action sequences, a slick surface
and a pace that is impressive at first until it adds up to nought when glaring
loopholes and many unanswered whys start calling out.
Why, for instance, was Shabana picked by the agency? Considering
that there are scores of fiery, aggressive, driven, earnest female athletes
enrolled in the country’s national and private sports programmes and clubs,
what is the defining quality that distinguishes her from other such gifted
women?
Her religion, we are told, is an important qualification, since
it gives her perspective that no politician – Hindu or Muslim – has. (The
point is raised in the film’s one genuinely contemplative conversation which,
by the way, is over too soon.) Could that be all though? What else?
Which brings us to other whys.
(Possible spoilers ahead)
Why on earth is she pulled out of her training to join one of
the most important intelligence operations in the world? Sure she is good, but that good? There is no evidence to prove
that she is even India’s best, so why why why?
Why would a covert arm of the government of India bet everything on a rookie?
Why would a much-wanted international criminal not confine
himself to fortified and isolated residential and medical facilities,
considering that for years he has gone to great lengths to protect himself from
multiple security and intelligence agencies?
Why would such a man turn stupid one fine day, if not for the
convenience of Shabana and her colleagues, and because Pandey – who has written
Naam Shabana – could not think of a
more intelligent idea to get
him in captivity?
Why would an individual who has been at pains to hide his
identity from the aforesaid agencies then reveal it at the drop of a hat under
duress, instead of having a well-planned, carefully conceived lie at hand to
deceive them?
Why, when your best man is available, would you assign the most
crucial job in a crucial group assignment to Shabana,
an untested newcomer? I mean, I get that you want
to prove that you are indeed making a “woman-centric” film, but for heaven’s
sake could you not come up with a believable reason for the team leader’s decisions beyond your film’s projected
USP?
Women can do without such condescension. And
Pannu can do without superficial female characters
on her resume.
(Spoiler alert ends)
Akshay Kumar has a cameo in Naam
Shabana as Ajay, the leading man from Baby.
His character is not half as cool as the makers seem to think he is. And when
he is around, through Ajay’s behaviour and authoritarian body language, Pandey and Nair unwittingly
betray the male-centricity of their worldview.
Anupam Kher is here too, in a brief role as the unconvincing,
unfunny tech wiz Shuklaji who too we first saw in Baby. Manoj Bajpayee as Shabana’s boss and Danny Denzongpa as his
boss are both so-so.
Malayalam superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran as one of the villains of the plot is handsome as ever
and trying his best. The wilting film perks up when he enters the
picture, but the big twist in that passage can be
seen coming from a mile and frankly, there is only so much that an actor’s
natural charisma can do in the face of writing that lacks conviction.
Still, Naam Shabana is
a better film than Baby. It has a
more polished appearance, and the idiotic bad guy here is at least less idiotic
than the amateurs in the earlier film.
Here is a thought. Next time you make a film supposedly
revolving around a woman, please do so because you have a great story to tell,
not because female-led cinema is a hot current
trend.
And next time you wish to make a prequel to a hit, again, please
do so because you have a substantial story to tell, not because you want to
cash in on a successful brand.
Footnote:
Trivia buffs FYI, a running counter on a CCTV in Naam Shabana reveals that the film is set in 2011, yet a television
monitor moments later is shown tuned in to a news channel called CNN News18
reporting on Manmohan Singh. Of course Singh was PM back then, but for the
record, CNN News18 went by the name CNN-IBN in 2011. The name was changed in 2016.
Rating (out of five stars): *1/2
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CBFC
Rating (India):
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UA
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Running
time:
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148
minutes
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