'Shab' Review: Onir's film is dark but rarely depressing, will appease those wanting some meaningful cinema

Film: Shab
Cast: Ashish Bisht, Raveena Tandon, Arpita Chatterjee, Arseez Gandii, Simon Frenay
Director: Onir 

What's it about: 

Four characters on a journey of discovery. Each one struggling to battle his or her inner demons. Shab is a film about overcoming the inner struggle and making peace with where you are. The struggle could be to let your ambition overpower you to the heights of insanity to finding the strength of letting go of a relationship that serves no purpose.

Mohan (Ashish Bisht) who later transforms into Azfar is an aspiring model ready to compromise and go to any extent to see his dream come true. Sonam Modi ( Raveena Tandon) is a high society celebrity who uses Mohan as a tool to keep her life interesting, Raina (Arpita Chatterjee) leads a dual life as a doting elder sister and someone whose past refuses to let her go and Neil (Arseez Gandii) is a homosexual man clinging on to a dead relationship that is doing him more harm than good. These four central characters are very different from each other but their struggles are almost similar. There is also a French man Benoit (Simon Frenay) whose role in the film is very important as a catalyst who gives the plot certain cohesiveness.

Shab is dark but rarely depressing, it has its moments of light humour interspersed in an otherwise serious narrative. How these characters react under different situations and shadow play the undermining emotions is what makes the film riveting. 

What's hot:

Onir has a certain style of film making that is deeply personal. His sense of human emotions and understanding of pain and suffering is evolved yet naive and vulnerable. And it is that vulnerability that shines in Shab. Whether it is Sonam and Mohan's imbalanced sexual power play or Neil's failed love affair with another man, the moments he creates are real and poignant. It is also a performance heavy film.

Debutante Ashish Bisht uses his innocence and fluid body language to show his transformation from a struggler to becoming a name. The camera captures his pain beautifully as he surrenders himself to the task of making Mohan aka Azfar believable. Raveena Tandon shines in a role that was clearly written for her. She is outstanding in her scenes with Ashish. One wishes she was a regular face on the big screen. Simon Frenay brings the right mix of charm and grace to his character while both Arpita and Arseez aptly do full justice to their storylines. But the shining star in Shab is finally Onir who like a talented puppeteer is able to synchronise the threads and tell the story in a small amount of time. The length of the film is another plus and Mithoon's music is like always immensely hummable. 

What's not 

Of all the character arcs the one I struggled with most was that of Raina. Even though I tried to invest myself in her story I felt a lack of closure towards the end of the film. Her revelation in the climax to her sister, the fact that she has a parallel life and her love affair with Mohan didn't quite fall into place. The writing also lacks finesse in certain scenes and feels disjointed or incomplete. There is a cloud of a Madhur Bhandarkar film like Page 3 or Fashion ( a gay fashion designer, bitchy best friend ) that looms large over the second half of Shab. Did Onir want to sensationalise the subject or merely give it a dash of realism? Shab also demands a lot of your patience, the story unevenly oscillates between characters and subplots needing your attention. 

What to do: 

Shab will appease those wanting some meaningful cinema that dives deep into the psyche of the human mind and explores the contrasting complexities of relationships.

Rating: **1/2 (2.5 stars)