With Anurag Kashyap backing up this project, you know you're going to witness something out of the ordinary and Shaitan is an example of that.
Shaitan follows five friends who decide to fake a kidnapping after being blackmailed by a police officer in order to cover up their hit-and-run accident.
With Anurag Kashyap backing up this project, you know you're going to witness something great and Shaitan is an example of that. What originally starts as a regular teen movie slowly spirals into a dark thriller making the film much more exciting. For his debut, Bejoy Nambiar gave a good first impression. The film has stylish written all over it as there are some crazy camera shots and editing techniques. At times it does get a bit obnoxious but it also makes up for some entertaining scenes. The use of music is handled well. There is a particular shootout scene played in slow motion as a song is being played in the background and it's easily one of the film's best scenes.
The performances were all pretty great. Kalki Koechlin does a fantastic job as usual. Rajeev Khandelwal delivers a great performance especially during the scenes showing his failed marriage. The silent exchange between him and wife says a lot about these two characters. Gulshan Devaiah is also fun to watch and goes through a nice arc by the end. For his debut performance, Shiv Pandit does well but I wish there was more to him. The same can be said about Kirti Kulhari and Neil Bhoopalam. Rajkummar Rao has a very small role but does a decent job nonetheless.
The film is mainly about unleashing your inner demons and we see each character's dark side when the going gets tough but I wish there was more to the main characters. We get to see Kalki Koechlin's character's troubled past but I feel Nambiar didn't explore it as much as I wanted him to. There is also the subplot with Rajeev Khandelwal's crumbling marriage which did make him the most sympathetic character but I feel it wasn't developed enough. I also think the film went on for a bit too long. The second half isn't as strong as the first and it did start to drag for me towards the end.
Despite that, Shaitan is a decent watch. The film has a lot of style and a dark tone which I appreciated but at the same time I wish Bejoy Nambiar focused more on developing the characters better.
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