Shagird review : The film is dated

Movie Shagird
	Director Tigmanshu Dhulia
	Cast Nana Patekar, Anurag Kashyap, Zakir Hussain, Mohit Ahlawat, Rimi Sen

So it’s Nana Patekar here at the centre of action. Predictably, he’s been given the same ol’ smart-alecky dialogue that was his novelty once. But it’s a novelty that has been milked dry.
Patekar plays Crime Branch Officer Hanumant Singh. Wearing jeans and a cool white shirt on duty, the idea is to make the character look dynamic and energetic. Patekar is given a dialogue a second—and it rattles on the ears for its affected nature. Hanumant Singh is the vilest among the vile. Hobnobbing with Delhi politician Rajmani Singh (Zakir Hussain) and his criminals, Nana acts like their private hit-man. He has no qualms about piling the body count high, as he kills off anyone remotely harmful to Rajmani’s interest. For this he is paid wholesomely; a loot he shares with the rest of his core team.
This ruthless murdering machine meets a new 'shagird'– honest cop Mohit (Mohit Ahlawat) who has been promoted to the crime branch. His new boss jokes that Mohit’s conscience is a light-sleeper, as it keeps waking up now and then. This was with reference to Mohit questioning Hanumant’s trigger-happy way of working. The admiration mixed with disapproval makes for an interesting equation between the two.
Meanwhile, a dangerous Lashkar-e-Haq group kidnaps three prominent journalists (including one spoofing Vir Sanghvi). In total filmi tradition, one of the journalists turns out to be Mohit’s girlfriend (Rimi Sen). So his professional agenda is now heightened by a personal one. The film hurtles towards the finale with a few unexpected twists and turns.
The cast isn’t one of the film’s highlights. Mohit Ahlawat, who debuted in Ram Gopal Varma’s James in 2005, gives a damp performance. Nana Patekar dutifully delivers his too-smart dialogue. The performance is very effective—but there’s no departure from the Nana we’ve seen countless times. Rimi Sen is alright, though the role demanded a more solid performer. Anurag Kashyap crackles as the criminal fondly called Bunty Bhaiyya.
As for the characterisation—the trick of making a villain charismatic by making them a lover of music or art etcetera is old hat. In this case, Hanumant is an old movies song aficionado. So when his team is being shown the video of the kidnapped journalists, Hanumant is mesmerised by the song playing in the background, guessing the names of the singer and lyricist.
The film (it has seen a release after a long wait) appears dated and is often given away by the dialogue—characters talk about a huge drug deal worth lakhs (instead of the more contemporary crores). The editing is haphazard, transiting abruptly between shots. The film will have you thinking back to Ab Tak Chappan quite often.
Writer-director Tigmanshu Dhulia who wowed the audience with Haasil in 2003, is on weak wicket here. This cops-n-robbers game needed to be less familiar and more with-it.
Verdict: Two stars