Onir’s latest relationship drama, Shab featuring Raveena Tandon and introducing two talented actors – Ashish Bisht and Arpita Chatterjee, released on 14th July, 2017 to good reviews and applause from the Bollywood fraternity and critics.
Praising the National award winning filmmaker’s latest creation, the critics have labeled the movie as Onir’s ‘most intricate work to date’, ‘courageous’ and ‘haunting film about human emotions’.
Here are some of the reviews:
Subhash K Jha – 4 stars – Bollywood News
Shab is a gorgeous-looking film with a star cast that’s easy on the eyes. Raveena Tandon has never looked better. She brings a bewitching bitchiness to her lonely character’s part. Newcomer Ashish Bisht is not afraid to share his character’s ambition-prone humiliation. His natural rawness works well for his character. And Arpita Chatterjee …often her eyes express all of Raina’s pain. She is quite a discovery.
Bhavikk Sangghvi – 3.5 stars – Planet Bollywood
SHAB – Raw. Real. Relevant. Exposes the dark side of city life. While all actors are earnest, Onir’s direction is sensitive.
Hindustan Times – 3 stars
Shab is the darkest film Onir has made till date. With the film, he explores the “morally wrong” shades of human relationship without letting the audience hold any judgments – he shows us the emotional turmoils of people in these relationships. Though the reason behind such endeavours is revealed much later in the film, what we get to witness, are the everyday struggles. Shab is a dark, haunting film about human emotions, relationships, love and betrayal that thrive in a rather opportunistic and materialistic world of Delhi’s elite society.
DNA – 3 stars
Onir has a certain style of filmmaking that is deeply personal. His sense of human emotions and understanding of pain and suffering is evolved yet naïve and vulnerable.
Box Office India
The film is Onir’s most intricate work to date and the time spent crafting each character is evident. The soulful music of the film adds volumes to the product. Shab is skillfully crafted and executed. It does have its flaws but the strong performances and Sachin Krishn’s cinematography allow you to overlook them. The maturity and sensitivity with which Onir handles the film sets it apart, and kudos to him for that.
NDTV – 3 stars
Shab is a courageous film and not only on account of its theme. It dares to go against the grain of what is passes for ‘well-made’ cinema in the Bollywood playbook. It is stylish, layered, evocative and not averse to embracing subtle obliqueness. He deserves special applause for the manner in which he teases out great performances from his actors.
Filmfare – 3 stars
Shab explores themes of homosexuality, bisexuality and of course a mature look at life in big cities and how survivalist tendencies don’t allow space for moral judgement. This underlying subject of Shab makes it better than its few shortcomings. The first half of the film struggles a bit with the setting, but once the relationships and their complexities are revealed, the second half does pickup pace. The maturity and the subtlety with which Onir tackles the themes of Shab make it worth a watch.
Mail Today – 3 stars
Onir’s cinema demands a certain involvement on the part of its audience. As Shab goes about peeling the layers of love, that bit becomes apparent. The cast overall is credible and clicks thanks to Onir’s fine character sketches.
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