'Shamshera' review: A terrible dacoit drama

Shamshera

Hindi (Theatres)

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Vaani Kapoor

Director: Karan Malhotra

Rating: 2/5

Smoke, sand and grimy bodies don’t make for a great opening sequence. So, one waits for the swirling dust to settle so that Shamshera can get down to business, and free his tribe from back-breaking slavery.

The wait just gets longer.

The pre-Independence tale never really takes off from the quagmire of caste it’s trapped in. For three hours, the viewers are confined to huge, depressing sets and vast swathes of barren land. And an able Ranbir Kapoor, that too in a double role, isn’t saviour enough.

A period film, made at Rs 150 crore, should have at least invested in its forts. Instead, you get cardboard structures and muddy labyrinths that are no better than school projects.

The VFX doesn’t help either. A murder of crows looks straight out of a dinosaur movie while the stones hurled at criminals are smoother than dough.

Shamshera’s battle to save his oppressed tribe — the lower-caste ‘Khamerans’ — is thwarted by Shuddh Singh (Sanjay Dutt), the pure evil servant of the British. But Dutt loses his menace, and a tooth, by the time the axe-wielding hero draws first blood.

Amid all the mud and dirt, Vaani Kapoor waltzes in as a dancer but sticks out like a sore thumb.

Great to see Ranbir back but the dacoit drama disappoints.