Underplayed Gems

Shaitan (2011)

Shaitan poster
Original title
शैतान
Directed by
Bejoy Nambiar
Genre
action film, crime thriller film
Country
India
Runtime
2h 01m
Rated
16
Rating
6.3 of 10 from 53 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

Five friends seeking an adventurous life get involved in a crime. The incident is based on a real murder case.

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What happens

Shaitan (transl. Devil) is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Bejoy Nambiar in his feature film debut and produced by Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra, Guneet Monga and Nambiar himself under the banners Anurag Kashyap Films and Getaway Films, which was co-produced and distributed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. The script was written by Nambiar and Megha Ramaswamy. The film stars Rajeev Khandelwal, Kalki Koechlin, Gulshan Devaiah, Shiv Panditt, Neil Bhoopalam, Kirti Kulhari, Rajit Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra and Rajkummar Rao. Based on the 2007 murder of Adnan Patrawala incident, the film revolves around five friends who want to live an adventurous life who get embroiled in a crime. Bejoy Nambiar initially planned the script of this incident for Ashok Amritraj who wanted to produce the film under Hyde Park Entertainment. The film was supposed to be shot in English language, with Los Angeles as the principal location for this story. However, due to the disapproval of the production company, Nambiar decided to change the scripting and setting with the film taking place in Mumbai. The delayed progress attributed due to the company's exit and Anurag Kashyap joined the project in mid-2010, who heard about the similarities of this story with his unreleased directorial debut Paanch, based on the 1976-1977 Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders. The film was shot entirely in Mumbai within 12 days. Shaitan was released on 10 June 2011 across 575 screens in Mumbai. The film opened to positive responses from critics and audiences, praising the direction, setting, storyline, and screenplay, with praise directed at the performances and the technical aspects of the film. Additionally, it was a commercial success, grossing ₹390 million against a budget of ₹110 million. Additionally, the film received nominations at several award ceremonies, in which Shaitan won five Screen Awards and a Filmfare Award. It is considered a "cult classic" and described by film critics as "one among the films that defined the new wave of Bollywood". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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