Shivaay

This is a through and through Ajay Devgan movie. He has written the story, directed, produced, and named the movie in his character name. The expat female leads look almost uninterested on the whole affair. Sayesha looks out of place and a tad bit confused. Ajay Devgan himself looks very tired and worn out playing so many roles associated with the same movie.

Shivaay is potrayed as a Himalayan mountaineer guide who has tattoos of snake& trishul and smokes chillam while pulling impossible stunts using just a pair of hooks. He is shirtless in extreme cold weather and expressionless throughout the movie. It takes about an hour to even build up to the story.

The 1^st half has been shot in Missouri and the 2^nd half in Bulgaria and is really picturous. The car chases and fight sequences are too much over the top and the story reminds that of taken series. The flying cars and uncalculated bridge jumps indicates towards the director’s ‘rohit shetty’ hangover.

Girish karnad and Vir Das have been wasted and not been given virtually any screen-space. Otherwise soulful songs by Arijit and Kailash kher go unregistered in the background but ‘Raatein’ by Jasleen Royal is quite prominent and well timed.

Few father-daughter moments are shot quite well and the rap-chant by Baadshah – ‘bolo har har’ is utilized in almost all action sequences appropriately.

Verdict – Taken 1 & Taken 2 put together running time is 191 Minutes and Shivaay alone is 173 minutes long. Interested patrons are advised to carry lunch, pillow & blankets to the theater.