Movie Review: Shahid…deserved better direction

Shahid’s is a compelling story. Once you’ve entered the hall, whether you would like to or not, you are going to get drawn to the unique context in which his story is built and follow with great interest, the story of his life. It is truly one of the stories that deserve to be told. But is it deservingly told? Well, not entirely.

Shahid starts with striking all the right notes. The unique point to start off the story itself is a smart ploy. Background score is cleverly used. It is absent most of the time and in some sequences the silence can be deafening. The first half sets up things quite well. You understand why Shahid does what he does and the connect with the protagonist is well established. There are some niggling questions, but you let that go – maybe the second half will deliver better.

However, its the second half when things become much more aimless than before. After the tense note on which the movie intermissions, you expect it to pick up the thread where it left off, but instead the movie chooses to slows down. It takes you to a point where you make your peace with the fact that is a biographical account of this young man and his unique story before it again changes gears and suddenly starts running through event after event. Editing would be chiefly responsible for this mess-up in my opinion.

The camerawork is good for the most part but towards the end it becomes one trick too many. I almost put it down to malfunctioning equipment rather than an effect that the director purposely wanted to achieve in a particular scene because he over-did it so much. Speaking of over-doing things, Shahid talks a lot of sense, but then the same sentences keep getting repeated, in the same form and it becomes a forced rather than subtle message.

What is invigorating though, is the performance of Raj Kumar. He breathes life into the script and slips into the shoes of Shahid with ease. In Kai Po Che, Sushant Singh Rajput may have stolen the show, but Raj Kumar made his presence felt. With Shahid though, he makes it amply clear that he has the ability to carry a film on his shoulders alone. He is possibly the best reason to watch this movie. He is also ably supported by Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Baljinder Kaur and others who play cameos around Shahid’s story – though the kind of actors they are, they could have easily been utilized more.

In summary, Shahid’s is a story that people must know about. It was the right thing to make this movie. Only, I am pretty sure it could’ve been made better.