Shaitan (film)

Not to be confused with Shaitaan (film).

Shaitan
File:Shaitanfilm.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bejoy Nambiar
Produced by	Anurag Kashyap Sunil Bohra Guneet Monga Meraj Shaikh
Screenplay by	Megha Ramaswamy Bejoy Nambiar
Starring	Rajit Kapoor Rajeev Khandelwal Kalki Koechlin Pawan Malhotra Shiv Pandit Gulshan Devaiya Neil Bhoopalam Kirti Kulhari Rukhsaar Rehman Sheetal Menon Sonali Sachdev
Music by	Prashant Pillai Amar Mohile Ranjit Barot Anupam Roy
Cinematography	R. Madhi
Edited by	Sreekar Prasad
Production company	AKFPL Getaway Films
Distributed by	Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Release dates	10 June 2011 (2011-06-10)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹110 million (US$1.6 million)
Box office	₹397.6 million (US$5.9 million)

Shaitan (translation: Devil) is a 2011 Hindi crime thriller film, directed by Bejoy Nambiar starring Rajeev Khandelwal, Kalki Koechlin, Gulshan Devaiya, Shiv Pandit, Neil Bhoopalam, Kirti Kulhari, Rajit Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra and Rajkummar Rao. The film was released on 10 June 2011.

Plot

Shaitan starts off with Amy (Kalki Koechlin), who is mentally disturbed and deeply affected by the attempted suicide and eventual institutionalisation of her mother, Saira. She moves from Los Angeles to Mumbai, where she meets KC (Gulshan Devaiya) at a party her parents forcefully take her to. KC introduces her to his gang – Dash (Shiv Pandit), Zubin (Neil Bhoopalam) and Tanya (Kirti Kulhari). They lead a directionless life, having fun, drinking, using drugs and driving around in a Hummer. On one such occasion, they start racing a random car and win. In the celebration rush, they run over two people riding on a scooter, killing them instantly.

They quickly leave the spot but are easily traced down by a slimy cop, Inspector Malwankar (Rajkummar Rao), who demands ₹ 2,500,000 ($41,500) to drop the case. Dash tells them about a friend (Rajat Barmecha) who faked his own brother's kidnapping and extracted ₹ 2 million from his own parents. After Amy volunteers to be the kidnapping victim, they hatch a plan. Upon receiving the ransom call, Amy's father, contrary to their expectations immediately approaches Police Commissioner (Pavan Malhotra) for help. The Police Commissioner assigns an upright cop Arvind Mathur (Rajeev Khandelwal) to solve the case unofficially, as he is on suspension after throwing a corporator from the first floor of his own house for allegedly beating up a woman. Inspector Mathur is shown to be having a disturbed married life and nearly divorces his wife.

The group of youngsters then hide in a shady hotel, acting upon the plan hatched by Dash. When Tanya is nearly raped by a man, they react violently and kill him. They escape from the lodge and hide out in a cinema hall, where Amy finds a packet of cocaine in Dash's satchel. Tanya is deeply disturbed by their recent actions, and convinces Zubin to take her home. While Zubin leaves to find a taxi, Tanya gets into an altercation with Amy. Amy, while under the influence of cocaine, is convinced that the phone call that Tanya was making to her sister was actually to the police. In the physical confrontation that follows, KC severely injures Tanya. Zubin, upon returning, finds the gruesome scene and flees. He is later arrested by the police while attempting to leave the city. Dash takes Amy and KC to a church in the outskirts of Mumbai and instructs them to hide there while he tries to figure things out with Malwankar.

The arrested Zubin, in the meantime, reveals the entire scenario to the police. They track down Malwankar, who was attempting to escape with his wife. In the ensuing chase, Malwankar is nearly killed in an auto collision. While buying food, the exasperated KC sees his handicapped sister being traumatised by the media. He then calls his father and asks him for help. Using this call, the police trace the trio to the church. Upon returning to the church, KC tells the other two everything and tries to convince Amy to leave the church with him. Dash, however, confronts him and the two get into a bloody confrontation. It ends with Dash beating KC to death. Dash then tries to get Amy to leave the church with him. However, a cocaine-fuelled Amy has a traumatic flashback involving her mother trying to drown her as a child. In this frenzy, she stabs Dash, who is trying to restrain her. She is then found by Inspector Mathur.

The police, despite knowing the truth, get the three surviving friends to sign a statement saying that Dash had kidnapped all four. This is done to save the reputation of the much-maligned police force. Mathur then meets his wife, indicating a possible reconciliation. The film ends with Amy being resigned to the convent, that she always feared, albeit with her mother's name (Saira).

Cast

• Rajeev Khandelwal as Inspector Arvind Mathur
• Kalki Koechlin as Amrita Jayshankar a.k.a. Amy
• Shiv Pandit as Dushyant Sahu a.k.a. Dash
• Neil Bhoopalam as Zubin Shroff
• Gulshan Devaiya as Karan Chaudhary a.k.a. K.C
• Kirti Kulhari as Tanya Sharma
• Rajit Kapoor as Amy's Father
• Shivani Tanksale as Amy's Mother
• Pawan Malhotra as Commissioner of Police
• Nikhil Chinapa as Inspector Sandeep
• Rukhsaar Rehman as Tanya's elder sister
• Rajkummar Rao as Inspector Malvankar (Pintya)
• Sheetal Menon as Nandini (Arvind's wife)
• Rajat Barmecha as Shomu (Cameo)
• Imran Rasheed as Rehmat

Production

Director Bejoy Nambiar, who assisted Mani Ratnam in Guru, approached Kalki Koechlin to play a role in the movie. But since the film was not moving for two years, Anurag Kashyap agreed to produce it on a smaller budget.

Reception

The film received positive response from critics in India. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave it 4/5 stars and said "Shaitan is bound to raise eyebrows thanks to its contemporary, thrilling, hard-hitting and forceful content. One of the most ingenious and entertaining thrillers I've seen in a long time." Pankaj Sabnani from Glamsham also gave the film 4/5 and said "Shaitan is a spellbinding thriller with 'awesomeness' written all over it." Nikhat Kazmi gave it 3.5/5 stars and wrote "it turns the camera three-sixty degrees and brings you the grime of a subterranean sub-culture that throbs amidst a certain section of metropolitan maverick twenty-somethings." Anupama Chopra from NDTV gave 3/5 stars. Mayank Shekhar from Hindustan Times gave 3/5 stars. Ankit Ojha of Planet Bollywood praised Shaitan and its thematic element to a large extent, giving the movie 9 stars out of 10, writing, "Nambiar has managed to impress each and everyone of the discerning film viewer and movie buff. This is Hindi cinema finally coming of age! Recommended for more than one watch, as to absorb the totality of the film’s context and subtext! Outstanding stuff!"

One negative review came from Raja Sen of Rediff.com. He gave it 2/5 stars and wrote "Populated exclusively by the very coolest of character actors, backgrounded by a blaring retro-loving soundtrack, and shot dizzyingly in hypertechnicolor."

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
18th Annual Colors Screen Awards	Screen Award for Most Promising Debut Director	Bejoy Nambiar	Won
	Best Background Music	Ranjit Barot	Won
	Screen Award for Best Cinematography	R. Madhi	Won
	Screen Award for Best Sound Design	Kunal Sharma	Won
	Best Film	Shaitan	Nominated
	Best Director	Bejoy Nambiar	Nominated
	Best Actress	Kalki Koechlin	Nominated
	Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Female)	Kalki Koechlin	Nominated
	Screen Award for Best Ensemble Cast	Rajeev Khandelwal, Shiv Pandit, Kalki Koechlin, Gulshan Devaiya, Neil Bhoopalam, Kirti Kulhari	Nominated
	Best Female Playback	Suman Sridhar	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Bejoy Nambiar and Megha Ramaswamy	Nominated
	Best Editing	Sreekar Prasad	Nominated
	Screen Award for Best Action	Javed-Ejaaz	Nominated
Zee Cine Awards 2012	Best Background Music	Ranjit Barot	Won
7th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Apsara Award for Best Screenplay	Bejoy Nambiar and Megha Ramaswamy	Nominated
	Apsara Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Gulshan Devaiya	Nominated
57th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011	Filmfare Award for Best Background Score	Ranjit Barot	Won
	Best Male Debut	Shiv Pandit and Gulshan Devaiya	Nominated
	Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director	Bejoy Nambiar	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	R. Madhi	Nominated
Stardust Awards 2012 – Searchlight Awards	Best Director	Bejoy Nambiar	Nominated
	Best Actress	Kalki Koechlin	Nominated
	Best Actor	Gulshan Devaiya	Nominated

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Prashant Pillai, Amar Mohile, Ranjit Barot, and Anupam Roy. Lyrics are penned by K. S. Krishnan, Sanjeev Sharma, Colin Terence, Abhishek, and Shradha. Ironically, Khoya Khoya Chand (remix song by Mikey McCleary, vocals by Suman Sridhar) is not included in the track lists by the producers. The popular number "Hawa Hawai" from the 1987 film, Mr. India, composed by the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal has been reused (remix song by Mikey McCleary, vocals by Suman Sridhar) in the film.

Track listing

No.	Title	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Amy's Theme"	Ranjit Barot	Suzanne D'Mello	4:07
2.	"Fareeda"	Prashant Pillai	Suraj Jagan	3:18
3.	"Josh"	Amar Mohile	Colin Terence, Abhishek, Shradha	4:05
4.	"Hawa Hawai"	Laxmikant-Pyarelal	Prashant Pillai, Suman Sridhar	4:54
5.	"Nasha"	Prashant Pillai	Prashant Pillai, Bindu Nambiar	3:15
6.	"O Yaara"	Prashant Pillai	Kirti Sagatia, Preeti Pillai	5:07
7.	"Pintya"	Ranjit Barot	Dr. Ganesh Chandanshive	2:58
8.	"Zindagi"	Ranjit Barot	Ranjit Barot	3:11
9.	"Bali" (The Sound of Shaitan)	Prashant Pillai	Farhad Bhiwandiwala, K.S. Krishnan, Preeti Pillai, Hitesh Modak, Kalloist	3:36
10.	"Enter" (Music)	Prashant Pillai		1:20
11.	"Nasha" (Rock & Soul Version)	Prashant Pillai	Ranjit Barot, Farhad Bhiwandiwala, Bindu Nambiar	4:17
12.	"Outro" (Music)	Prashant Pillai		1:36
13.	"Retro Pop Shit" (Music)	Anupam Roy		3:17
14.	"Unleashed" (Music)	Bhayanak Maut		3:39

External links

• Shaitan at IMDb