Shaitaan is a hostage thriller—slightly scary, slightly mysterious, and only slightly interesting. You take back memories of R. Madhavan who is at his raucous best with loud, tantrik make-up, and Ajay Devgn, once again playing the self-obsessed and unfaltering liberator who nobody wants to see beyond a point.
At the centre of the plot is Ajay Devgn as Kabir Rishi, a father fighting for the life and honour of his daughter. Vanraj (Madhavan), the sadist antagonist with supernatural powers, captures Rishi's daughter Janhvi, played by Janki Bodiwala. There is so much violence in this film that you just want to shut your eyes and close your ears—yes, like how you did while watching Ranbir Kapoor's Animal; the only difference is the violence is louder in Shaitaan—after a while.
Shaitaan has loads and loads of scenes that make you wonder at the lack of originality on the part of the scriptwriters—they promote black magic, and backward, superstitious beliefs. The only person who is convincing enough is Jyotika who plays Janhvi's mother. Devgn, as the doting father will remind you of his role as Vijay Salgaonkar in Drishyam; in fact, there is hardly any difference between his character in this daddy-saving-daughter film and that in Drishyam. He is exactly the same. For that matter, Shaitaan is the third such film after Drishyam and Bholaa, where Ajay Devgn plays the role of a protective father who will go to any length to save his daughter.
A remake of the Gujarati film Vash, director Vikas Bahl tries to pull off a supernatural occurrence by offering a frantic sensory experience with Shaitaan, but sadly, fails at it due to a poor script and a lackluster execution. The entire premise itself seems too flimsy to be real—a happy family of four finds itself up against a modern-day sorcerer and his black magic spells.
After the debacle of his last, Ganapath, Bahl has now tried his hand at a genre he has never had a shot at before, that is, supernatural horror. The psychological twists in the script are too juvenile for us to be interested in. This 132-minute-long film is better missed.
Film: Shaitaan
Director: Vikas Bahl
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Madhavan, Janki Bodiwala, Jyothika
Rating: 1/5
