Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan and Jyotika’s Shaitaan gets you thinking in the first half but fails to answer in the second.
The latest Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan and Jyotika Starrer Shaitan released on the 8th of March 2024. Here’s our review of the hindi movie Shaitaan. In Shaitaan the villain show all evil traits but the screenplay does not delve into why he became evil. The smartly cut tailer of the Hindi Movie Shaitaan, made us jump with excitement by promising ‘edge of the seat supernatural drama’ but the second half of the movie fails to cash in on the excitement.
The Hindi Movie Shaitaan boasts of an interesting storyline :- A guy breaks into a family’s home and takes control of their little daughter using black magic, Their once-bright daughter is reduced to a puppet serving the wishes of an unknown person, and the parents watch helplessly. The ‘shaitaan’ has total control; she can be seen dancing to his songs, attacking her father, and even trying to hurt her younger brother. By the halftime , speculations on why Madhavan’s character, Vanraj Kashyap, chose this girl, hypnotised he, and tried to drag her away are abundant among the audience. However, because of its shoddy narrative, the movie falls flat even with its strong feeling of menace.
Screenwriter Aamil Keeyan Khan, who won over both the public and critics with his good writing in “Drishyam 2,” falls short with this script. “Shaitaan” doesn’t work because its creators either didn’t think their viewers were smart enough or were too indolent to add more details.
You are kept interested in the first part as you begin to perceive this invader—who goes by the name “bhagwan”—as a threat. But in the second part, Madhavan’s depiction of the ‘shaitaan’ goes into gimmicky area to just *scare* people. The overblown ritual sequence and his appearance, which reminds one of Amrish Puri from the Naagin movies, only make matters worse.
In terms of performances, R Madhavan is outstanding in the Hindi movie “Shaitaan.” He pulls on a convincing performance as the devil, He comes across as more aggressive due to his carefree demeanour and insane behaviour. However, writers, why did you force him to occasionally change to English in the middle of a dialogue?
Regarding Ajay Devgn, there are scenes where you want him to be the leader, but instead he’s made to feel like a defenceless parent. You don’t really get to see him at his best until the very end. He deserves praise for accepting roles in hatke movies and films of his era, whereas most heroes these days only adhere to romances. But the final scene seemed a bit rushed, like it was meant to be a means of forcing Ajay Devgn to deliver a tearful farewell speech.
In the Hindi Movie “Shaitaan”, the two women are genuinely the redeeming factor, with Jyotika giving a strong performance. The actress makes an impression by portraying the anguish of a mother seeing her daughter go and by packing punches to stop her. Janki Bodiwala plays the young girl again after the original Gujarati film “Vash,” and she is able to elicit empathy.
We tend to take our free will for granted. Though the majority of our activities are dictated by our responsibilities, the thought of losing autonomy is unsettling. In the movie “Drishyam,” Ajay Devgn excelled as a regular guy who goes above and beyond to save his kid. The creators had the opportunity to use this exciting and eerie story to replicate the same charm. Regretfully, they fail miserably, perhaps doomed by a shoddy script and the demands of directing a remake. We must admit that it was a really lost chance. Shaitaan OTT release will be on Netflix after the theatre run.