Shor in the City

Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Nikhil Dwivedi, Sundeep Kishen, Pitobash, Radhika Apte, Preeti Desai and Zakir Hussain

Directed by: Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK

For those who came in late, Raj N. and Krishna DK were the guys behind the laugh riots - "Flavors" (2004) and "99" (2009). Funny one-liners, interesting characterizations and a fast paced script - these seem to be in the director-duo's signature style. "Shor" has all that.

Like the duo's past 2 ventures, "Shor" has multiple interlinked story lines. The setting is in Mumbai during the Ganesh festival - 10 days from Chaturthi to Visarjan. First story is about Tilak (Kapoor), who runs a pirated books racket along with his never-do-good friends - Mandook (Pitobash) and Ramesh (Dwivedi). While the trio tries plan their next big "hit" - getting a manuscript from a famous author before it is publicly released, Tilak learns to deal with his new marriage. While Tilak picks up the reading habit, his 2 friends come across a cache of fire-arms in a local train and they don't know what to do with it...

Meanwhile, Abhay (Ramamurthy), moves to Mumbai to start his life afresh, undoubtedly with some leaving behind some ghosts of his past in the US of A. Even as he starts to establish his office, he gets sucked into a protection racket run by a crafty local goon (Zakir Hussain). Things go out of hand when the goons threaten Abhay's girlfriend (Desai)...

The third story is about a struggling cricketer Sawan (Kishan) who is just out of luck on the day when he has to qualify for the Mumbai team - his path to riches. As his desperation to keep his promises to his girlfriend increases, he decides to go bribe his way through the selection committee. Only problem is he doesn't have the money...

All the 3 different stories collide into each other as expected and the jigsaw is complete. Oh, and yes, all the individual stories are inspired by true life events.

"Shor" is a dark, dark thriller with enough elements to keep the viewers' interest. It also deserves all the positive responses it has received from the critics. However, speaking for someone who liked Raj N.-Krishna DK duo's first 2 movies, I must say I am somewhat disappointed. It doesn't have the spunk of "Flavors" or the hilarity of "99". It seems to be succumb under its own weight at times.

Still "Shor" is excellent film-making and is several notches above the crap hits the screens every Friday. Watch it for some clever twists, some good acting performances (particularly Pitobash and Dwivedi) and some dark humor.

My Rating: 6.5/10.