Right now I have surging head-ache after watching Shivaay. I had high hopes because, ADHM left me extremely disappointed, I am a fan of Ajay Devgn. Alas, all hopes came crashing like that bad CGI'd avalanche. There was so much of Ajay that he couldn't make a cohesive story to stop his self- glorification. From the opening sequence I was sure that Ajay is going to glorify the hell out of himself in this movie and BOY, he does. He goes to the extent of defying physics(in practically every action scene), biology(nobody wears nothing even when surrounded by snow) and even LOGIC. I mean, the dude gets shot twice, stabbed twice, once in the back-bone, falls off a cliff and suffers only a sprain in his hand. COME ON!!OK, Let me just divide this review into parts.
ACTING- The acting in the movie suffers from tonal differences. None of the characters settle on one tone. Sometimes it's campy, sometimes dead-serious even in serious situations. There is a over-dose of Ajay Devgn. He is a mixture of Krrish, Shaktimann but also not. Does his powers come and go? On top of that the whole thing about his name being Shivaay, the name of the movie being Shivaay, his tattoos related to Shiva has actually no relevance. He is no re-incarnation nor is the story a modern adaptation of a mythological tale of the God. It's just plain confusing. Apparently it draws the crowd who believe in the mythology. Erika Kaar is average to be fair. It could have been done by practically anyone. Probably Ajay wanted to go to Bulgaria, so they chose her. I don't know why they went for a non-Indian actress. Abigail Eames is expressive and not going to the point of being over-the- top. I don't know whether she will work in the Hindi film industry or abroad but this shouldn't be her first and last performance in a feature length film. Vir Das, o gosh! Vir Das is supposed to be a hacker and according to Ajay Devgn, a hacker is like THAT. He just over-acted like . He was supposed to be the comic-relief but there was no subtlety in it. Sayesha Saigal probably was the flower-vase of this movie, the damsel who accompanies the protagonist. Now that I think of it, what did her character actually do to help him? She just drove Shivaay to the apparent villain and that's it. She didn't do any actual help to find the girl. It was so sad to see a hacker being portrayed so poorly and succumbing to the likes of that girl. NOW, the villain. There are three villains, the guy playing games on the phone, the old guy and Chengiz. Chengiz is the main villain, he has one line and a screen- time of 10 minutes max. YUP. The main villain. The guy playing games on the phone has no line, is a bit mysterious but when the final showdown begins he fizzles out like a stale firework. The background of the old guy isn't discovered. There are no layers to the only negative character which could have had some gravity to it.
DIRECTION and SCRIPT- Ajay Devgn put everything he had into the script but he forgot to add logic into it. Apparently a broken leg and dangling off a cliff doesn't stop someone from making out when you are just a few feet from death. The most shocking thing was the representation of the Nepali guy. He was stereo-typically named Kancha and talked in the "OO SHABJI" lingo. No nepali talks like that but in Ajay's world, they do. There is a chase scene and only, Ajay can make a chase scene feel boring. The fight scenes are used with vomit cam or shaky cam, because Ajay Devgn can't fake fight. It's clear that they were doing it slowly and the whole thing was sped up. The editing is extremely choppy. It is so choppy that the music in a scene doesn't end and the scene abruptly cuts to something else. The dialogues are so bland. Normal people don't talk in philosophical lines all the time. The script demanded there be an earthquake to let Gaura know about her mother. You see the vibe? There is no middle-ground. Either too bland or too over-the-top.
CINEMATOGRAPHY- When there is nothing happening the cinematography can be appreciated. The moment something starts all the build up goes to waste. The camera shakes and shakes till you see only a blur and nothing else. They tried to go for something different but it was much of the same. They made a chase scene look boring. How can u appreciate someone who made a chase scene look boring in an action movie? You can't. I think Bollywood has still a long way to go to match action and CGI heavy scenes with Hollywood.
FINAL VERDICT- Don't waste your money on this. Buy it on the DVD because 3 hours of this slug-fest is going to give you a head-ache like I have right now. If you a buy the DVD you can pause at your own will but if you go to the theatre you are in Ajay's territory and he won't let you leave when you want to. Trust me. Buy the DVD.
ACTING- The acting in the movie suffers from tonal differences. None of the characters settle on one tone. Sometimes it's campy, sometimes dead-serious even in serious situations. There is a over-dose of Ajay Devgn. He is a mixture of Krrish, Shaktimann but also not. Does his powers come and go? On top of that the whole thing about his name being Shivaay, the name of the movie being Shivaay, his tattoos related to Shiva has actually no relevance. He is no re-incarnation nor is the story a modern adaptation of a mythological tale of the God. It's just plain confusing. Apparently it draws the crowd who believe in the mythology. Erika Kaar is average to be fair. It could have been done by practically anyone. Probably Ajay wanted to go to Bulgaria, so they chose her. I don't know why they went for a non-Indian actress. Abigail Eames is expressive and not going to the point of being over-the- top. I don't know whether she will work in the Hindi film industry or abroad but this shouldn't be her first and last performance in a feature length film. Vir Das, o gosh! Vir Das is supposed to be a hacker and according to Ajay Devgn, a hacker is like THAT. He just over-acted like . He was supposed to be the comic-relief but there was no subtlety in it. Sayesha Saigal probably was the flower-vase of this movie, the damsel who accompanies the protagonist. Now that I think of it, what did her character actually do to help him? She just drove Shivaay to the apparent villain and that's it. She didn't do any actual help to find the girl. It was so sad to see a hacker being portrayed so poorly and succumbing to the likes of that girl. NOW, the villain. There are three villains, the guy playing games on the phone, the old guy and Chengiz. Chengiz is the main villain, he has one line and a screen- time of 10 minutes max. YUP. The main villain. The guy playing games on the phone has no line, is a bit mysterious but when the final showdown begins he fizzles out like a stale firework. The background of the old guy isn't discovered. There are no layers to the only negative character which could have had some gravity to it.
DIRECTION and SCRIPT- Ajay Devgn put everything he had into the script but he forgot to add logic into it. Apparently a broken leg and dangling off a cliff doesn't stop someone from making out when you are just a few feet from death. The most shocking thing was the representation of the Nepali guy. He was stereo-typically named Kancha and talked in the "OO SHABJI" lingo. No nepali talks like that but in Ajay's world, they do. There is a chase scene and only, Ajay can make a chase scene feel boring. The fight scenes are used with vomit cam or shaky cam, because Ajay Devgn can't fake fight. It's clear that they were doing it slowly and the whole thing was sped up. The editing is extremely choppy. It is so choppy that the music in a scene doesn't end and the scene abruptly cuts to something else. The dialogues are so bland. Normal people don't talk in philosophical lines all the time. The script demanded there be an earthquake to let Gaura know about her mother. You see the vibe? There is no middle-ground. Either too bland or too over-the-top.
CINEMATOGRAPHY- When there is nothing happening the cinematography can be appreciated. The moment something starts all the build up goes to waste. The camera shakes and shakes till you see only a blur and nothing else. They tried to go for something different but it was much of the same. They made a chase scene look boring. How can u appreciate someone who made a chase scene look boring in an action movie? You can't. I think Bollywood has still a long way to go to match action and CGI heavy scenes with Hollywood.
FINAL VERDICT- Don't waste your money on this. Buy it on the DVD because 3 hours of this slug-fest is going to give you a head-ache like I have right now. If you a buy the DVD you can pause at your own will but if you go to the theatre you are in Ajay's territory and he won't let you leave when you want to. Trust me. Buy the DVD.