Shaitan
2011 · Directed by Bejoy Nambiar
Original language: Hindi
- action
- crime
- drama
- thriller
The story
Five substance-abusing friends decide to fake a kidnapping in order to bribe a police constable for covering-up a hit-and-run accident.
What it’s like
Jittery handheld camera and a restless, sweat-slick palette of sodium streetlight, strobing club light, and the sickly glare of cheap interiors. Night Mumbai reads as wet asphalt and cramped cars, with a pulsing electronic and rock score that cuts out abruptly so the silences feel as tense as the noise. The editing is quick and cluttered, and the mood is paranoid, sour, and adrenalised, a crime thriller where bad decisions compound by the hour. The tone is hard and bleak rather than glamorous: drug use is shown plainly, with its paranoia and comedown, and violence is sudden, brief, and brutal, with blood and a few harrowing moments rather than sustained gore. Language is coarse and sexual content is present but not explicit. The arcs follow reckless friends sliding from bravado into panic and moral collapse. It suits a late-night watch with the lights off, for viewers who want a grimy, propulsive thriller and can handle drug-fueled chaos and violence. It is not a gentle or comforting watch.
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