Tigmanshu Dhulia’s core strength is making movies based in the hinterlands of the North, either on social issues like the student-politician-crime nexus (“Haasil”) and drug cartels (“Charas-A Joint Effort”) or plain thrillers full of intrigue, deception, anarchy and power-hungry individuals (“Shagird”). His films have that authentically researched atmosphere of the region in which they are based, and are a gritty mix of realism and masala.
Most of Dhulia’s protagonists are either caught in a power game or are smart players of it, and mundane things like morals and law-abiding tendencies go out of the window. Yet, the director — easily one of the (very few) true whizkids to appear in the last millennium — never allows his films to get unpalatably dark. There is no gut-wrenching violence, no expletives are strewn and he never loses control and focus over his characters or plot.
The flipside: none of his films (save “Haasil”) have been family fare and none (including “Haasil”) have done well at the box-office, something Dhulia could perhaps try and work on with his undeniably sizable talent.
The setting and local flavor of “SBG” are perfect, except for two obligatory Punjabi songs. The timeframe is ambiguous. Now for the story: a nawab (Jimmy Sheirgill) who is a law unto himself, has shot dead an illicit lover of his begum (Mahie Gill), causing her to suffer from bouts of violence and abnormal behavior. The nawab (Saheb, as he is termed) has no qualms about keeping a mistress (Shreya Narayan) himself, even as he wreaks revenge on begum by keeping her love-less.
Gainda Singh (Vipin Sharma) and Saheb are natural enemies: not just over a lucrative road construction contract but also because the nawab’s father had killed Singh’s grandfather. Singh gets his man, Babloo (Randeep Hooda), into the palace as the begum’s driver, who will kill the nawab at the right time. But Babloo gets so infatuated with the libidinous and sex-starved begum that he decides to switch loyalties.
The game gets more devious and twisted as begum wants to destroy the mistress and after they succeed at eliminating her with Babloo’s plan, the begum gets closer to her husband (who needs his pound of flesh) and Babloo wants her all for himself. Finally, things spiral out of control for everybody as so many agendas of so many people get intertwined. And the winner is the person who deals the final card after destiny has done its job…
The story has been reportedly inspired by the characters of the 1962 Guru Dutt classic “Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam,” just as “Dev.D” was from “Devdas.” But there is a world of difference between the end-results and sensibilities. “Dev.D” was offensive and mediocre, and this one’s the opposite.
Like the audacious script, the dialogues are forthright and first-rate. Sameer Phatarphekar’s background score is too intrusive but the music (seven decent or better songs by seven music directors) is used very smartly and special mention must be made of the meaningful lyrics by Sandeep Nath. The technical values are strong but happily inconspicuous as only the narration takes centerstage.
Jimmy Sheirgill is outstanding, yet his Saheb is dwarfed by a magnificent turn by Mahie Gill as Begum. Randeep Hooda effectively flip-flops from a fun-loving rake to a cool schemer as the Gangster. Deepraj Rana as the Nawab’s right-hand, Vipin Sharma as Gainda Singh and Rajeev Gupta as the minister are fabulous. Another surprise is Deepal Shaw as a maid, while Shreya Narayan’s expressions are impressive as the mistress.
Bohra Bros. & Brandsmith Motion Pictures’ “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster”
Produced by: TIGMANSHU DHULIA, RAHUL MITTRA
Directed by: TIGMANSHU DHULIA
Music: JAIDEV KUMAR, ABHISHEK RAY, ANUJ GARG, AMIT SIAL, SUNIL BHATIA, ANKIT TIWARI, MUKHTAR SAHOTA
Starring: JIMMY SHEIRGILL, RANDEEP HOODA, MAHIE GILL, DEEPRAJ RANA, SHREYA NARAYAN, VIPIN SHARMA, DEEPAL SHAW, RAJIV GUPTA