Naam Shabana Movie Review - Tapsee Pannu shines in this predictable spin-off

Divay Agarwal

In 2015 came a film by Neeraj Pandey called ‘Baby’, one of the best thriller-action films in the recent times. Now in 2017, the same gang brings the backstory of its popular female officer ‘Shabana’ (Tapsee Pannu) to the big screen but fails to keep this one as engaging and tout as the first one.

‘Shabana’ (Tapsee Pannu), a kudo player with a dreadful past is faced with a tragic event when her boyfriend is killed a group of goons and eve-teasers. She get furious and at this moment receives an offer to join the Indian Intelligence Agency to serve the country and in exchange her boyfriend killers would be taken care of. She joins the team and is given proper training and sets a mission to wipe out international flesh trader Tony (Prithviraj) along with the help of agency’s best agents Ajay (Akshay Kumar) and Shukla (Anupam Kher). Will she be able to succeed in her mission?

What the film majorly suffers is the writing and lack of tight screenplay. The film never really engages until the climax which is in a sense very predictable. Sharp and edgy dialogues turned to a little more dramatic to this thriller-action’s taste. Neeraj Pandey couldn’t repeat the same success story this time around with the sharp and edgy. Though the action sequences were brilliant but less in number. Shivam Nair, the director was not so impressive with the storytelling and execution of a potentially decent script.

The songs although are enjoyable but disrupt the flow of the film. A word to the editor that the film could’ve been cut down by 20 minutes easily. The first half seems endlessly long.

Coming onto the performances, Tapsee Pannu as Shabana is spectacular. Awe-stuck by her actions scenes and the emotional journey she takes her character through is marvellous to see. This girl has a lot of potential and is definitely here to stay. Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher and Akshay Kumar are a treat to watch as always. Prithviraj’s role lacked substance and the performance also didn’t look as dreadful as it should’ve been.

In all, those who loved Baby and our interested in knowing more about Shabana, you give it a go. Otherwise, nothing big to miss out on if one skips it.

Rating: 2.5/5

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