A dark, compelling tale
SHAB Direction: Onir Actors: Raveena Tandon, Ashish Bisht, Simon Frenay Rating:
Shab (Urdu for Night) is a brilliant exploration of the intersections of human emotion, society & forbidden love.
Onir tells his tale through the lives of four characters. Mohan (Ashish Bisht) has just moved from the small town of Dhanaulti to Delhi hoping to make it as a model. He is rejected at a talent hunt and mocked. For one of the judges, however, he is the personification of a fantasy and thus begins the first love story.
She is Sonal Modi (Raveena Tandon), a trophy wife with an indifferent husband. She decides to make Mohan her boy toy. Meanwhile, Mohan makes some friends in Raina (Arpita Chatter- jee) and Neel (Areesz Gandii), seemingly caring, helpful and hard-working people.
Neel is recovering from a break-up; Raina has a younger sister to care for, and some dark secrets. Shab is Onir’s darkest film. Which is saying something, given that the National Awardwinning film-maker’s previous subjects have been spurned homosexuals, AIDS survivors.
As you delve into the hearts of Mohan and Sonal, you are forced to ask, what is a healthy human relationship? Ashish has an air of innocence that adds credibility to his character. But it is Raveena who shines. She is sensual, brilliant and compelling, switching effortlessly between the roles of demanding older lover and caring wife. As her world slowly crumbles, her subtlety becomes even more compelling. It will stay with you long after end credits.