Ajay Devgn’s Shaitaan Movie Review: R Madhavan tries hard to save a bonkers black magic thriller

Director: Vikas Bahl

Cast: Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan, Jyothika, Janki Bodiwala

A supernatural horror that could have been done better with craftsmen like Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan and Jyothika. But it was a film where the script failed the actors. When you have a weak storyline, then there is nothing that can be saved. And that’s exactly what happened with Shaitaan. Most importantly, the mistake that Vikas Bahl made was to sell a supernatural film which may not go down well with today’s evolved audience.

An adaptation of Krishnadev Yagnik, the movie had all the potential for a brilliant film, but when your script is weak then nothing can save it.  The movie starts with Kabir ( Ajay Devgn ) and his family goes on a holiday at their farmhouse. On the way to the farm house, at a roadside restaurant they meet Vanraj ( R Madhavan ). Kabir’s wife had her doubts about this man from the beginning. Vanraj then kind of barges into their house to charge his phone. His manners are strange and he kind of possesses Kabir and Jyoti’s daughter, Janvi. He makes Janvi dance, eat, sit, and stand according to his wishes.

But why is he doing it? And even with Kabir and Jyoti’s daughter, Janvi behaves strangely and starts listening to whatever Vanraj commands her to do. There are certain scenes which are good and the look of the movie especially the location is mesmerising. The place where Janvi is asked to eat tea leaves and when she is asked to dance continuously by Vanraj makes you wonder what is going to happen next.

I personally feel that they could have worked on the character of Vanraj a little bit more by adding some layers to it. He may be a Shaitaan, but all Shaitaans too have some good side to their character. The filmmaker tried to make a no risk movie by just having black and white characters. Adaptations from some other films are fine, but some innovations are required. At least R Madhavan has put in a lot of effort to make his character stand out. You can’t stop hating him. But Ajay Devgn in the process of being a good father and in the process of keeping up to the image of a good family man failed us completely. It looks like Devgn can’t get over his Drishyam’s role of performing a father’s  duty. Again, what is completely unacceptable is the dark representation of trans women in the film.

Jyotika hardly has anything to explore in her character, but Janki Bodiwala, as Janvi has done a brilliant performance. Shaitaan could have been a good supernatural thriller, which we haven’t seen much in Hindi cinema of late, but it turned out to be a complete mess in the process of depicting the war of good vs evil. It’s  a poorly made remake and the story is just not believable. Making the hero win at the end makes the film just too predictable.

Rating: 2 and half out of 5