Shareek Movie Review by Punjabi Mania
Star cast: Jimmy Sheirgill, Mahi Gill, Guggu Gill, Mukul Dev, Kuljinder Singh Sidhu, Simar Gill, Oshin Sai, Prince KJ Singh, Hobby Dhaliwal, Gurcharan Channi and others
Director: Navaniat Singh
Producer: Vivek Ohri, RS Gill, PP Saini, KS Saini
Music: Jaidev Kumar
Genre: Drama
Censor Details: U/A Parental Guidance (140 minutes)
Synopsis: Shareek in literal terms means sharing and this film follows the journey of brothers who are each others sworn enemies on a piece of land which is the best out of the whole lot. The film follows the journey of Jassa (Jimmy), Dara (Mukul), Surjit (Guggu), Pali (Kuljinder) and others who are all cousins and fight with each other over a piece of land. Surjit and Jassa are on one side and Dara, Pali are on the other. The film is based in 3 periods – late 80’s, late 90’s and 2015. To witness the epic saga of family rivalry spread over generations, you need to watch the film.
Review: To begin with, Shareek is an entertaining film which will be loved by all the generations. Having seen the Punjabi Cinema of the 80’s (thanks to the DVD’s), I can say this film gets the closest to that golden age of Punjabi Cinema barring the fact that this film is far more technically sound than those films.
Dheeraj Rattan, who is a fantastic write has penned the story of this film. Also, he’s done the screenplay for this one. This story depicts almost the entire lifespan of multiple characters and is inspired by true events. Dheeraj Rattan has done a commendable job here with the writing of this film. Each and every character has their own specific traits and the writer has done a good job at describing all those things in detail in this 140-minute intense drama.
Also, he’s got equal support from the Dialogue writers – Surmeet Maavi and Parveen Kumar. The dialogues are amazing, especially the one liners used at various stages of the film. All in all the writing team does a good job in writing a script that keeps you entertained all throughout. Barring the fact that at one or two incidents, the sequences seemed to be dragged but it’s all fine if you entertain the audience for over 2 hours.
Director, Navaniat Singh who has made very fine films like Mel Karade Rabba, Dharti, Tera Mera Ki Rishta, etc. is back with a bang yet again. He surely deserves a round of applause for excelling as a director and making a film like this which raises the bar for films to come in Punjabi Cinema just the way he did with Mel Karade Rabba. This film is sort of ‘Bragging Rights’ for Navaniat whose last 2 films haven’t performed the way they should’ve performed at the box office. He proves the fact that you need not make a comedy film to entertain the Punjabi audience. Even good and intense drama is enough to entertain the audience if you make it well enough. By far, Navaniat’s best work!
Coming to the performances, Jimmy Sheirgill is one of the finest actors of this country. There are some roles which are meant only for a particular person to portray and Jassa is one such character. I cannot imagine anyone else coming in and playing Jassa. Jimmy’s best performance till date (be it Hindi or Punjabi) by miles. He is not only to win hearts of many but also awards for this once in a lifetime performance. Mahi Gill proves the fact that you can keep a Punjabi out of Punjabi but you cannot take out the Punjabiyat out of them. Seen in a Punjabi film after 3 long years, she delivers a great performance and stands out in this otherwise male dominated film.
Another actor is Mukul Dev who has slowly and steadily made a great name for himself in Punjabi Cinema. His films may not have done that well before this one, but surely his talent in incomparable. Kuljinder Sidhu plays Pali with ease after playing very different roles in his earlier 2 films. Guggu Gill, gets to play a type of a role which he is best suited to play and he does that with ease. Simar Gill and Oshin Sai make debuts with this film. They’ve got short roles but they need to work more on their expressions if they are here for the long-run. Simao Gill, was still better out of the 2 debutants. Another great performance came from Prince KJ Singh who managed to stand out on his own in this film filled with great performances. I can go on and on writing about the fine performances in this film but I have to stop somewhere.
Coming to music, Jaidev Kumar has come into his own in this film and shows his experience and class once again. There are 6 tracks and all the tracks are on repeat on my Playlist these days – Dil Kaafira, Shareek, High Heels, Mainu Isha Lagaa, Mere Saiyaan and Boliyaan. Last time when I liked all the tracks in an album of a Punjabi film was with Mel Karade Rabba which was again a complete album just like this one. Coming to other technical aspects, Editing by Manish More was first grade (as usual). Action by Sham Kaushal and Background Score by Raju Singh were brilliant. Special mention to the choreographers, Adil Shaikh and Mehul Gadani. I liked the choreography in the title song which comes right before the climax.
On the whole, Shareek is a wholesome entertainer made by one of the finest directors of Punjabi Cinema – Navaniat Singh who is known to raise bar with his work. Also, I must admit the performances in this film are by far the best I’ve seen in any film in recent times. Each and every character has done a commendable job here. Brilliant performances, Visionary Direction, Entertaining storytelling, soothing music and many other factors make Shareek ‘A MUST WATCH’ this festival season.
