Shaitan is about the devil in your head that gets in and refuses to get out - ultimately spiraling you to self-destruction. But never once does the film become preachy or supercilious towards either the characters themselves or the audience. In fact you totally empathise with the 'youth-out-of-control' depiction of the protagonists.
I felt the biggest achievement of the film was that it made me experience what the characters are experiencing. And this is especially evident by the use of POV shots as well as the brilliant sound-edit. Even the effortless manner in which the film swings back and forth between stark reality and psychedelic surrealism is almost as if you are on drugs yourself.
The performances are brilliant all round. The story has evil portrayed deliciously but there's also just retribution to all in the end. It's arty throughout right up to the spiraling end credits. Some sequences especially the gun-fight and chase with a remixed 'Khoya Khoya Chaand' are absolutely gorgeously depicted. So also is the scene where the first mishap happens while running over an innocent passerby and the aftermath of the same.
Imagine the thrill of a long roller-coaster ride. Now imagine it flying off the rails and hurtling into space. That's what Shaitan is like. You know that you are in for some crazy, wild story-telling when you sign up for it. The promos and the publicity material has already shown you that. But nothing really prepares you for what's to come. And the best part of it is that it gets worse when you least expect it to.
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