31. Shooter; movie review

 

SHOOTER

Cert 15

143 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, brief drug misuse

Wow, the anticipation! After two years of legal wrangles over the content of Dilsher Singh and Khushpal Singh's gangster movie, audiences must have been licking their lips at the prospect of its eventual release.

Well, that may be true elsewhere but certainly not in Derby where Mrs W and I had screen three to ourselves on a Friday evening.

Shooter was banned by Amarinder Singh in 2020, who was then Chief-Minister of Punjab. 

Immediately thereafter Punjab Police registered a case against producer/promoter KV Singh Dhillon and others for allegedly promoting violence and gang culture. 

It was claimed they had intent to cause riot, promoted enmity and the film was prejudicial to national integration.

They even chucked in committing affray, breach of peace and public mischief for good measure.

After watching Shooter I was left wondering whether its detractors have ever been to the cinema.

It was claimed that the movie was likely to instigate youngsters to take up arms, and disturb peace and harmony. 

It was only during the interval when Mrs W pointed out that this could be said of any gangster film that I realised how ludicrous this claim was.

Anyway, Shooter is very much Jay Randhawa's movie. His character, Sucha is based on Sukha Kahlon, an infamous Punjabi gangster.

He is not a man of great subtlety. In other words, from an early age he uses fists and feet to make his points, moves on to bats and knives and then arrives at guns.

He has a loyal band of followers and a girl (Swaalina) falls for his rather limited charms but, in Michael Corleone fashion, he has a simple remedy for his enemies - he kills them. 

Actually, by and large, Corleone ordered others to do his dirty work. Sucha, on the other hand, seems to enjoy bloodletting.

I found the first half of Shooter rather mundane. Sucha surrounds himself with young men who feed his ego as he becomes more violent.

It goes over the same ground repeatedly and it doesn't feel particularly serious.

However, the second half has a much sharper bite as his bravado increases and he becomes public enemy number one.

Randhawa, strange haircut and all, does a good job of reflecting a man who sees no behaviour barriers and doesn't appear to care if he lives or dies. 

He is an unconventional gangster and so obviously unhinged that it is indeed curious that the police should ban this film because it seems highly unlikely anyone would want to be a copycat.

Especially, as they know what happened to him in the end.

Reasons to watch: A movie which has prompted many headlines

Reasons to avoid: More than a tad repetitive

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Did you know? Sukha Kahlon was linked to 48 cases of criminal activities such as murder cases, robberies and gang wars between 2000 and 2015.

The final word. Swaalina: "I started getting some threatening calls which I had to avoid. Artists express through art, and the film had a message. I do not encourage any weaponry or violence. It’s a real-life story and that’s all it is about." Times Of India

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