Shivaay

Shivaay is a 2016 Indian action thriller film directed and produced by Ajay Devgn under his banner Ajay Devgn FFilms from a story written by Sandeep Shrivastava. The film stars Ajay Devgn in the title role along with debutante actresses Sayyeshaa, Abigail Eames and Erika Kaar in lead roles. Mithoon composed the film's score and soundtrack. British band The Vamps and composer Jasleen Royal also contributed to the music.
Shivaay was released on 28 October 2016 on the Diwali weekend. It ran for more than 50 days at the box office. It won the 64th National Film Award for Best Special Effects in 2017. The film was screened at the 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival on 17 June 2017.
Plot
Shivaay is a skilled mountaineer who makes a living by providing treks and climbing expeditions to tourists. One day, Shivaay saves Olga, a Bulgarian tourist, from an avalanche and they eventually fall in love. Olga becomes pregnant, but doesn't want the child. Shivaay begs her to give him the child, after which he says he will not stop her. 9 years later, Shivaay leads a happy life with his mute daughter Gaura until she discovers that Olga is still alive and in Bulgaria. Gaura insists Shivaay to take her to Bulgaria. Despite his old sorrows, Shivaay finally agrees to take her to Bulgaria, where he saves a young child from child traffickers. Shivaay seeks the Indian embassy's help in tracing Olga and is assigned to Anushka. Led by crime baron Ustinov and his right-hand man Changez, the traffickers kidnap Gaura.
Shivaay chases the van, destroying various cars, but loses the van and is arrested by the Bulgarian police, charged with murder and trafficking. While in the police van, Shivaay imagines the officers in the van to be the same masked traffickers, where he attacks them, throwing out every single officer. The van accidentally falls off a dam and the police think that Shivaay is dead, but Shivaay escapes by jumping from the van due to his skills and survives. Anushka tries to talk Shivaay into surrendering but he refuses and instead escapes when the police arrive. Shivaay brings one of the saved prostitutes from a brothel to Anushka's home to help her out. Anushka, who misunderstood Shivaay earlier, agrees to help him. Having seen the television coverage of Shivaay, Olga joins him, where they seek Wahab's help to recover the CCTV footage of Shivaay's various chases.
Ustinov's henchman Ivanovich arrives there and is beaten up badly, where he reveals Ustinov's location. Shivaay discovers that Gaura has been taken away to be sold into the flesh trade. Shivaay chases after the transport van carrying his daughter off to Romania. A prolonged and vicious fight ensues as Changez, now revealed to be Captain Nikolai of the Bulgarian Police, attacks Shivaay, but gets killed by the latter in snow covered mountains. Gaura is reunited with Olga, who is now married to a wealthy Bulgarian, who Shivaay thinks can provide Gaura with every comfort. He doesn't want to lose Gaura, but he heavy-heartedly leaves for the airport thinking his daughter is best happy with her new father.
However, Gaura later arrives at the airport and hits Shivaay in extreme anger for leaving her behind and thinking she wants to stay there. Shivaay apologises, and Gaura ends up crying in his arms.
Cast
Ajay Devgn as Shivaay, a tourist guide, mountaineer and Gaura's father
Sayyeshaa as Anushka, a budding IFS officer at the Indian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria
Erika Kaar as Olga, Shivaay's former lover and the mother of Gaura
Abigail Eames as Gaura (Maharishi Gaura), Shivaay's young daughter with his former lover, Olga
Vir Das as Wahab, an expert computer hacker who has a crush on Anushka
Girish Karnad as Anushka's father
Markus Ertelt as Changez/Sgt. Nikolai
Saurabh Shukla as Sharma, Anushka's boss in the Indian embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria
Bijou Thaangjam as Kancha, Shivaay's friend
Production
The shooting of the film started in November 2014, with the majority shot in Mussoorie, Bulgaria and Hyderabad.
Release
Shivaay released on 28 October 2016. It released internationally in 60 countries including Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, and Chile. However, the film was not released in Pakistan.
The film's runtime was later reduced by 19 minutes, and the new trimmed version was released in cinemas.
Piracy issue
On 27 October 2016, The Indian Express published that self-proclaimed film critic Kamaal R Khan had uploaded the opening sequence of the film on Twitter, which he shot in a theater in Dubai. Devgn, the producer, was quoted saying that he would take legal action against Khan.
Reception
Critical reception
Bollywood Hungama gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Shivaay is a perfect emotional thriller that scores high on the account of its breathtaking visuals, amazing action and a high octane performance". Dainik Jagran rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and describes it as "full of emotion and action." Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Overall, Ajay is unstoppable in Shivaay but you wish he wasn’t! Laced with visual excellence, you applaud his film’s larger than life canvas but despite the efforts, his second directorial venture fails to engage you emotionally." Mumbai Mirror also rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and states that the film "scores fairly on most accounts." Bollywood Life rated 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Ajay Devgn's directorial is all about its stunning visuals and breath taking action scenes." BookMyShow called the film a "perfect Diwali gift you can give yourself and your family this (Diwali) weekend."
Rajeev Masand for News18 gave 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "What Ajay Devgan the star deserved, was a sharper director and a better script. In the end, there's little else to Shivaay than the eye-watering locations (both in the Himalayas and in Bulgaria), and occasionally poignant moments between Devgan and the little girl who plays his daughter. Everything else is noise. Way too much noise."Namrata Joshi of The Hindu commented that the movie moves too slow, and "turns out almost three hours long with just a wisp of a story." Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost described it as a heavy-handed, over-stretched film. Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today gave 1.5 out of 5 stars and praised the cinematography but criticized the writing. Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 1 out 5, calling it an "absolute catastrophe". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 1 out of 5 stars and wrote "The only thing your eye can rest on is the spectacular scenery. The rest is a bloated star vehicle."
Box office
The four-week worldwide grossing of film was between and .
India
Shivaay was released alongside Ranbir Kapoor's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and collected 102.4 million from India on its opening day, which was less than Ae Dil Hai Mushkils 13.30 crore domestic first day. Shivaay grossed more than 1.39 billion.
Overseas
The film collected from North America (USA and Canada), from UK, from Australia, from New Zealand and from Malaysia.
Soundtrack
Shivaays soundtrack was composed by Mithoon with a guest vocal appearance by the British pop-rock band The Vamps. The lyrics were penned by Sayeed Quadri and Sandeep Shrivastava.
On 11 September 2016 the title track, "Bolo Har Har Har", was released, sung by Mithoon, Mohit Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Badshah, Megha Sriram Dalton, and Anugrah. The second song, "Darkhaast", was released on 22 September 2016, and featured vocals by Arijit Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan.
All music rights of Shivaay were acquired by T-Series.
Track listing
Awards
Game
Shivaay: The Official Game, an official game based on this film has been released by Zapak Mobile Games Pvt. Ltd., for Android mobile phone users.
References
External links
Shivaay at Bollywood Hungama
2016 action drama films
2016 action thriller films
Films scored by Jasleen Royal
2010s chase films
Indian action drama films
Indian action thriller films
Indian chase films
2016 films
Films shot in Hyderabad, India
Films shot in Bulgaria
2010s Hindi-language films
Films set in Bulgaria
Films about child prostitution
Films about human trafficking in India
Films about child abduction in India
Films scored by Mithoon
Human trafficking in Bulgaria
Films shot in Mussoorie
Reliance Entertainment films
Films that won the Best Special Effects National Film Award
Ajay Devgn
Films directed by Ajay Devgn
Avalanches in film
Films adapted for other media