Cast- Ashutosh Rana, Sanjay Suri, Narendra Jha, Jimmy Shergill, Suha Gezen
Budget- 5 Crores approximately
The film is loosely based on the Muzaffarnagar communal riots of 2013. It is set against the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh showing religious clashes, political rivalry and how innocent people become pawns under the influence of corrupt political/religious leaders. Many characters are inspired from real life leaders to give authenticity to the story like CM Mithilesh (Akhilesh Yadav), MLA Ranjeet Om (Sangeet Som) and Home Minister Alam Khan(Azam Khan). The film started with an item song followed by some powerful exchange of dialogues between Jimmy Shergill and Asutosh Rana. Asutosh Rana is the honest and idealistic Chaudhry who is respected by all and thinks of the welfare of everyone irrespective of their caste or community. He keeps guiding his people, 'Zameen ho ya Zameer, ye mazhabi nahi hote aur Om jaise log dono ko hi mazhab ke rang mai rang dete hai'. Even when tragedy strikes his family he doesn't lose his cool and tries to calm the restless mob. He tells the police inspector handling the case,'Hamne hamesha nyay ka saath diya hai, aj bhi denge.Lekin aapse bhi yahi ummeed hai'. Jimmy Shergil is the power hungry corrupt politician who wants to win the upcoming election by hook or crook. He has no morals and has a complete team of 'yes men' who blindly follow his commands. Even when he is flying a kite he relates the activity with politics , 'Aasmaan par patang uski raaj karti hai jise waqt par dheel dena aur kheenchna ata hai'. When his worker tells him that as many of their party workers have been arrested they will have a problem in creating unrest he says,"Shanti ko ashanti mein badlne ke liye bheed ki nahi....sirf ek pathar ki jarurat hai". To counter a corrupt Hindu poiltician there is a Muslim leader who brainwashes the crowd by giving provocative speeches like,'Hum to marte hai to bhi do gaz zameen lekar marte hai aur ye to jal ke hawa mai fana ho jate hai'. In between this fight for chair and power there is a small love story which becomes a spark for starting a fire which is fueled by the selfish interests of some leaders and spreads like a jungle fire. The film was earlier called 'Zainab' but it was changed to 'Shorgul' which also can not be called an apt title for the film. The film is just a sequence of events which lead to a riot and how when a riot spreads everyone loses in some way or the other. The film was entertaining when it started but soon all the characters started dying and the film became more of a documentary. The release of the film was postponed twice because of the outrage it created. It's released in around 700 screens but because of low buzz and odd show timings the audience stayed away. Sultan is releasing on 6th July, so the film will just have a 5 days week. In a line, the film has tried to present how riots start along with superficially touching controversial issues like land acquisition in the name of making temples, beef ban and Gowdhara riots, because of which the film has very less entertainment value. Can be seen if you like this genre. Time-pass
