Last updated on May 5th, 2025 at 05:07 pm

Review of the Gujarati Movie “Shastra”

Newz Daddy Gujarati Movie Review

Newz Daddy Ratings: 3*/ 5

Genre: Crime, Thriller, 

Lead Star Cast: Chetan Dhanani, Puja Joshi, Hemin Trivedi, Priyal Bhatt, Shrey Maradiya, Deep Vaidya,

Writer: Bhargav Trivedi

Director: Kartavya Shahi

Produced By: Ajay Patel, Dit Patel, Ashok Patel, Piyush Patel  

Music: Saregama Gujarati

BGM: Arjun Pinakin and Darshan Shah

DOP: Sreekumar Nair

Language: Gujarati

Run Time: 2 hours 22 minutes

Recommended:  Yes.

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Review of the Gujarati Movie “The Great Gujarati Matrimony”

Critical Analysis of the Gujarati Movie “Shastra”

The Plot

The movie is based on contemporary and most likely going to be every green topic of cybercrime, the Dark Web, deepfake video and photos, and data hacking. 

This is what is currently happening right now across the globe. Hackers are able to hack the phone, and then the game of blackmail starts, and it goes beyond imagination.

The most vulnerable victims are the people who are greedy, careless, and unaware of cybercrime. 

The storyline of “Shastra” is simple and yet very effective, and gives a strong message to society.  

The roles of two young college-going students, Mann and Charmy, played by Shrey Maradiya and Priyal Bhatt, there is a lady professor of that college, played by beautiful and gorgeous Puja Joshi.  ACP Raghav of Cybercrime, who is the lead role in this movie, is played by Chetan Dhanani. Hemin Trivedi is playing Jogi, who is the assistant of ACP Raghav. Deep Vaidya is also in the movie, and he is playing the role of PC.

Two young college students, Mann and Charmy are in love with each other and share some nude photos. The hackers were able to hack their phones and make the photos of Charmy viral on social media.  The parents rightly go to Cybercrime and the police start searching culprit and cyber frauds. What happens next is you know what happens in such movies.  This is not a true story and is a nonfiction and the nonfiction stories have a positive end.

There is nothing new as far as the story is concerned and we have seen lot of movies and web series in Bollywood based on this topic; however, this is the first attempt in Gujarati Films which is highly appreciable. 

The Performance

Talking about the performance of the actors, I have always been impressed with Chetan Dhanani, and he has made me more happier as ACP Raghav.  This role shoots him, and he looks dashing as ACP. He should continue doing these kinds of roles where he is a dominating character. He was excellent in Kasumbo and Samandar also. 

Truely speaking I am confused about the role of Puja Joshi, in the move she started as a professor as “Vaidehi” and suddenly became IT professional helping cybercell finding the hackers!!, confusing. However, her performance is of top notch whatever she was told to do.   

There are two comedians in this movie, Hemin Trivedi and Deep Vaidya, both have performed their part of characters very well.

Priyal Bhatt and Shrey Maradiya, this is their third film together, hmm.  This jodi is rocking again, however their roles are not long but their roles as college students suits on them perfectly.

There are lots of supporting casts in this movie, but I am not very much impressed by the supporting actors. There is a lack of timing in the dialogue delivery, especially the politician. 

Kartavya Shah is a good director and has directed such films and web shows in the past, and has good experience in doing such content. The direction of the movie is fine. 

However, the movie is still far behind in terms of technical quality compared to other Bollywood movies. 

In any thriller movie, the main backbone is the background music, which is excellent throughout. It connects with the scene and keeps the audience interested and engaged.

Let’s go through some negative points of the movie. 

1. Lot of conversations are between them only, I will give you one example, “Vaidehi” and ACP Raghav in one scene where Vaidehi is showing and saying to ACP that “someone has sent PC to monitor us, “see this”, and showing on the computer screen, but nothing is shown to the audience. I was very keen to see the computer screen what is there on it, but I had to just believe their conversation. 
2. Poor VFX, this is also a part of the technical, where I was not happy.
3. Poor acting, apart from the lead actors, the supporting cast does not support to the lead actors very much.  Their dialogue timings, body language and facial expression were not up to the mark.I have to ignore them and have to concentrate on lead actors only. I believe Kartavya have not been able to extract the full potential of the supporting actors.
4. Hemin Trivedi as Jogi and Deep Vaidya as PC both have tried very hard to put some smile on my face, but were unsuccessful in doing so, movie lacks comedy punches.
5. In terms of technical aspects, the movie is not up to the mark.

Now let’s see some positive aspects of the movie.

1. A Strong message to today’s young children and their parents to have less screentime and do not install any unauthorised Apps or click on any unknown links.
2. One of the most important messages is to report cybercrime and file a complaint against the crime instead of being a puppet of the blackmailer or hacker. 
3. Awesome acting of all lead actors, Chetan, Puja, Hemin, Deep, Priyal and Shrey.
4. Climax is excellent, I did not expect this climax, so for me it is awesome.
5. There are two points where I was surprised and appreciate the writer for it, but if I reveal those two points, then it will be a spoiler.

“Shastra” is a delightful blend of crime and thrill.  The topic is contemporary and needs more content on this topic to spread more awareness in society.  These types of movies should be made more on true stories, which will have more impact on society. There are no brutal scenes, nudity or foul language, so it is a must-watch movie for every child and their parents together. 

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Review of The Bollywood Movie “The Diplomat”