Shanghai is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language political thriller film co written, co produced and directed by Dibakar Banerjee, starring Emraan Hashmi, Farooq Shaikh, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin and Prosenjit Chatterjee. It is a remake of 1969 French movie Z which was based on the Greek novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos. On 6 June 2012, the high court refused stay on the release of the film. It received critical acclaim upon its release on 8 June 2012. The film was a flop at the box office.
Plot
The film is set in the fictional Indian city of Bharat Nagar which is considered an example of progress through infrastructure. The state government is planning to build an International Business Park (IBP), which is claimed to turn the city into 'Shanghai.'
The film starts with Bhagirath Dolas alias Bhaggu (Pitobash Tripathy) convincing his maternal uncle, Jagannath Koli alias Jaggu (Anant Jog) into doing an unknown task. Although unwilling, the latter takes it up fearing confiscation of his hypothecated vehicle due to possible issues in paying dues. Bhaggu then participates in the assault of a local bookstore owner who stocked copies of Dr. Ahmadi's (Prosenjit Chatterjee) latest book, which criticises Morcha, the local political party for ignoring the plight of the poor in its quest for developing infrastructure. Ahmadi, a socialist academic, is scheduled to visit Bharat Nagar for a speech. Shalini (Kalki Koechlin), a former student of Ahmadi, is part of a small group that struggles to raise awareness against the much touted project, which could render many people homeless. Joginder Parmar alias Jogi (Emraan Hashmi) works in a photo and video studio of questionable repute with the owner, Vinod (Chandrahas Tiwari). T. A. Krishnan (Abhay Deol), an IAS officer, a favourite of the Chief Minister (Supriya Pathak), is assured by Principal Secretary Kaul (Farooq Shaikh) of a promotion and a trip to Stockholm.
Ahmadi arrives from New York City to find out that the required permissions for his speech have been revoked (Thanks to Krishnan's influence) citing lower police protection. Before his arrival, Shalini gets a warning from Gauri, her maid to stop him from coming to Bharat Nagar, but her words are not taken seriously by his associates. Jogi and Vinod are present at the Morcha party headquarters to shoot a promotional video on IBP featuring Janardhan Purshottamdas Sawant alias Deshnayak (Kiran Karmarkar), a local politician. On receiving a call, Deshnayak becomes flustered, and Damle, his aide, tells the duo to stop the shoot.
Meanwhile, Ahmadi finds a way to deliver a scathing speech against the establishment, which is received well. A mob later gathers and attacks his associates. On getting to know this, Ahmadi gets angry and starts shouting at the police officers managing the crowd. Unknown to the police, Jaggu's truck breaks in and runs over Ahmadi. One of Ahmadi's team members, Tiger, tries to intervene by jumping onto the truck and fighting with Bhaggu, who was behind the truck. In the scuffle, Bhaggu is pushed off and manages to escape. Sometime later, Jaggu crashes his vehicle. This is noticed by a policeman nearby, and he is subsequently arrested. Jogi and Vinod were also present to cover Dr. Ahmadi's speech.
Ahmadi winds up comatose in a hospital. Shalini is confident that this was a planned attack. On seeing Jogi in the hospital, she asks him if they have any video footage of the crash, which could be used to find the perpetrators. Dr. Ahmadi's wife Aruna (Tillotama Shome) agrees to lead a media campaign demanding the truth, though she seems uninterested. Bhaggu meanwhile manages to free his uncle from prison.
Back in the studio, during a conversation with Jogi, Vinod claims to have incriminating evidence against Morcha and wishes to sell Shalini the tape. Meanwhile, Aruna's campaign forces the CM's office to set up an inquiry commission headed by Krishnan. Krishnan finds that the police are hiding evidence, so he summons SSP Chavan (Chinmay Mandlekar), who is also uncooperative. Shalini, who attends the commission snaps at Krishnan for allegedly taking it lightly, following which she is barred from attending any future hearings. Jogi, desperate to sell the tape futilely approaches Krishnan but is later approached by Shalini.