Expectations

Director Neeraj Pandey's 'Baby' surprised everyone because of its different content which had a good mixture of realistic and fictional world. The movie also showcased the spies of our country in a different manner and that too without any fancy gadgets or glamorous girls or a super villain.

The audience loved these factors, along with the fantastic star cast with Taapsee Pannu being the surprise element in the movie. Her part along with the action scenes was one of the most memorable parts of the movie.

Thus, right from the first announcement of 'Naam Shabana', which is inspired from Taapsee's character from 'Baby', there is a high amount of excitement and expectations related to it. The trailed increased it to another level as it contained other characters from 'Baby' along with superstar Akshay Kumar.

Story

'Naam Shabana' is a story of young college student Shabana Khan (Taapsee Pannu). Shabana's best friend Jai (Taher Shabbir Mithaiwala) loves her and proposes her on a date. While returning back Shabana and Jai are eve teased by some hooligans, which leads to a fight between them and in that fight Jai gets killed. Shabana tries her best to get justice, but fails miserably. At that moment she receives a call from Ranvir (Manoj Bajpayee), who claims to be a part of a powerful government based organization and promises to help Shabana find Jai's killers. In order to share the information, Ranvir also strikes a deal with Shabana, where she has to join their organization. Shabana agrees and thus starts the making of a spy.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The basic story idea is good and had full potential to be a tight thriller on the lines of 'Baby'. The first half of the movie takes its own sweet time to settle down with extended romantic track.

The action scene in these parts are remarkable. The action are of top notch and it's due to these scenes you are glued into the movie. The music of 'Naam Shabana' is above average, with 'Rozana' and ‘Zinda’ appealing to your ears.

Director Shivam Nair gets a great opportunity to make a spin-off based on the character from the movie 'Baby'.

Taapsee Pannu looks good and done some fantastic action in the movie. It's a proud moment for her, as it's for the first time that a spy film based on a female protagonist is made and that too at such a large scale. Manoj Bajpayee is fantastic in a couple of scenes. Akshay Kumar's cameo is highly appealing.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

The buildup for the climax is also interesting leading to a weak, flat and highly underwhelming climax. The length of the movie acts as the biggest negative point as all the tracks are unnecessarily stretched. You love the characters in the film, but none of them had the same intensity or substance, like how they had in the movie 'Baby'.

There are plenty of unwanted scenes in the movie. The entire mission, the hardship and back story of Taapsee gets diluted due to random happening in the screenplay.

The cinematography is decent, but the C.G.I work in some scenes is tacky.Zubi Zubi’ is one more addition of bad remix song. 'Besharam' is unwanted and badly placed in the movie. Background music is jarring at times.

Director Shivam Nair manages to get other big actors like Akshay Kumar, Danny and Anupam Kher from 'Baby', but fails to utilize their potentials. These actors ended up looking like a star attraction in the movie and failed to be part of it. The script keeps wavering in the second half and shifts its base from training to a weak mission, where the main criminal himself gives away the prime lead to the agents. Also, unlike 'Baby' many scenes seemed unrealistic and funny.

The director forgot the main point that this movie is about Taapsee and her culmination of becoming a spy. After establishing Taapsee's backstory the movie forgets her and move towards making a spoof or a pilot shoot of 'Baby'. Manoj Bajpayee ishighly wasted. There is no substance to his character and probably one of the weakest role of this ace actor in recent times.Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa, Murli Sharma and Madhurima Tuli are wasted in their small cameo.

Final 'Glitz'

'Naam Shabana' is not name worthy enough to match up to the potential of 'Baby'. It has some brilliant fight scenes and good performance along with a lost opportunity.