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Do we need cardboard caricatured action heroes? Does 'Shiva' reflect the corrupt facades of present political system with a relevant solution? Is 'Shiva', a remake of RGV's 1990 'Shiva' or is it sequel to poorly made 'James'? These might be some questions that an average viewer would be interested before viewing Ramu's latest presentation, 'Shiva'. Like endless monotonous cop thriller this is another "run of the mill" action drama where superhuman hero overpowers corrupt political system. It might be acknowledged that Ramu created a niche for himself with realistic cinema that comprises films like 'Company', 'Satya' and 'Sarkar'.

Ramu's strongest workforce has been his unpredictable scripting with brilliant characterization matched with daunting background score. To add to this, these films have brilliant actors or thespians who delivered priceless and unmatched performance. 'Shiva' loses on all fronts and comes out as Ramu's weakest proposition of all times. Predictable script, poor characterizations, fractured screenplay and ordinary performances sum up this forgettable film. This is neither a remake of Ramu's first hit 'Shiva' nor a sequel to Mohit Ahlawat's launching vehicle 'James'.

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This 'Shiva' is contemporary cop thriller where the honest cop along with his confidants fights against the evil and corrupt political system. So, how many times in last three decades have we witnessed similar stories and films? Secondly, the film falters miserably on narration front where characters are semi-baked backed by shoddy screenplay. Lastly, the film has mediocre performances from the lead players---Mohit Ahlawat and Nisha Kothari. To make things worse, the film provides gruesome and gory violence that might disturb family audience.

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Now, visualize this scene where a politician's henchman mercilessly hammers a huge nail in the skull of a person in front of a policeman. Doesn't this depict the declining morality rate of the police force and the political system. Every time when main villain Bappu's henchman is beaten to pulp by mighty Shiva, it is assumed that the hero possesses either superhuman muscular strength or supernatural powers. Despite all acrobatic fights, Shiva never gets hurt and to physically eliminate him they hire professional gangster from Malaysia.

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RIDICULOUS! Ramu seems to have gone out of track completely in balancing style and substance in the film. Even in the climax the corrupt minister uses two identical musclemen to eliminate Shiva rather than using political machinery to nab him. Once again, the film works more as show reeling of Mohit Ahlawat than delivering action-packed entertainment to the audience. The audiences have matured up watching films like 'Shool', 'Ab Tak Chhappan', 'Gangajal' and 'Apaharan' in recent times. These films have been sketched on real life incidents and have proved competent in providing relevant solutions. But 'Shiva' seems to be Ramu's version of Amitabh's 'Zanjeer'. Ramu develops a cardboard caricature called "Shiva" (Mohit Ahlawat), who hails from small town "Sangli" and experiences the might of "Jungle Law" in Mumbai. He pulls up his sleeves and befriends Sandhya (Nisha Kothari), a crime reporter, in confronting them. Shiva has a caring brother Daksh (Ranvir Shorey) and sister-in-law Manasi (Suchitra Pillai) who expects monetary gains from him.

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Bappu (Upendra Limaye), gangster-turned-politician, rules the city by bribing police and politicians. Even Shiva's seniors - Inspector Sawant (Zakir Hussain) and Inspector Tavde (Raju Mavani) - are Bappu's puppets. Bappu's dreaded henchman John (Shereveer Vakil) mercilessly kills people and spreads terror. He even ogles at Sandhya but is beaten to pulp by Shiva many times. The mighty Shiva beats Bappu's henchmen in restaurant and gains the reputation of an honest police officer. Disappointed by his henchmen's failure, Bappu hires Kutney (Ganesh Mayekar) to eliminate Shiva. Shiva overpowers him in the shopping mall and finally nabs Bappu at his place. Now, the predictable happens! The corrupt home minister Shirke (Dilip Prabhavalkar) advices Shiva to be "hand in glove" with underworld or else he will remove him from the police force. Spearheaded by his ideals, Shiva along with his confidants resigns from the police force and battles out the anti-social elements. What happens next is predictable "cat and mouse" game that we have witnesses zillion times in Bollywood films.

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Mohit Ahlawat's performance has improvised from his debut performance, but he needs further improvisation. Except for action sequences, the actor shows signs of immaturity while emoting and romancing with the heroine. Nisha Kothari has a big South Indian accent and this is where she needs to improve. Her mediocre screen presence and unnecessary body show reduces her to glam doll despite the fact she portrays a crime reporter. Upendra Limaye impresses the most with his Maharashtrian accent in his evil villainous acts. He showed great promise in 'Page 3' by playing cop and delivers another fine performance. Ramu's favorite actors -- Raju Mavani and Zakir Hussain -- fail to create any impact after impressive performances in 'Sarkar'. Ninad Kamat shines in brief appearance with his comical "Bollywood" act. Ranvir Shorey and Suchitra Pillai have been completely wasted in small roles.

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'Shiva' has many loose ends so much so that it is hard to count positive points in the subject. The stale concept hardly leaves any scope for any director. So, why simply blame Ramu for not delivering the needful? It might be his vision to rejuvenate his protégé - Mohit Ahlawat's sagging career - in an "angry young man" image but time has changed. The forced "body show" by Nisha Kothari is another weak link that decimates film's prospects. The unnecessarily cleavage and leg show challenges the aesthetics of the director. The unconventional musical score by Illaiyaraja is another discouraging factor. Besides theatrically rendered "Hum Shapath" (oath taking theme song), no other song makes any dent in the film.

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Bappu's character is proposed to be loosely based on the caricature of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli. But look out at sequences when he absconds. Does he look like villain? He gets threatened by his subordinate henchman John in the end. It evokes laughter than hatred for the self-imposed kingpin. How come corrupt police officers who work mechanically for Bappu's turn Shiva's confidant? It seems Shiva's "herogiri" and superhuman acts have melted their hearts and turned them into humane. How such an old fashioned and illogical thing comes from the director who has created a set of worthy directors under his banner? It seems that Ramu has been besotted by 70's action potboiler after rehashing couple of Hollywood flicks.

Overall, 'Shiva' is a loser on all fronts and comes out as Ram Gopal Verma's most forgettable work. The filmmaker who has groomed many talents under his flagship needs positive word of advice from his well wishers. The film may turn to be a losing preposition and even Ramu's hardcore fans won't disagree with this.

After watching 'Shiva' one hopes and prays for his next venture 'Nishabd' and 'Sholay'.