Shikari
- Director
- Mohammed Hussain
- Studio
- Eagle Films
- Release Date
- 1 January 1932
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
Review
Shikari is a mess of a film that mistakes ambition for competence. The premise—a jungle expedition to capture a giant ape complicated by mad scientists and forced romance—had potential for entertaining pulp, but director Vijay Bhatt squanders it with choppy pacing, limp direction, and a narrative that lurches between plot threads like a drunk man stumbling home. The performances are uniformly stiff; Randhir as the comic relief clown is grating rather than charming, and the romantic chemistry between Ajit and Ragini's Rita generates zero heat. K.N. Singh's Dr. Cyclops could've been delightfully unhinged but instead feels like an afterthought, appearing randomly in the film's second half as if the director suddenly remembered he'd cast a villain.
What truly sinks Shikari is its technical incompetence and narrative incoherence. The jungle sequences feel studio-bound and claustrophobic rather than adventurous, and the supposed "giant ape" is referenced so obliquely that you'll forget it's the film's central objective. The script betrays its own characters—Jagdish's sudden treachery lacks any setup or motivation, Helen's Shobha vanishes from the narrative entirely, and the climax is so rushed it feels like entire reels are missing. For a film that aims for adventure and spectacle, Shikari delivers neither. It's a relic of early 1950s Bollywood that hasn't aged well, overshadowed by far superior adventure films of its era.
Rating: 4/10
Storyline
Kapoor (Bir Sakhuja) and Jagdish (Madan Puri) are partners in a Circus. The circus is running in loss so they go on an expedition to jungles of Malay to capture a giant ape known as Otango. Their friend, a scientist Professor Sharma, daughter of Kapoor Rita (Ragini) and Chandu the circus clown (Randhir) accompany them. They take a letter of recommendation for Ajit (Ajit) owner of timber estate from their friend Naib living in Malay. In jungle Rita falls in river from ropeway trolley and gets lost in forest. Ajit saves her and takes her to his estates. Later other members of the expedition also come there. A romance starts to bloom between Ajit and Rita. They request Ajit to accompany them to find Otango. He takes his men and they set out on their quest. They find a village destroyed by Otango. They meet a mad scientist Dr. Cyclops (K. N. Singh) who has set up a laboratory in jungle. He is experimenting to turn humans into gorilla. Dr. Cyclops is living with his daughter Shobha (Helen) and his henchmen. Shobha wants to save them from his father's nefarious and savage experiments and takes them to a secret passage to run away. But Jagdish tells on them and they are captured. Dr. Cyclops promises Jagdish to help him take away Otango if he helps him marry Rita. Dr. Cyclops takes Rita to native village to solemnize marriage by Chieftain (Shyam Kumar) making Jagdish incharge of the lab in his absence. Trying to escape Ajit and others fight with Jagdish and henchman. Jagdish falls on lab equipment full of chemicals and dies. Shobha takes them to village where marriage is about to be solemnized. Again fight ensues and Shobha is killed. Otango attacks the village and rampages it. They run and coming to another village sets it on fire in hope that Otango dies. But Otango chases them and they come to a trestle bridge over burning lava. They all cross the bridge and then cut the ropes when Otango is trying to cross. Otango falls in gorge with lava and dies. They reach back timb