Two Indian agents get killed in Austria by an arms and trafficking kingpin Mikhail. In the meanwhile, in India, Shabana (Taapsee) is a college student and a Kudo player. While on a date with her lover Jay (Taher Shabbir), Shabana undergoes an eve-teasing incident that ends up in the death of Jay by the eve-teasers. Shabana is hot headed, has a deadly past and now with the death of her innocent boyfriend is even more wounded. At this opportune moment, an Indian agency of secret agents contacts her, offering help in nabbing Jay’s killers in exchange of her service to the country. Not having faith in the legal system, Shabana gives a nod to them. Succeeding at her first task in eliminating Jay’s killers, she is soon sent out for another mission involving Tony (Prithviraj Sukumaran). Working with the best, Ajay (Akshay Kumar) and Shukla (Anupam Kher), will she succeed in wiping out Tony?
Taapsee Pannu impressed the hell out of us in Pink. After her famed fight sequence in Baby, we see her take up the lead role in the sequel Naam Shabana and she does promise us a good time with her act in spite of a failing script. She excels in the action sequences and handles the scenes of emotional breakdown equally well. Taapsee is here to stay! Manoj Bajpayee as Ranveer seems limited in his underdeveloped character. Despite his towering talent, the script never lets him make an impression.
Prithviraj Sukumaran is the lead antagonist and there’s hardly anything good to say here. He surely looks hot as the bad guy sporting a diamond stud but his role is just not meaty enough. Akshay Kumar’s extended cameo entry is great. Yet, one has to agree him randomly popping up in the scene is a clear indication how his character was pushed into this film. Also, with Anupam Kher returning as Shuklaji, it’s the Akshay-Kher camaraderie that works its magic again.
Naam Shabana packs a punch with its action! Taapsee does a fabulous job at handling emotion as well as action. Rating: 6.5/10