Movie: Sankarabharanam
Rating: 2/5
Banner: MVV Cinema
Cast: Nikhil, Nanditha, Anjali, Prudhvi, Sapthagiri, Suman, Rao Ramesh Sitara, Sanjay Mishra and others
Music: Praveen Lakkaraju
Cinematography: Sai Sriram
Editor: Chota K Prasad
Producers: MVV Satyanarayana
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues and Direction Supervision: Kona Venkat
Presented by: Kona Venkat
Directed by: Uday Nandanavanam
Release Date: December 4, 2015
Series of hits made Nikhil a star and this happened because he encourages new concepts. On other hand, writer Kona Venkat has been presenting concept-based small movies that won at the box-office.
When Nikhil and Kona joined hands for Sankarabharanam, the movie raised the expectations. So does the movie live up to the expectations?
Story:
Gautham (Nikhil) is young son of rich NRI businessman in USA. His father (Suman) lands in financial mess, he has to clear the debt of two million dollars immediately to save his business. His mother asks Gautham to leave for Bihar and sell off her ancestral palace called Sankarabharanam whose worth is more than two million dollars.
He lands in Bihar only to find that the palace is being used by his extended uncles and aunts and they refuse to sign the documents of the sale. While he tries to impress them and make them sign the NOC, he along with his uncle's daughter Happy (Nandita) gets kidnapped by a gang. More drama follows.
Artistes’ Performances:
Boy next-door Nikhil has turned into the role of rich NRI with silly dialogue delivery. Too much of pretentiousness is there in his acting. Look wise he fits the role but there is not scope for him to do anything other than being a mere participant in the whole drama.
Nanditha is completely wasted. Anjali in a brief role as lady don is good.
Prudhvi once again gets best role and he shines with right comedy dialogues and mannerism as greedy police officer who is hand in glove with the kidnap gang.
Sapathagiri has generated some laughs. Bollywood actor Sanjay Mishra is underutilized. Sampath comes up with a good performance as Home Minister.
Technical Excellence:
The movie is largely set in the backdrop of Bihar. The rough terrain was captured well by the cinematographer Sai Sriram and the artwork is also appreciable. Editing is neat. Music is not at all good as all songs sound like Hindi item songs. Production values are decent.
Highlights:
- Nice concept
- Prudhvi's comedy
Drawbacks:
- Entire first half looks boring
- Lack of sufficient entertainment
- Movie drags on
- Bihar backdrop
Analysis:
The film is said to be remake of a Hindi hit, Phas Gaye Re Obama but the screenplay has been changed a lot by writer Kona Venkat and he has added his own brand of style.
On paper the basic idea looks pretty good but the screenplay has gone completely haywire with the movie neither turning out to be a proper crime comedy or romantic movie.
Family sentiments, romance, kidnap drama and comedy all have been put in one mixer but the grind isn’t a smooth one. There lies the issue with movie.
First half of the movie goes on pretty dull note. The movie really picks up when the character Prudhvi is introduced and those portions are hilarious too. Even then the movie continues to drag on with too many villains and kidnap gangs coming in to the scene.
Other than the climax portions and Prudhvi, the movie falls flat. It is an inexcusable shoddy remake of a hit movie.
Nikhil has looked clueless in most part of the movie. There is absolutely no chemistry between Nikhil and Nanditha. There is hardly any touch of Kona Venkat who is known for good comedy dramas although he has been credited in the movie from screenplay, dialogues, and also direction supervision. Defacto director he is as per the credits. But no grip over direction and screenplay is visible.
Like we said earlier, Prudhvi and some comedy in the climax are the saving grace of this dull and boring movie.
Bottomline: Badly composed Sankarabharanam!
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or Twitter)
