Rating: 2/5
Banner: Vyjayanthi Movies
Cast: Junior NTR, Ileana, Sonu Sood, Pooja Bedi, Nasser, Jackie Shroff, Prabhu and others
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Sameer Reddy
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Story, screenplay, direction: Meher Ramesh
Producer: Aswini Dutt
Release date: 01/04/2011
The costliest film ever made in Tollywood has finally arrived and this also marks the starting of the summer bonanzas. Let us see if it has enough heat.
Story:
Mahadevarayalu (Prabhu) is the central home minister. He hails from royal family. His family is entrusted to protect the most powerful divine weapon Rudrashoolam and divine diamond Jwalamukhi. But Mahadevarayulu’s father (SP Balu) loses Rudrashoolam to the sinister minded deewanjee Jackie (Jackie Shroff). Since a pooja has to be performed on a particular eclipse day, the holy man (Nazar) asks Mahadevarylu to get Jwalamukhi.
On the other hand, Mahadevarayalu has got his daughter Iswarya (Ileana). She wants to live a free life without any security so she escapes to have a holiday with her friends (Ali and others). Accidentally, jwalamukhi drops into Ishwarya’s travel bag. Ish fails to recognize that.
While the story goes like this, Fakhtoom (Pooja), an evil queen from Egypt has also got her eyes on Rudrashoolam as she wants to conquer the world and avenge the death of her husband (Sonu Sood).
Ishwarya is targeted by the group of Fakhtoom but here comes Shakti (NTR) as Iswarya’s tourist guide. He protects her from time to time. However, Shakti has got a flashback and a connection with the Rudrashoolam. What is that connection? Who gets to win in the end forms the rest of the story.
Performances
NTR Junior does his bit as required. Though he is lacking those high energy levels and powerful dialogue delivery, he carries off his role in a matured way. However, the etching of his warrior character was poor.
Ileana looks sexy and appeals in the songs. Though her costumes were not upto the mark, she contributes in the glamour department.
Sonu Sood was okay, though his role was very limited he manages to make his presence felt.
Pooja Bedi was artificial, Nasser looks powerful, Jackie Shroff ended up as a joker with his weak characterization, the actor who did the role of Raaka was brawny, Prabhu was okay, Ali was average, Brahmanandam came and went, Krishna Bhagawan brought few smiles, S P Balu was standard, Manjari was ok. The others didn’t have much to offer.
Highlights
- Visual grandeur
- Art department
- Music and lyrics
- Background score
- Ileana’s glamour
- Production values
Disappointments
- Weak content
- Poor screenplay
- Logical lapse in the backdrop
- Song picturization
- Editing hiccups
- Directorial flaws
Analysis
A good film with high budgets requires a strong team of technicians and effective execution of the plot. Here, the concept of the Sakti Peethams was appealing but then it takes material to execute the plot in the right way and bring conviction.
The responsibility of the director is to bring depth and feel into such storylines. For instance, the flashback episode dates back only 27 years back which means 1984. How can one expect people to come from Egypt with horses, have sword-fights etc during that year.
Another place where the Sakti Peethams are portrayed through library shots, what was the director thinking of? Saving some money? Well, that looked poor. There are many scenes where dramatism and high voltage of emotions is required but that was missing completely.
Except for one or two scenes, there is not a single scene which strikes a chord. Cinematic liberties are accepted but the director must concentrate on getting the audience to connect with his story first. After that, even if he shows something illogical, the audience won’t mind it. But right from the first scene, things have been stale and lacked any emotion.
At the box office, the openings might be good due to the star power and the hype about the budget but apart from that, the film is sure to fizzle out due to weak content.
Bottomline: Shakti appeals to the director but peels the skin of the audience
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
