Shankarabaranam Movie Review
on Dec 4, 2015
From a long time, writer-producer Kona Venkat is busy giving a colour that "Shankarabaranam" is the best flick he has ever made in his career. He's confident of huge success as he storms away the direction mantle from Uday Nandanavanam, saying that he has supervised the whole film. Let us see how this Nikhil-Nanditha starrer has actually fared.
The CONTENT:
Gowtham (Nikhil) lives in USA with his father (Suman), mother Rajjo Takur (Sitara) and a sister. As his father is about to commit suicide after getting cheated by partners for 1 million dollars, Gowtham travels to India to sell their ancestral property "Shankarabaranam" and clear their debts. After coming here, he finds out that his uncle (Rao Ramesh) and their family are living in the palace and plans to sell the palace by forcefully vacating them. Meantime he also falls flat for his uncle's daughter Happy Takur (Nanditha). Before he sells palace, Gowtham gets kidnapped by Bhai Saab (Sudhir Misra) gang for ransom. How Gowtham comes out of their clutches and faces difficulties from other kidnappers including Munni (Anjali) and Home Minister (Sampath) is the rest of story.
The EFFORT:
On-Screen:
Nkhil managed to look charming in paled skin tone like an NRI, but haven't worked hard on his diction. Though he spoke english words all the time, no where we feel like hearing them from an NRI's mouth. In other way, everyone gets surprised to see why Nikhil accepted this film when there is no prominent role for him except taking blows from villains.
Through out the film it's Saptagiri and 30 years Prithvi who stole the show with their comedy timing and punches. Without them, the movie would have got bored much faster. Especially both rocked with their terrific screen presence and body language.
Heroine Anjali's cameo is little effective, while film's main female lead Nanditha is just limited to couple of scenes and songs. The long list of comedians including Viva Harsha, Praveen and others are adequate. Others have done their part well, but not highly impressive. In the end, Sampath's mixed acting as a villain and comedian impressed.
Off-Screen:
Director Uday Nandavanam has chosen all the right elements at right time including comedy, love and emotions, and picked up a nice concept to remake. However, the film's bumpy ride won't give any high points but hiccups. But we wonder who directed the film, Uday or Kona Venkat?
Kona's dialogues are impressive sometimes and sound like nonsense when he used excessive rhyming and timing. Though he has boasted many exaggerations about his characters during press meets, there is nothing serious inside and no character gets elevated except comedy.
Cinematographer Sai Sriram did somewhat good job, while music given by Praveen Lakkaraju is average. His songs are completely disappointing while background score is below the mark.
The PLUSES:
Comedy on a whole
Turns and twists in second half
The MINUSES:
Heavy drag in first half
Lack of soul
Disappointing songs
BREAKDOWN:
Kona Venkat made some tall claims about Shankarabaranam, regarding the story, screenplay and dialogues written by him. But his tall statements haven't reflected in the content. Bihar means a land of thieves, while NRIs means those who throw stashes of money at poor Indians— is what Kona narrated through this film.
Film starts in USA with hero Gowtham (Nikhil) leading a happy life as his dad gives him everything (read money). When his dad is about to suicide, Nikhil comes to India to sell their palace (named Shankarabaranam) and he's joined by an awara Saptagiri, who entertains throughout. However, our hero failed to show his acting mettle as he has to portray his negative side for a while. The story gets dragged even after revealing the point that hero gets kidnapped. We have to wait till interval, going through some rib-tickling comedy, to see hero taken away by gun-wielding silly goons.
As it is revealed that hero doesn't have single dollar in his pocket or account, kidnappers feel little sad. Then our hero gives him idea such that other gangs will buy him. These sound interesting and with the arrival of Prithvi as police inspector Percentage Paramesh, the whole setup turns very funny. But the film takes a downward trend as scene turn repetitive and comedians delivering similar punches. After a poor pre-climax, climax turns little interesting yet again with villain Sampath's arrival as he puts on superb comedy. After a bumpy ride, finally Kona Venkat delivers a message about 'bandaalu and anubandaalu' which is very small in size to read.
Premise of Shankarabaranam is not new as we have seen umpteen movies including Nagarjuna's Greekuveerudu and Ram's Pandaga Chesko are also having similar story lines. Other than Kona's witty comedy liners, first half is an utter boring hour to bear with routine content. In second half, though kidnap twists look good, they're repetitive and boring. Other than comedians, leading actors failed to win hearts with their presence. Recently released Superstar Kidnap is also having same story, probably the whole of second half lifted from Hindi movie Phas Gayare Obama. Surprisingly all these films failed, and Shankarabaranam is looking no better.
Final words: Classic title wasted for silly comedy
Rating: 1.5/5
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