Shakti Movie Review

We are just one step away from the World Cup and Thanks to our Indian Team who played brilliantly and proudly made to the final. With the exams and cricket coming to an end, it’s the time for movie festival to start this summer. And Shakti marks the start of the summer spree. Shakti starring NTR and is produced by AswiniDutt on huge scale. Shakti is directed by Meher Ramesh who directed stylish films like Billa and Kantri. Ileana plays the heroine…

Let’s check out if Shakti could live up to the efforts that are put in and expectations of the fans…

Plot: Story deals with 18 Shakti peetams and a holy ritual that needs to be performed every 27 years, to protect the sanctity and power of the 18 Shakti Peetams. Movie is all about how a protector Rudra (NTR) and his successor Shakti (NTR) safe guards these Peetams and perform the ritual at right time.

Performances...

NTR is given the new title “A1 Star” with the film. He is seen in two roles, one as Rudra and other as Shakti swaroop. Shakti role is of the current generation. He is good with rugged look, dons his role with ease. He excels in his comfort zone that is dances. Other role Rudra as revealed during the audio release has got mixed response. Director fails to bring out the best from that role and thus below expectations.

Ileana looks gorgeous as usual. Just as any other movie she is just there for songs and of course serves as some connecting point to the proceedings.

Nazar as holy saint...Tamil actor Prabhu as Ileana’s father and the home minister have good roles and they score well. Jackie Shroff and Vinod Kumar are fine.

SP Balasubramanyam has brief role in flashback...and his voice serves to explain the concept in detail.Manju bhargavi as his wife is wasted. Manjari Fadnis as Rudra’s wife too has minute role.

Comedians Krishna Bhagwan, Ali and Venumadhav come at right time/place and provide some comic relief. Brahmanandam is wasted again.

And less we talk about Egyptian batch is better. Sonu sood is utterly wasted. And so are other villains including Puja bedi and a huge Iron man who acted as her son.

Movie flow…

First half flows in typical Telugu movie style where hero serves as guide to heroine’s batch and eventually heroine falling for him. Locations like Jaipur, Srinagar and Haridwar that are chosen as background offer some freshness and presence of Ali and Krishna Bhagwaan passes the time easier and thus entire first half goes smoothly. There is little surprise for interval bang, which is fine.

Second half has the flashback episode. This episode which explains in detail the holy ritual is adequate. But the Rudra’s characterization and even the make-up lack the punch. The kind of scenes which brings a great deal of energy as in Rajamouli’s movies are completely missing. Thus Rudra’s portrayal suffers a lot. Whatever happens next to the flashback is what every common audience can easily imagine.

Egyptian crisis spoiled the flick.

Director Meher no doubt has come up with some sellable story line. But linking the theme with the Egypt is suicidal attempt. The connection seems funny and is useless in fact. Also lot of stretching seen all over with no sufficient stuff tests the patience in many ways.  Manisharma who is known in providing brilliant background scores does not really help this flick . Flashback episode too does not offer much surprise. Songs especially the duets are so badly placed.

What’s fine then!!

NTR’s role as Shakti is mixed with all mass ingredients to entice front benchers for a while. Though duets are not rightly placed, NTR-Ileana make a nice pair in songs. Presence of experienced actors helps a bit as in all Aswinidutt’s films. Efforts of shooting in various locations in North India and in Dubai are visually appealing, Thanks to brilliant work by SameerReddy. Anand Sai’s art is also commendable…especially for the set of Goddess Durga and towards the “Prema Desam yuvaraani” song.

Final Say:

It’s not always the budget that makes it big, but it needs freshness and an extra effort to hit hard.  Shakti does not at any point thrill the audience, but just stays as the routine flick. A better flashback episode and much engaging screenplay minus the Egyptian connection would have done miracles. Nevertheless Nandamuri fans and others craving for a decent flick for past one month can have a look. Shakti stands beside Vyjayanthi’s previous movie Kanthri in substance.

Rating:

2.75/5 at the best for overall effort involved. Movie will enjoy some time at the box-office for it being the first big release after long hiatus. But seriously could have been much better!!