Shaakuntalam Movie Review (Rating: 2.25)
Starring: Samantha, Dev Mohan, Allu Arha, Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, and others
Director: Gunasekhar
Producer: Neelima Guna
Music Director: Mani Sharma
Samantha Ruth Prabhu is back with a mythological drama Shaakunthalam. The film is directed by Gunasekhar and was made on a mammoth scale. Shaakunthalam was released today. Have a look at the review.
Story:
Menaka comes from heaven to disturb Vishwamitra upon the orders of Indra. Menaka is successful in wooing Vishwamitra and they had a child Shakunthala (Samantha). As Menaka couldn’t take Shakunthala back to heaven, she was sent to Kanwa Maharshi Ashramam. Shakunthala grows there.
King Dushyantha (Dev Mohan) sees Shakunthala at Kanwa Maharshi Ashramam and falls in love with her. Within no time, they get married and as a result, Shakunthala becomes pregnant. It’s time for King Dushyantha to return to his kingdom and he promises Shakunthala that he will take her to the kingdom later.
However, such is the destiny that Dushyantha completely forgets Shakunthala. Why is it so? What efforts did Shakunthala put in to make Dushyantha remember the past? What happens thereafter?
Performances:
Samantha has given her best. She is the perfect fit for the role of Shakunthala. Particularly, in the emotional sequences, Samantha did very well. However, for whatever reason, the feminine side of Samantha wasn’t shown properly.
Dev Mohan made his Telugu debut with this film. He has given an okay performance. He looked charming and regal in the role of king.
Special mention should go to Allu Arha who comes at the end and has given an impressive performance. Her dialogue delivery is good as well.
Mohan Babu, Ananya Nagalla, Kabir Bedi, and others have been good in important roles. Subba Raju, Jisshu Sengupta, Aditi Balan, Gautami, and Harish Uthaman were wasted in unimportant roles.
Technicalities:
Mani Sharma is good with his background score. A few of the songs come in as situational and they are fine. The cinematography is alright. The editing could have been a lot better. The main complaint, however, lies with the VFX. The graphics are so poor that they turn out to be a joke after a point. The way war sequences were dealt with is so poor as well.
Gunasekhar has picked up a mythological drama and tried to give it a modern touch. However, he failed to extract the chemistry between the lead pair which should be the prime factor for this movie. The emotional connection between the main characters is missing.
Analysis:
Shaakunthalam is a half-baked, emotionless love drama that is poor in the VFX department as well. Apart from a few bright spots like Samantha’s performance, and music, there is nothing much to talk about in this film.
