Starring: Samantha, Dev Mohan, Allu Arha, Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, Jisshu Sengupta, Madhoo, Aditi Balan, Ananya Nagalla, Prakash Raj, Gautami, Satya, Kabir Bedi, Kabir Duhan Singh & others
Director: Gunasekhar
Producer: Neelima Guna
Music Director: Mani Sharma
Cinematography: Shekar V Joseph
Editor: Prawin Pudi
Release Date : April 14, 2023
Shaakuntalam is a film that has caught the imagination of one and all. The Samantha starrer has hit the screens today and let’s see if the film has any juice in it or not.
Shaakuntalam Review
Story
Swamy Vishwamitra starts his prayers to become more powerful in life. This does not go well with Indra and he sends Menaka to seduce Vishwamitra. As a result of this, a small baby Shakuntala(Samantha) is born to Vishwamitraand Menaka. But sadly, Menaka abandons the baby. Shakunthala is brought up by Sage Kavna and falls in love with King Dushyant. But sadly, he leaves her and goes and forgets to recognize her even. What will a pregnant Shakunthala do now? How will she prove her liability? That forms the story.
Performances
The film has multiple stars but Samantha leads the pack. She is amazing and holds the screen together with her amazing screen presence. Samantha was quite good in the second half of the film where she dons an emotional role. The manner in which Allu Arha was introduced is quite good. Allu Arha is the best part of the film as her performance is superb for her age. Mohan Babu shines in his simple yet powerful role. Dev Mohan plays the king and he is very good but his role does not get much weight.
What’s Good
Samantha performance
Visuals
Production design
What’s Bad
Dull narration
Over usage of VFX
Dull screenplay
Analysis
Shaakuntalam is a very known story to one and all. So, how would director Gunasekhar narrate the film was the big question. In a way, he put more concentration on the visuals than the drama. This is where the film goes for a toss. The conflict point is very dull and everyone knows what is going to happen next without a doubt.
Also, the pain which Samantha’s character goes through is not highlighted one bit. There is no chemistry between Dev Mohan and Samantha and this is also one drawback. The entry of Allu Arha is late and by then the audience is already bored. The manner in which the other characters are used is also not that good. In many scenes, there is no weight and there is a TV serial kind of feeling.
The VFX is decent and not that bad. But the way they are used is not that great. The dialogues are neat and the music is very bad. Not one song makes any difference at all. The other aspects are good but Samantha is also not enough for the film to be in the minds of the viewers.
The film which is supposed to be a solid drama and visual treat fails as a boring and outdated historical film and can be ignored this weekend and save time.
Bottom Line – Gunasekhar disappoints- Film Falls flat
Shaakuntalam Movie Rating: 2/5
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