Gautamiputra Shatakarni – Movie Review

Cast:

Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shriya Saran, Hema Malini

A much-awaited movie of the year and Balakrishna’s 100th movie let’s see what our history was gonna tell us about our great ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni.

Story:

The movie starts with ministers of Satakarni who warns Nahapana, the king of Saurashtra and another king in the southern region. The priests praise their king and ask them to surrender and live together as one state. But both the kings refuses. Then Satakarni enters and defeats the king and makes an agreement by joining their forces and let him only rule his kingdom. Now Satakarni’s primary goal is to beat Nahapana and make all the states under one rule, and there should be only one king where he can occupy all the kingdoms and maintain peace. Vasishta( Shriya) wife of Satakarni meets her husband on account of their wedding anniversary. But later she comes to know that Satakarni was going to take their first son to war field and fight with Nahapana. On hearing this she refuses. But Satakarni doesn’t listen to her and takes his son to war. There he defeats Nahapana and also saves the children of other kings who were captured and made as prisoners by Nahapana. He kills Nahapana and hoists their flag by declaring their victory. Here comes the interval. In the second half Demetrius, the foreign ruler comes to know about the greatness and achievements of Satakarni and wants to occupy the whole India and defeat Satakarni. But with a good plan and great courage let’s see his the war episode has gone well in the theaters only. These type war movies should be watched visually.

Performances:

Nandamuri Balakrishna: He did the lead role of Gautamiputra Satakarni. Balayya did justice to his role. His dedication can be seen on the screen. He worked hard for all the war scenes. His dialogue delivery is always in the same way with aggressiveness. But the makeover of Satakarni doesn’t suit well for Balayya. Though he performed well his looks in the movie are not good. Overall Balayya has done a good job and did what he can do for this film.

Shriya Saran: We have to talk about her especially because she is the only actress who did complete justice to her role. She played the character of Vasishta Devi wife of Gautamiputra Satakarni. Her emotional scenes came out well. She even looked beautiful even at this age after a long gap. Her dances and performance both are played nice. So she is the of the plus for the movie.

Hema Malini: In the first half of the film you can only hear one dialogue from her that too which is in the trailer. She has nothing to do in the first half. She played the character of the mother of Gautamiputra Satakarni. In the second half, she has a little character where she has been spoken that for some dialogues only.

The actors who have acted in this movie has no scope for the acting except for the war episodes. But as it is a war movie we have to accept that there wouldn’t be much room for others to act if it is rather than a drama but not the war film.
Technical Aspects:

Director: Krish is the director for this prestigious 100th film of Nandamuri Balakrishna. By selecting this type of story, Krishh has made a significant step that too an actor like Balayya. Within a short span of time Krish has done what he can do. But he hasn’t told much about the Satakarni, but he only projected his victories over other kingdoms. Even in the war episode before interval has almost looked like a climax scene which is too lengthy and some shots are even repeated. If he had taken still more time, the output could have been even better. Even the VFX work looked indigent.

Music: Chirantan Bhatt is the music director for this film. He previously collaborated with Krish in the movie ‘Kanche’ which got a positive response. In this video especially he gave good background score for all war episodes which is nice. But for the songs it didn’t came out well. But he helped with his background score which is the central part of the movie especially for the movies like this war type.

DOP: Gnanasekhar is the cinematographer for this film. He is OK with his job. But because of the poor graphics work, his work isn’t elevated much when we compare with other war movies. But it is OK for this film. And there is nothing much to talk about it.

Dialogues: Sai Madhav Burra has written the dialogues for this movie. His work is very impressive. There are some excellent conversations on Telugu Jaati and Balakrishna telling about the greatness of mother like that he has made his pen to work hard for some good dialogues. Balayya in his style has delivered it smoothly.

The production values are OK. But not up to the mark. Some more work has to be done for the better output.

What’s good:

 The good thing in the movie is Balyya’s dedication for the film and the hard work he did. Shriya Saran is the big plus for the film. Background score for episodes has to cone out well.

What’s bad:

 The movie has no story plot. Krish hasn’t told the story of Gautamiputra Satakarni, but he just focused on his victories. Taking other state actors hasn’t worked well as their dubbing was not good. Senior actors like Hema Malini have been wasted. Songs don’t help the movie. Balayya makeover is not good and not good looking. The second half has only one war episode where the whole story is spotted for the final was an episode. Even the first half will be over with a long battle scene. Graphics work destitute.

What should’ve been done:
If not for Sankranti this movie needs time for better output. Hema Malini should have been given some role where there is scope for real acting. There should have been some story narration about Gautamiputra Satakarni. Even the war scene before interval reminds us Lord of the Rings as it is shot in the same way. These type of movies need good VFX work and time for a better output. Krish should have thought about it, and he could have made a good film.

Final verdict:

For this Sankranti, this movie can be watched only for Balakrishna, Shriya Saran and some meaningful dialogues by Sai Madhav Burra. Apart from these some war episodes are good. But let’s see whether the collections may rise as there are holidays. Finally, this movie is a one time watch, and these type war movies rarely come so you can watch it.

One Sentence Review: ” కాసేపాగాల్సిoది మిత్రమా “