Shatamanam Bhavati

Just today I met a family, not dysfunctional yet only digitally involved in each other’s life. The kind of modern day family that we meet every other day. Few pages of their union was left at my disposal to learn and decide if the relationships in today’s world are that fragile and built on digital revolution. Well, the resolution and conflict made me think at least once.

PLOT : Major issues in today’s families arise with not being able to give time to each other. When children and parents relations are bring tampered by this grand parents and grand children relationships have started disappearing slowly. The movie plot tries to explore this and give a solution to the persistent problem. Raghava Raju (Prakash Raj) is a happy man with an unhappy wife (Jayasudha) who is haunted by the memories of their kids who doesn’t have time to visit them at least once a year. He has a grand son, Raju (Sharwanand) son of his brother’s elder son Kangaru Raju (Naresh), who understands everyone’s problems and help them to find a solution. As no child turns up due to his repeated requests Raghava Raju decides to do something radical to invite them. His trick works and everyone visits them. What transpires next and what solution did they arrive at? Watch it on screen to know.

Performances : Prakash Raj and Jayasudha knows in and outs of such characters. Their performance holds key for the loosely written climax part and one feels that what would have been the film if they were not at the helm. Sharwanand looked a bit confused and bored even though he comes across with a natural ease. It just looked like he walked and talked on the screen without putting his heart completely into it. Still it is a delight to watch him on screen.

Anupama Parameswaran gave her heart and soul to the role. Even though there is nothing new or any dimension that makes her character unique she still tried to infuse life into it. Anand, Indraja, Raja Ravindra and others were just ok. None of them had any significant parts to write about. Naresh provides a healthy comic relief and shows his class. Praveen and others are good in their roles too.

Technicalities : Cinematography for the movie is very very good and the visuals present the beauty of a village with tremendous understanding of hue and saturation. Editing at times looked really jumpy and not a good one for such a movie.

Music and Background score are completely routine and in sync with the movie. Art and other departments also did nothing new and their work is noticeable for what it is.

Satish Vegnesha’s script is as old as the filmmaking itself. The shades of all popular films reflect out with heavy influences from previous films like Seetharammayya gari Manavaralu, Govindudu Andharivadele. He got a great producer and cast to support his vision but he doesn’t try anything new or at least something engaging. The most pathetic sequence in the movie is the dubsmash sequence. He had gold mine of actors who could have landed the emotional content between each other in a scene but he chooses to convey the emotions indirectly. The idea could have worked had there been an exchange between the two before in some kind but what appears to be a novel thought with drag and several actors dubsmashing popular scenes, lost its effect overall.

His direction is as old as camera itself. It is just a way of capturing images and thats about it. Even his staging, blocking and extracting performances from the lead actors looks too old school. There is nothing wrong in repeating some good old school drama but it needs conviction to pull off the old school charm. The director misses that charm in capturing some beautiful locales and Anupama’s beauty and expressions. He even could not use powerhouses like Naresh and Indraja, after a point. Previously, Koratala Siva commented it is not the length but the value that a actor brings to the table should be counted on. Well, value of an actor is amounted in the kind of scenes they were given and here they are just some fictitious people in the writer’s imagination who were recruited to let audience be carried away on their name.

Analysis : Dil Raju is a brand and he stands for healthy social dramas. There is nothing wrong in trying to give a message but a movie cannot be just made for giving a message. This movie is made for addressing an important issue but that issue needed a lot more understanding than what this movie offers. The effectiveness of what you are saying should never be diluted by a lazy script and execution. Unfortunately, that happens to be the case here. Watch it if you’re fan of the ensemble without expecting even minimum amount of freshness.

Rating : 2.5/5

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