Sharwanand and Siddharth starrer Maha Samudram has created curiosity among the audience with its promos. Directed by Ajay Bhupathi of RX100 fame, the film has hit the screens today. Let’s see how it fares.
Story: Set in Vizag backdrop, Maha Samudram explores the friendship bond between two guys named Arjun ( Sharwanand) and Vijay( Siddharth). But an incident brings a gap between the close friends? What is that incident and how is Maha Laxmi ( Aditi Rao Hydari) interlinked with it? Forms the rest of the story.
Performances: Sharwanand gave a decent performance in his regular style of acting. Though the character he portrayed has nothing special in it, he tried to manage with his screen presence in a few episodes.
It is good to watch Siddharth in a Telugu cinema after a gap. He gave a good performance in the given crucial role but considering his acting capabilities, he has not been utilized in a proper manner.
Aditi Rao Hydari gets a purposeful role and she tried to justice to the character. Anu Emmanuel is totally wasted as her role has no connection with the plotline and looks more like a cameo appearance.
Jagapathi Babu is alright in the given Chunchu Mama character but his role lacks novelty in it. Rao Ramesh as Guni Babji and KGF fame Rama Chandra as his brother perfectly fitted in their negative roles.
Technicalities: Visual presentation by Raj Thota is a major plus for the film as he captured the entire movie in a fantastic way by using rich framing. He showcased the natural locations in and around Vizag beach nicely.
Music by Chaitan Bharadwaj is good as his songs and background score are advantage for this flat and predictable drama. Editing by Praveen KL is not up to the mark as it lacks sharpness in it.
Production values for this limited budget movie are rich and so is the case with the production design.
Analysis: After almost four years, director Ajay Bhupathi is back with his second project, Maha Samudram. As the director has earlier delivered blockbuster success RX100, the expectations on his second movie are very high among the audience but the director has completely disappointed with his taking and narration part with Maha Samudram.
Making a film in the smuggling backdrop by blending it with friendship concept is not a bad idea but Ajay has executed the film on a flat note with some template action sequences which is the major minus for the film. If he would have worked on writing a better screenplay but incorporated some high moments in the narrative, the result would have definitely been better.
Adding to the above demerits, the film lacks a strong conflict point due to which the entire proceedings in the latter half look predictable and unengaging. To summerize, Ajay Bhupathi’s Maha Samudram is a friendship drama set in a smuggling backdrop but lack of solid presentation stand tall and disappoints the audience big-time.
Verdict: Tedious watch!
Rating: 2/5
