A concept-based film Panchathantram starring Brahmanandam and Swathi Reddy in key roles under the direction of Harsha Pulipaka has hit the screens today. Let’s see how it fares.

Story: The film starts with a difference of opinion between a 60-year-old man Vedha Ves( Brahmanandam) and his daughter Roshini ( Swathi Reddy). Being an aspiring poet, at an audition, Vedha Ves starts narrating five stories based on the senses Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste and Touch. Each one of the stories deals with a different tale. Will Vedha Ves successfully give his presentation on the five stories? What is the ending? To know that, you have to watch the film in the cinemas near you.

Performances: Though the entire film runs on Brahmanandam’s character stage play, his role is limited to a few scenes only. The legendary actor gave a good performance in the lead role. Swathi Reddy is okay in her extended cameo role. Her scenes with Brahmanandam add weight to the film.

Other artists such as Rahul Vijay, Shivathmika Rajasekhar, Divya Sripada, Naresh Agastya, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Uttej, Sri Vidya Maharshi, Vikas, Muppala among others who played lead characters in individual five stories are fine in their respective roles.

Special mention to Rahul Vijay and Shivathmika Rajasekhar. They both look great together as a pair and carried the feel I their story nicely.

Technicalities: Music composed by Prashanth R Vihari and Shravan Bharadwaja adds a feel-good texture to the film. The film has a couple of songs that are situational and passable on screen.

The lyrics penned by Kittu Vissapragada are good. The cinematography work by Raj K Nalli is good as he captured the entire film nicely.

Editing by Garry BH is okay but would have been even better. Production values for this limited-budget movie are decent.

Analysis: Written and directed by Harsha Pulipaka, Panchathantram deals with a fresh idea. The director’s vision of presenting five different stories based on the five senses as an anthology is appreciatable.

The film has a unique concept and three out of five stories are executed on a decent note. If the director would have worked more on the rest of the two stories at the scripting stage itself, the result would have been unanimous. Picking legendary comedian Brahmanandam for the stage artist role to brief about short stories itself in a path-breaking thought by Harsha Pulipaka.

The way the director tried to showcase the bonding between the father-daughter has an emotional thread under currently. To summarize, Panchathantram is a slow-paced anthology that explores five different stories based on the five senses. Apart from good performances from the artists, the emotional content in the respective stories makes the film a decent watch.

Verdict: Good Attempt!

Rating: 2/5