Ram Pothineni has joined hands with Boyapati Sreenu for an action drama called Skanda. The film which has Sreeeleela as the heroine has been released today. Read our detailed review here at Filmyfocus.
Story: The story is simple. The daughters of the CMs of Telangana and Andhra are kidnapped by an unknown man named Raju(Ram Pothineni). He is on a mission and is doing all this for Rudraganti Ramakrishna Raju (Srikanth). Who is this Raju and why is doing all this? What is his connection with Ramakrishna Raju? To know the answers, watch the film.
Performances: Ram goes into beast mode for Skanda. He has bulked up and gives himself totally to Boyapati Sreenu’s narrative. He is loud, showcases his body, fights, dances, and mouths mass dialogues. In a way, he carries the film on his shoulder. But it is Sreeleela who shines in the film. Her screen presence is amazing and she dances like a dream. She is a perfect commercial film heroine material. Srikanth is good in his role. Daggubati Raju is also neat in his role. The rest of the cast over-acted a bit.
Technicalities: Thaman has given passable songs. Only two are good but the rest are not that great. Thaman is known for his BGM has given an ordinary score. The BGM could have been a lot better in many scenes, especially in the fights. The action sequences are amazing and showcase Ram like never before. The production values of the film are solid and the lyrics and production design were great. Editing is not that great in the second half. The narration is jaded in a few scenes.
Analysis: One of the biggest defects of Skanda is the routine story. There is nothing much in it even though it starts on a positive note. The emotions look forced especially in the second half. There is so much bloodshed in the film that you get bored after a while. There is also no logic in the film and the same is expected from all Boyapati films.
The plot is water-thin and that is the reason there is not much pain in the emotions. One more drawback is that Boyapati introduces way too many characters and increases the screen time. One more alarming aspect is that Ram Pothineni is not there in the film for almost half an hour which is bad.
Post-intermission, the narrative gets further into the template mode with the revelation behind the acts of the first hour via a flashback. It is routine, but the casting setting and real-life relatability make it passable nonetheless. But still, you get a feeling that you are seeing some old movie or the other.
The love track is good and the manner in which Boyapati starts his narrative is also good. But as the film moves ahead, the plot gets routine and the scenes showcased are mundane. Novelty-wise, there is nothing new that Boyapati has shown in the film. Skanda is for mass audiences who love the song and dance routine with multiple fights.
Verdict: Overall, Skanda is only for masses and B, and center audiences. While does well in a beast avatar, the routine story and boring execution get on the nerves. The action is good and two songs are nice but that will not be salvaged as only the target audience can watch and the rest can ignore it.
Bottom Line – Only for Ram Pothineni
Rating: 2.5/5
