Samantha's much-hyped mythological epic, Shakuntalam hit the theaters in pan-Indian languages today. The film was mounted on a lavish budget and it has had a grand release. Here's our review of the film.
Story: Dushyanta(Dev Mohan) falls for Shakuntala (Samantha) immediately after seeing her in a remote forest area. The couple then develops feelings for each other, only to fin out there are many complications associated with their love life. How do they tackle the challenges? How has Gunasekhar bought this love story from the Adi Parva of Mahabharata to life?
What about the artists' performance?
Samantha is a fine performer and she has molded herself into a new look for the film. The mythological vibe suits her well. She looks gorgeous on the screen and also delivers a standout performance in this peculiar character.
Dev Moha, Mohan Babu, and others have brief roles and they perform to the best of their capabilities. Allu Arha makes her debut with the film and she delivers a very good performance herself. She is a good find and has a bright future ahead of her.
What about the technical finesse?
The director Gunasekhar tries to present his mythological story in a VFX-heavy outfit. The work related to the VFX and CGI is below par though. There's no real intent to deliver top-tier VFX and that comes to the undoing.
The music and cinematography are of decent quality. The production designing is alright. But the utterly poor VFX is the depleting factor here.
Analysis:
Shakuntalam needed top-tier VFX and a riveting love track between the lead pair Samantha and Dev Mohan. But the film fails on both counts and ends up as a below-par attempt.
The lack of good quality technical stuff and the poorly presented storyline act against the cause. It is as if the director wanted to load the film with visually aesthetic VFX shots but the attempt is scrappy with the low-grade work that is put up on this front.
Shakuntalam is an amalgamation of poor technical stuff and a very weak narrative. The screenplay is patchy and doesn't have a proper flow to keep the audience hooked. The climax portion is alright as Allu Arha delivers a fine performance in the same.
Verdict: Shakuntalam is a poorly presented mythological love drama that fails on almost every aspect. It is a complete dud.
Rating: 2/5
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