Shakthi Review

Junior NTR who is on cloud nine ever since his previous two films Adhurs and Brindavanam turned out to be hits was looking forward to 'Shakthi'. Made with a mega budget of Rs 45 crore by Aswini Dutt, the action thriller had high expectations on it. While Pawan Kalyan, Maheshbabu and Junior NTR are three biggest crowd pullers in Tollywood, the place of number one hero is empty in the industry. NTR Junior's ambition of being number one hero depended on Shakthi. We watched it early on Friday and this is what we think of this picture....

Story

Mahadevaraya(Prabhu) who is a central Home minister is worried about the safety of his daughter Aishwarya(Ileana) and also the precious diamond 'Jwalamukhi' which is gifted to him by his ancestors. This diamond has eternal powers and is the saviour of all the Shakti Peethams in the country. Mahadevaraya discusses the safety of his daughter and the diamond with the swami (Nasser). Meanwhile an Egyptian gang led by Mukthar(Sonu Sood) wants to take away that diamond to bring back the Egypitan Mummies to life.  However, he gets killed in the process of stealing it. His wife Fukthooni wants to avenge her husband's death and trains her son Sakuchi to reattack India to get the diamond. Meanwhile she is also negotiating with Janakiram a.k.a Jackie in Dubai for a sword called 'Rudhrashoolam'. Mahadevaraya is also negotiating for the same sword. Aishwarya who is annoyed with constant security around her, escapes from home and goes on a trip with her friends to Jaipur where she meets Shakthi(NTR) who acts as her guide. Members of the Egyptian gang are constantly after Aishwarya and Shakthi protects her.It is revealed later that Shakthi is a NSA Commando.Mahadevaraya narrates the story behind the diamond to Shakthi and his daughter Aishwarya. The rest of the story is about the connection between the diamond, Shakthi, Aishwarya and the Egyptian team. It is to be seen if the Egyptian gang manages to steal it.

Performances

NTR Junior was the saving grace of this otherwise third degree torture. He is spontaneous, energetic and futuristic star. He carries the entire film on his shoulders and entertains the audience in his sphere of role. Ileana is a disgrace to acting. Her expressions are flat and stupid. Nasser is convincing as swami. Prabhu is a curse to this film and does no good to his silly role. Ali, Bramhanandam,Venumadhav, M S Narayana, Dharmavarapu Subramaniam, Krishna Bhagawan perhaps acted only to increase the number of films in their filmogrpahy. None of them have any importance or relevance in the story. Manjari Fadnis is promising actress and is far better than Ileana in her performance. Pooja Bedi's lip moment and dialogues have no connection at all. She is funny and so are all the villains including Jackie Shroff and Sonu Sood.

Clapworthy moments

Junior NTR's dance performance is outstanding. He gives audience goosebumps with the speed with which he changes his moves in the song 'Thaliya...Thaliya'. The background score of the film is apt for the socio-fantasy flavour of the film. NTR's introduction scene on the elephant drew huge applause from the audience. Tarak impressed the audience by reciting the 18 Shakthi peetam mantra. Junior's dialogue 'Upar Hai Bhagawan...Picture mein Salman...Tere Samne hai Shaktimaan' clubbed with lengthy Hindi dialogue makes one go wide eyed with appreciation. NTR's dialogue 'Nenu raka poyunte, tomorrow ayipoyedi..meaning 'rape' ayipoyedi' evoked good laughter in the theatre. When NTR introduces himself as Rama Rao from Nimmakuru, theatre went bersek. The first half of the film was entertaining and the money spent on the movie reflects in the locations, costumes,sets and action sequences where several vehicles were blown away.

Cringeworthy moments

This movie has a hero, heroine, villain and music. What lacks is common sense in the story. What makes Meher Ramesh think people drove horses and had long hair like Magadheera just 30 years ago?He shamelessly copied Magadheera look of Ramcharan and applied it to Junior NTR and that too did a shoddy job. We are still wondering why the producer had to shell out Rs 1.5 crore to Ileana who is worthless and a mere damsel in distress. It is a pity that even after so many films, her expressions coloare out of place and over the top. She looks plastic and hilariously animated with her coloured hair. Prabhu is the Central Home minister in this movie.  He is easily attacked by Egyptian gang. At times he has security and at times he doesn't.  He goes to Dubai alone and pleads a small time gangster.Such scenes make you want to tear the screen apart. The visual effects are terrible. There is a scene where a scorpio car hits the villain and the car breaks into pieces. This is nothing but taking audience for a royal ride and underestimating their intelligence. Besides this scene, all the jeep blow away scenes in this movie which were done on visual effects look fake. The director perhaps forgot the screenplay completely and the cinematographer was certainly on a holiday mood. Can someone explain why this pathetic film needed Pooja Bedi,Prabhu, Jackie Shroff and Sonu Sood?  Their performances were painfully bad. The songs didn't have a purpose. All it needed for a song to start is for NTR to see Ileana and there goes a song. This film is utter madness in many ways. Pooja Bedi who is an Egytian talks Telugu and comes to Hampi with all her funnily dressed goons and attacks central home minister Prabhu. This is absurdity of all new level. Even the die hard fans of Bramhanandam won't laugh at his stupid jokes and cliched histrionics . Ali's comedy was forgettable and Venumadhav, Dharmavarapu are seen in blink and miss roles with no scope of comedy.

Verdict

Our heartfelt condolences to producer Aswini Dutt. We are sure it will take a long time for him to recover from this shock. 'Shakthi' is not worthy your money. Stay away!!

Released on: 1st April, 2011