I still remember the day when my friend asked me check out the trailer of "KGF" which completely took me by surprise. As I spent about 5 years of my career in IISc, I was no stranger to Kannada movies though barring a few, none of them had managed to make me sit through it for more than 15-20 minutes. Hence Prasanth Neel's magnum opus was a revelation & it was released around Christmas as well. After the "KGF" series, Prasanth is back with his latest release with Prabhas & Prithviraj in the lead which was more than ample reason for most of us to be excited about the project. So does the movie manage to live up to expectations???
The story is placed in the fictional region called Khansaar that had been in existence since the 12th century through the combination of three tribes, Mannars, Shouryaangas & Ghaniyaars, who chose to retain the autonomy of their state even after India's Independence. The movie unfolds in 1985, where Vardharaja Mannar (Prithvi / Karthikeya Dev) & Deva (Prabhas / Videsh Anand) are the best of buddies who stuck for each other through thick & thin. However, when Vardha's father Raja Mannar (Jagapathi Babu), ordered the decimation of Shouryaangas to which Deva's family also belonged to; he stepped in to protect them in exchange for his inheritance. As a result of this, the friends were separated but not before Deva promised that he would return whenever Vardha needed him.
As in the past, Prasanth had penned the script & there is an undeniable influence from his previous works. The story as such is inspired from his "Ugramm" while the location, maternal sentiment & monochromatic colour tone reminds of "KGF". As Prithvi mentioned in one of the interviews, it is essentially an Indianised Game of Thrones & we are presented with a blend of medieval culture and modern artillery. The story unfolds at a leisurely pace in the first half & kind of lags to be frank. But it picks up pace from the action sequence which signals the interval block followed by an engaging latter half which is not coz of the story but rather stylized action set pieces. The history of Khansaar was an interesting thought though apart from that, the making style of Prasanth is what captures our attention.
Kudos to the technical team as they have done an impressive job be it TL Venkatachalapathi's production design, Anbariv's stunt choreography (though some sequences have started to become repetitive) & Bhuvan Gowda's cinematography. At the same time, Ravi Basrur's music & the dialogues by Sandeep Reddy, Hanumaan Chaudhary & Dr.Suri lacked the punch of "KGF".
This is undoubtedly Prabhas's best since "Baahubali" & with due respect to him, it isn't coz of his acting credentials but rather the manner in which Prasanth has presented him. The imposing aura & the gentle giant demeanor is what this character demanded & Prabhas was fantastic at it apart from being impressive in the action sequences. At the same time, Prithvi did complete justice as Vardha (except for the drunken scenes) & he was top notch in the intense scenes and action sequences. As for the rest of the cast, Bobby Simha, Sriya Reddy & Surabhi (as local tribal girl) were good, Jagapathi Babu & Tinnu Anand were ok, while John Vijay, Eeswari Rao & Shruti Hassan were mediocre at times.
Verdict: It has already grossed humongous numbers at the box office which will have the Hombale Films in good spirits. However, in terms of the quality expected from Prasanth Neel; it has failed to rise to expectations. Both Prabhas & Prithvi were impressive and if you dont mind watching the gore violence which has been a staple in most movies this year, do check it out & that too in theatres (coz you might not necessarily enjoy it on the small screen as it is dependent more on visual impact than the story)!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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