Movie Review - Shakuni (Telugu) - Politics made easy!!

The trailer says, "Five pawns and one king-maker" and sets a definitive momentum for what can be called a "political thriller," but, Alas!! the movie is less of politics and less of thriller. It can be called a breezy entertainer with some conversational comedy between two characters with a milieu of love and some political drama that's hitherto seen in umpteen movies. It can be also be a lesson to fledgling film-makers as how to dilute a strong premise with some forced comedy and love story, and how to give a thriller aura to a movie with some uncanny twists and turns. Enough said, now a walk through the movie. Read on.

Shakuni borrows its plot from some HIT movies of Tamil and Telugu, and shockingly, some scenes are blatant work of copy-pastism. Karthi carries the movie on his shoulders and he's the life-line for the movie. He wins hearts with his puerile charm in the first half and his matured look with some amazing dose of acting does the trick in the second half. Santhanam does a great job with his wisecracks and is in his usual comic self all through the movie. Both Karthi and Santhanam effortlessly pull the comedy track and they're magical together. 

Though the movie is not heavy on the palette as the title and the trailer suggests, but some decent performances from the supporting cast makes it worth watching. Roja, Radhika, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Prakash Raj, Nazar are placed perfectly in the movie and they essayed their roles with great poise. You'll be surprised to see Anushka and Andrea in cameo and they add a tinge to the comedy. That's a little dose of creativity from the director.

Despite the comedy and performances, the movie fails to impress because of the shaky terrain on which it's built in the first half. You expect something great to happen as everyone is fooled by the trailer but you are fooled again and again in the movie. It picks up pace in the second half but every unfolding event makes it too cinematic and indigestible. You'll realize that politics is an easy game and everyone can play it!!

Another chink in the armor is the inevitable Tamil nativity in the film. The makers made some efforts to shoot certain scenes in Hyderabad and change the text wherever necessary and tried giving it a Telugu flavor, but the way people dress, talk, some key elements and aesthetics are definitely Tamil. The harder you try the lesser you will make a connect with the film because it's body is Telugu but it's DNA is Tamil.

On the flip side, the movie is packaged with some breath-taking visuals, less violence and physical fights (that's hard to find in political thrillers), expect-the-unexpected kind of twists, different narration, and fine music by G V Prakash Kumar. Watch out for the song Manasulo, a nice rendition by Sonu Nigam.

Bottom-line: There's lot of hype surrounding this film and many big films postponed their release to stay in a safe zone. The director should realize that more you garnish a half-baked script, the more you unearth its flaws. Poor execution of the love story part with dismal performance of heroine is one such suicidal act. The movie has many entertaining moments but could not live up to the expectations and failed to spin a perfect POLITICAL yarn.

My rating: Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 4/10