Bhola Shankar Review: Lackluster remake of a superhit movie
Bhola Shankar Movie Rating: 1.5 Stars
Just watched Bhola Shankar movie in Hindi on Netflix. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Tamannaah Bhatia, Keerthy Suresh, Sushanth, Raghu Babu, Murali Sharma and Vennela Kishore
Director: Meher Ramesh
Release Date: 11th August 2023 in Cinemas & 15th September 2023 on Netflix
Story: It is an adaptation of the 2021 Tamil movie Vedalam. Revolved around Shankar (Chiranjeevi) who comes to Kolkata from Hyderabad with his sister Mahalakshmi (Keerthy Suresh) to enroll her at an arts college. He takes up driving a taxi to make ends meet and comes across a criminal lawyer Lasya (Tamannaah Bhatia).
Lasya’s brother Srikar (Sushanth) falls for Mahalakshmi even though she herself shares a love-hate relationship with Shankar. Meanwhile, Kolkata police are dealing with a group of ruffians involved in women trafficking. The gang is led by Alex (Tarun Arura) with his brothers and henchmen who are engage in a spree of kidnappings. The police take the help of taxi drivers to give them tip-offs and Shankar helps in capturing some of his men.
Alex’s younger brother tracks down Shankar and tries to kill him. Shankar brutally kills him and his gang members. Another brother is also killed by Shankar in the next round of attack. Lasya witnesses the killings and confronts Shankar. Shankar reveals that MahaLakshmi is not his actual sister and goes on to narrate the back story. Who is Shankar, why he is living in Kolkata as Maha’s brother and what is his connection with the human trafficking ring forms the rest of the story.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Few moments
3. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Length
2. Music
3. Remake
4. Direction
5. Screenplay
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie in Hindi on OTT as trailer looks good and entertaining in parts.
It is a remake of the 2015 Tamil film Vedalam. While attempting to build a life in Kolkata with his sister, a taxi driver must confront his dark past as he faces off against the city’s underworld.
Bhola Shankar starts off by establishing Shankar as some naïve man who seems too good to be true. However, as the film progresses, we’re shown everything is not what it seems. It doesn’t help matters that the first half of the film veers between multiple tracks, with Meher struggling to juggle between showing something serious, cracking a joke and throwing in a duet song for good measure. The film doesn’t fare much better after the interval either, with the shoddy writing not doing much to hook you to the core of this film is the women who are being trafficked and Shankar’s relationship with Maha. Only some scenes towards the fag end of the film fare a little better. There’s a lot going on in this film, but none of it seems to land. Chiranjeevi does his best to pour life into his character but there’s only so much he can do to elevate an outdated film that offers nothing novel. The action sequences are well-composed, and the cinematography significantly adds to the show.
The story takes the first hit. The story is quite routine, and there is no freshness in any scene. Meher Ramesh did a below-par job as a director. He failed to make the movie enjoyable by infusing a racy screenplay. Some scenes in both halves could have received a better treatment. The film has many characters that don’t help the narrative. Actors like Uttej, Raja Ravindra, Brahmaji, and others could have been given more space to perform. Overall, movie is a mediocre action drama with decent performances from Chiranjeevi and Keerthy Suresh. My view on this movie Not Recommended.
For more Bollywood and Cricket updates visit my page on Facebook Durgesh Tiwary’s View and website Cricket Movie Website