Shaakuntalam Review: A terribly slow and boring narration with poor graphics work leaves this mythological drama a tedious watch
Shaakuntalam Movie Rating: 1.5 Stars
Just watched Shaakuntalam movie in Hindi on Prime Video. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Dev Mohan, Allu Arha, Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, Kabir Bedi, Jisshu Sengupta, Madhoo, Gautami, Aditi Balan and Ananya Nagalla
Director: Gunasekhar
Release Date: 14th April 2023 in Cinemas & 11th May on Prime Video
Story: Movie is inspired by Abhijnanasakuntalam, a play written by Kalidasa which is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It is thrilling love story of the exquisitely beautiful Shakuntala and the mighty king Dushyanta.
Revolves around Shakuntala (Samantha Ruth Prabhu), who has been deprived of love since birth. Born as the daughter of Menaka and Vishwamitra, she’s abandoned by her mother and left in the forest, where she is spotted and raised by Kanva Maharishi (Sachin Khedekar).
Cut to many years later, king Dushyanta (Dev Mohan) meets Shakuntala in the forest, and it’s love at first sight. Smitten by the valour and charisma of Dushyanta, Shakuntala is too deeply mesmerized by him and eventually falls in love with him. However, she fears her curse of being deprived of love all her life would take away the life she dreams with Dushyanta. Contrary to her fears, Dushyanta secretly marries Shakuntala and promises to give her a royal welcome in his kingdom as soon as he’s done with war duties. As Shakuntala waits for Dushyanta to return, months pass by and she becomes pregnant.
Shakuntala often daydreams about Dushyant. One day, Shakuntala is unaware that sage Durvasa (Mohan Babu) is standing outside her house as she is daydreaming about her husband. Taking this as a personal insult, Durvasa curses Shakuntala that the person she was dreaming about would forget about her altogether. Sage Durvasa later modifies his curse by adding that the person would remember everything provided he saw a personal token that he had given her.
To Shakuntala’s misfortune, she loses the ring Dushyant had given her, while she is on the way to his palace. Obviously, because of the curse, Dushyant can’t remember her or the fact that he had married or ever met her, when Shakuntala tells him at his palace that she is pregnant with his child. Incensed, Dushyant banishes Shakuntala from his kingdom. How does Shakuntala and Dushyanta reunite? This forms the crux of the story.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Story
3. Climax
Negatives
1. Direction
2. Screenplay
3. Cinematography
4. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on digital premiere as trailer does not look impressive so skipped theatrical release.
An abandoned girl was found by Sage Kanva in the forest. He names her Shakuntala and raises her as his own. King Dushyant wanders in the forest while hunting, sees Shakuntala and falls for her. They get married. He promises her to return back but a curse leads him to forget her. How will she stand for her truth?
Shaakuntalam is one of those projects which sound exciting as an idea and on paper but turn out to be very unexciting when made into a film. This story has so much potential for drama and emotional depth, but director-writer Gunasekhar fails to do justice to it. His direction is ordinary as he has concentrated more on form and presentation but not enough on content. Screenplay before the interval is boring and slow-paced. It, therefore, doesn’t quite hold your attention. Things improve in the second half which has more drama. However, there aren’t too many high points. The drama is majorly missing and forbids one from rooting for the characters. The actors, too, couldn’t shine beyond a point, as the story restricts them from doing so. For a film that is said to have been made on an 80-crore budget, the VFX should be decent, if not great. But this aspect disappoints heavily, and it is shocking to see how a few shots even made it to the final cut.
There are few positives as well. Performances are good from all the actors. The cameo by Allu Arha is undoubtedly one of the biggest assets of this flick. The chronicle is a bit too straightforward for all the grand scale and cinematic experience. The opulent sets, elaborate war sequences, and ostentatious costumes will transport you to the abundant world of mythicism. The story of Shakuntala and her love story with King Dushyanta is existential in mythology and there are no tweaks or twists that a filmmaker can do to make it more interesting or otherwise. It is all about presenting it in a captivating way with great visuals and dialogue. Unfortunately, Shaakuntalam tells us the story in the most boring way possible.
Overall, it is a mythological drama that fails to impress. The drama and emotions needed for a cinematic viewing are missing big time. Shoddy VFX and bad action sequences reduce the impact further. Apart from a few scenes and Samantha’s honest performance, this big-budget flick is a colossal disappointment. A terribly slow and boring narration with poor graphics work leaves this movie completely unengaging and tiresome. My view on this movie Not Recommended
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