Bholaa Shankar Movie review: Only for Chiranjeevi

Chiranjeevi and Meher Ramesh collaborated for the first time to remake Ajith’s “Vedalam.” Meher Ramesh is a die-hard fan of Chiranjeevi and it is a great opportunity for his comeback as he wields a megaphone after a very long hiatus. The film hits theatres and lets see how it fares at box-office.

Story

The film starts with woman-trafficking. Shankar (Chiranjeevi) arrives in Kolkata with his sister Maha (Keerthy Suresh) for her education. After enrolling her in the college, Shankar turns a taxi driver for livelihood. Calcutta police seek the help of taxi drivers in woman-trafficking crimes. Shankar gives a crucial clue which lands him in trouble. Lasya (Tamannah)’s brother Srikhar (Sushanth) loves Maha (Keerthy) and Shankar approves of it. However, when advocate Lasya learns about Shankar’s hidden activities and his killings, she decides to stop her brother’s wedding with Maha. Shankar reveals his past and his motive behind coming to Kolkata. How he hunts down a crime network involving women trafficking and how he settles all the old scores is the main plot of the story.

Analysis

Following the failures of “Shadow” and "Shakti," director Meher Ramesh became a target of trolls. So, no one had high expectations for this film from the day of it’s announcement. Meher Ramesh, once again disappointed with his below average taking.

In general, big star films attract moviegoers in the first half but often deviate from their course in the second half. However, "Bholaa Shankar" lacks redeeming qualities in either the first or second half. It's filled with embarrassing scenes and formulaic sequences from beginning to end. The film is entirely cliched and outdated.

In the first half, there's a silly comic track with Vennela Kishore, whom Bengalis refer to as Bumsi instead of Vamsi. Chiranjeevi takes the initiative to provide "comedy" in the second half, imitating the famous scene from "Kushi." He recreates the situation with Sreemukhi, which is quite cringe-worthy to witness.

The comedy track included with Chiranjeevi doesn't have a significant impact. Regarding the primary goal of protecting his sister from the mafia (as in the original film), the movie only mildly engages us toward the end.

“Vedalam” itself was an older movie (released in 2015) with outdated scenes. Meher Ramesh treated the remake version with decade-old ideas. On a whole, "Bholaa Shankar," is recommendable for only one reason and the reason is Chiranjeevi Apart from that, everything is a disappointment.

Performances

Megastar Chiranjeevi is undoubtedly at his best when it comes to driving this film, which seemingly completely rests on his shoulders. He is effortless when it comes to his body language in comedy, action, and whatever scenes we see him in. His emotional scenes are a completely different high, and the movie manages to present Chiru in a way that audiences love to see him in.

Keerthy Suresh’s character has scope for performance and even screen presence. She once again proves what a great actor she is, especially in the emotional scenes, where she manages to make everyone teary-eyed. Tamannaah doesn’t get a lot of scope in the film, but her scenes work only to a certain extent, as they feel too drawn out after a point. However, it is refreshing to see her in such a role. Sushanth also doesn’t get a lot of scope but does well in what he has. The rest of the supporting cast is good enough and do their part well enough.

Technicalities

Coming on the work of the director Meher Ramesh, he did a below par job. He failed to write some interesting scenes. His screenplay is not engaging.

Mahati Swara Sagar disappoints with the background score. The production values of AK Entertainments are very good. Editor work is noteworthy in the frenetic climax action scene which has some intelligent episodes and also plenty of outer-atmospheric elements in it.

Advantages

Chiranjeevi’s performance

Few scenes in first half

Drawbacks

BGM

No high moment

Narration

Screenplay