Shaakuntalam Review: All That Screen Time And Very Little Samantha Ruth Prabhu Made It An Epic Fail
Samantha is underutilised!
In the era that we live in, it’s extremely essential to tell people our iconic mythological stories to keep them alive and what better way to tell these tales than via books and films? While television has been telling these stories for the longest time, there’s no better feeling than to watch these epic mythological dramas in the theatres. Written and directed by Gunasekhar and produced by Neelima Guna and Dil Raju, Samantha Ruth Prabhu starrer Shaakuntalam is a Telugu-language mythological drama film. Read our review of this film.
The Story Of Shaakuntalam
Based on the play written by Kalidasa, Abhignyana Shakuntalam, this film is the iconic love story of Sage Vishvamitra and apsara Menaka’s daughter Shakuntala and Chandravamsha Dynasty’s king Dushyanta. The story follows the innocent Shakauntala who was brought up by Rishi Kanva and grew up in his ashram. When King Dushyanata met Shakuntala while travelling through the forest, the duo fell in love with each other after which they married each other as per the Gandharva marriage ritual. Soon after the King returned to his kingdom after giving Shakuntala his royal ring and promised to return soon to bring her back to his palace to her rightful place by him as his queen.
However, things took a turn after Shakuntala became pregnant and was cursed by sage Durvasa after she failed to welcome him and greet him because she was lost, daydreaming about her husband. The rishi’s curse was that the person Shakuntala was daydreaming about would forget all about her and while Shakuntala remained unaware of the curse, her friends witnessed the same and rushed to reason with the sage who realised that his anger was not justified. He then informed them that the person Shakuntala was daydreaming about would forget her but he would remember everything if she showed him the personal token he gave her.
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Months later, when King Dushayanta did not return to take Shakuntala with her, she set out on a journey to his capital to meet him. But during her journey, she came across a river and while running her hand through the water, the ring slipped off her finger and fell into the river. As a result, when she met King Dushayanta, he did not recognise her and left the king’s court after feeling humiliated. She started living in the forest with her son. Soon, a fisherman found the ring in the belly of a fish and took it to the king. Upon seeing the ring, the King recalled all memories of Shakuntala and set out to find her. During his search, he had a chance meeting with his son and was united with the love of his life. Shaakuntalam tells this exact tale with some minor changes.
Cast And Characters
Samantha Ruth Prabhu As Shakuntala: Over the years, I’ve watched Samantha Ruth Prabhu impress audiences and critics alike time and again with her acting skills. If there’s one South actress that I enjoy watching on the screen, it’s Samantha. However, to say that her performance in the film was underwhelming would be an understatement. Not only was her character written badly but her performance was below par.
Dev Mohan As Dushyanta: Dev Mohan had made a sincere attempt but it’s impossible to ignore how he fails to ooze the aura and vibe of an authoritative figure. He looks uncomfortable in his character.
Allu Arha As Prince Bharata: Allu Arjun’s daughter Allu Arha is an absolute delight to watch. She shines in the film as she nails her role as a prince.
The film also stars Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, Aditi Balan, Ananya Nagalla, Prakash Raj, Madhoo, Kabir Bedi and Jisshu Sengupta. While the efforts put by the actors to do justice to their characters is evident, they somehow fail to provide any support to the leads or aid the story. And Madhoo’s makeup is cringe-worthy.
Verdict: Samantha Ruth Prabhu Is Underutilised
At the 3D trailer preview of the Shaakuntalam, Samantha Ruth Prabhu claimed to relate to the character Shakuntala and ever since I heard her say that, I was excited to see what she had to offer. However, I was disappointed and how. Allow me to begin by elaborting how much of an epic fail this film was.
Despite all that screen time Samantha Ruth Prabhu, we saw very little of her. TBH, the actress spoke nearly 35 to 45 minutes into the film. Shaakuntalam is the story of a woman and her struggle but it seemed like the makers spent too much time focusing on the love story, the romance and the King instead of showcasing Shakuntala’s struggle and her pain. To make matters worse, Samantha’s character hardly had any dialogues. Shaakuntalam being a female-centric film, forgot all about the female character.
The dubbing made matters worse because it could not translate the emotions on the screen the way one would expect it to. To add to it, the uneven pace makes it tough to keep up. The first half of the film is completely focused on Shakuntala and Dushyant’s love story which makes it seem very stretched since the duo tie the not in their first meeting itself. The story picks up in the second half but things get stretchy once again towards the end when the film loses pace until Allu Arjun’s daughter Allua Arha lights up the screen. The editing seems rather patchy and understanding the dialogues takes effort mainly because of the usage of far too many Hindi words.
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Honestly, the only highlight of the film is the visual appeal, cinematic experience and VFX. The animals look stunning and they acted well, IMHO. I nearly shed a tear when a deer held Shakuntala’s pallu to stop her from leaving the ashram. Everything else lacked emotions. The weak attempt at making Shaakuntalam a desi Disney musical was painful to witness. All the songs made me wish I watched it on OTT so, I could simply skip the songs which weren’t very understandable either.
This is why I’m rating this film 1.5 stars out of 5 stars. It’s a good watch for kids who want to see animals on the big screen in 3D. The love story remains epic but the film misses the mark.
FYI, Shaakuntalam hits the theatres across India on April 14, 2023.
Twitter Is Disappointed With Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Shaakuntalam For Poor VFX And Weak Performances
