BOTTOM LINE
NBK Shines In Milestone Movie
OUR RATING
2.75/5
CENSOR
‘UA’ certified 135 Minutes
What is the film about?
Gautamiputra Satakarni’s relentless war to bring the different kingdoms under single Satavahana rule. The wars he wages to achieve that is basically what the film is about.
How is Nandamuri Balakrishna’s performance?
Nandamuri Balakrishna has a unique gift among all Telugu heroes. It is that he can do the historical and mythological movies with utter natural quality. It feels as if he is living that character. In the past, he has played the characters of Sri Krishnadeva Raya and Sri Ram. The former portrayal is a classic, the latter isn’t so. Gautamiputra Satakarni lands somewhere in between.
It is certainly better than Sriramarajyam’s kingly act. The biggest asset is the dialogues written for the character and the way Balakrishna delivers them. They are really powerful. Also, he has the royally “confident” gait, another natural trait that works to his advantage. Add these to a historical character it is already a memorable one. The problem is age and physicality which brings down the effect a bit.
Direction By Krish?
Krish has a very weak story at hand, to begin with. It needed a strong screenplay and extraordinary execution to hold the attention. Krish fails to deliver on both scores. The screenplay runs predictably and is weak. The lack of holding attention is a byproduct of it.
To begin with, the story of the film is almost nonexistent. There are three principle characters and two of them have absolutely no arc. They are what they are from start to end. This is the biggest problem with the film as many don’t get what the movie was all about. There is one war scene following the other and then the film ends. There is even a format for this type of films and an execution in that style too would have worked but that also doesn’t happen.
The above-mentioned problem goes hand in hand with failure in executing war scenes in a rousing way. there are many moments where the hero in the king avatar could have been elevated. But the director grossly misses in using that. In the end what we get is a mess of a film that moves in a one-note way. The beginning is interesting and following it, there are very few handful of engaging scenes. The climax is a stretched out and feels tiring.
Shriya Saran and others?
Apart from the hero, the film has only two more important characters and those are of Shriya Saran and Hema Malini. Both the ladies have equally important parts and are essential to the story moment. They also have an equal number of scenes to get registered. Apart from them, the rest doesn’t matter even though there are few noticeable faces.
Music and other departments?
Music by Chirantan Bhatt has good vibes as part of the narrative on screen. The background score is terrific in parts. Visuals are grand thanks to the cinematography. Editing should have been better, especially the war sequences. Dialogues by Sai Madhav Burra are very good.
Highlights?
Balakrishna
Dialogues
Short duration
Female characters
Drawbacks?
Lack of story
Weak direction
Second half
Alternative Take
A film on the lines of 300, the Hollywood war action film.
Did I enjoy it?
Yes in parts
Will you recommend it?
Yes but with reservations.
Gautamiputra Satakarni Review by Siddhartha Toleti
GautamiPutra Satakarni US Collection: Wednesday $373K, Thursday $135K (updated latest figures)
Final Report: Wars outweigh the drama. Is there much more to this Nandamuri Balakrishna’s landmark 100th movie? Stay tuned for our frank review @M9News shortly.
– The biggest problem in Gautamiputra Satakarni is war episodes took over the entire film. And those wars lack any real emotional connect from the story. The very first war episode is a visual treat to watch, rest of the wars are lengthy. Director Krish deserves a big applause for bringing in such quality in short span. However, a gripping story with a good amount of emotions would have taken this war saga to a whole new level.
– Pre-Climax turns Interesting after a poisonous attack on Satakarni. But without any surprises, Satakarni gets better and starts his war, could have been more convincing rather than following the routine Telugu movie format.
– Gana Gana song while Satakarni is getting ready for another war. It feels like watching too much of war episodes without any actual drama or the real story.
– Hema Malini has a very limited role. What we have seen in the trailer is her best dialogue.
– Shriya Saran did justice to the emotional role she was offered. There are few other familiar faces in the film but none stand out for the roles they were offered.
First Half Report: Grand visuals, highly impressive dialogues from Sai Madhav Burra, and Chirantan Bhatt’s BGM are the positives of the short and crisp first half. On the flip side pre-interval, war episode is very lengthy. Overall it’s a decent first half.
– Second war episode is very lengthy, makes you feel like watching the Climax.
– Badugu Jathi kadu..Telugu Jaathi. Very impressive dialogues by Sai Madhav so far. Time for second war episode.
– Ekimeeda song was placed well and shot well. Shivraj Kumar’s song follows it quickly to narrate the story.
– Satakarni’s entry with a war episode is highly intense and very impressive visuals. Few minutes into the movie we understand why Krish chose Chirantan, his BGM is very good in war episode.
– The show begins with a Thank you note to KCR and Chandrababu for their support. Movie starts off on a very interesting note.
Gautamiputra Satakarni Live Updates begin at 3.30 am IST:
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Nandamuri Balakrishna is one actor who does not bother about hits or flops and keeps doing films one after the other. But when his films click there is no stopping him and the rage that he creates is something else.
After doing some very interesting films in his career, Balayya finally got ready fo his 100th project. But the million dollar question was that who will take the responsibility of directing the project.
So many names were spoken about and it was almost sure that Boyapati Sreenu or Krishna Vamsi will direct the film. But things took a u-turn as Krish broke out the news that he is directing Balayya for his prestigious project.
The main reason for this was Balayya’s love for playing historical characters. As soon as he heard the script which was narrated by Krish he decided to act in the project at once. So finally the project was on and made this film the most talked about in the recent times.
The pre-production of the film began on a huge scale and things started getting interesting for everyone in the media. The film went on the floors without the heroine itself. Stars like Hema Malini and Shreya were roped in to play important roles in the project and shooting of the film was kicked off with a huge budget.
The film became a talking point as it was completed in a record six months which is great for a film which has a historical backdrop. Based on the story of an unsung hero called Gautamiputra Satakarni this film is produced by Rajeev Reddy and Krish himself.
With Balakrishna being the best choice to play such historical characters the film is arriving at a time when Khaidi No 150 has already taken a superb start. Will Balayya be able to get a good success with this film we need to wait for a few more hours to find out.
