BOTTOM LINE
A Boring Science Class
OUR RATING
2.5/5
CENSOR
‘U’ Certified, 2 hrs 05 mins
What Is the Film About?
A team of astronauts led by Dev (Varun Tej) have to course correct a satellite that has lost its direction. If not done in time the entire world could lose connectivity. How Dev (Varun Tej) becomes part of the team and does he have a personal mission or motive behind it?
How Is Varun Tej’s Performance?
If we just look at the surface, that is the character, sure the role of an astronaut is different from anything Varun Tej has done before. However, when we look closely at the role and its graph and the acting and emotions attached to it, we realise that there is actually no change from the previous turn of Varun Tej as an actor. In his last film, Varun Tej was an architect and now an astronaut. The childish attitude and other emotional cues and act is the same. Without much improvement, the screen presence isn’t elevated.
It is not a serious issue yet, but the sooner Varun Tej changes the act and brings some genuine change the best. Otherwise, the audience would be quick to slot him as repetitive.
Direction by Sankalp Reddy?
Sankalp Reddy is back with a new outing after the immensely loved Ghazi. While the first outing was underwater, now the director has gone into space.
Ghazi was a success and a major credit to that goes to the setting and writing. Sankalp Reddy follows the same with Antariksham. However, the extent to which he follows makes the movie come across as formulaic at times.
Coming to the film, it is fine but for two major issues which hamper overall enjoyment and connect with the movie. The first one is the contrived emotions and the second is technical jargon. In the former case, there is a love story built into the narrative that is supposed to add emotional depth. That does not happen as it doesn’t have enough meat in it. The character of hero vis a vis his mission is the culprit here. Instead of a genius and authoritative attitude we see a childish stubbornness at work that makes the love episode less appealing. The progress of the relationship between Dev and Riya is a classic case of forced emotion in a narrative. It just doesn’t work out that way it is supposed to be, by the director
The second and more important issue is the language. It is too technical for sustained interest. Sure an authenticity in proceedings is important, but it should not happen at the cost of disengaging from the narrative itself. The breathing space to understand is not provided. As a result, what we have is a narrative that goes on and on and on without getting the audience on board. There is a sense of something happening, but ‘what’ is it is not conveyed properly.
Overall, Antariksham 9000 KMPH is definitely an honest attempt. It is visible in every frame. But, too much technical mumbo-jumbo and lack of emotional connect makes it a boring watch. If you want to watch something different from Telugu cinema do give it a try. However, be prepared to be bored in the process.
Lavanya Tripathy, Aditi Rao Hydari and Others?
Lavanya Tripathy and Aditi Rao Hydari are the two female leads. The former has a typical heroine part whereas the latter has more to do as part of the story. Aditi Rao Hydari has done well. Apart from them, the film has a few well-defined parts played well by Srinivas Avasarala, Rahman, Satyadev and others. There are moments where they all get to showcase their acting skills.
Music and Other Departments?
Music by Prasanth Vihari is alright. The background score is tremendous though. The cinematography is neat. The editing is precise. The vfx could have been better as we can make out the patchy effects on screen. The good news though is that isn’t a major concern.
Highlights?
Attempt
Short Run Time
Pace
Two Blocks
Drawbacks?
Technical Jargon
Emotional Connect
Hero Character
Alternative Take
Giving more room for proper development of emotional block would have done wonders and also allowed breathing space from all technical talks.
Did I Enjoy It?
In Parts
Will You Recommend It?
With huge reservations
Antariksham 9000 KMPH Review by Siddartha
Final Report:
Sankalp Reddy deserves appreciation for picking a different and unique subject and making it as honestly as possible. BUT sometimes honesty bores us (viewers) badly and that is the case with Antariksham. Barring a couple of segments, nothing really engages sadly. Visit back for our frank and detailed review soon.
– Everything ends well and the team is back on earth. Final report shortly.
– The space team in India getting the data from lost satellite Viprayaan. Dev’s oxygen levels are extremely low.
– Finally, Dev (Varun Tej) reaches Viprayaan but he has only few minutes left to retrieve the data.
– Dev (Varun Tej) fixes satellite Mihira but refuses to comeback to the earth. He wants to find his dream satellite Viprayaan.
– Antariksham second half started on an exciting note. Dev (Varun Tej) and three other astronauts in space and has got few minutes to fix satellite Mihira. This space episode shot well raising the tempo.
First Half Report:
Antariksham first half runs on uneven pace and VFX work is not great so-far. The story picks up the speed towards pre-interval.
Interval bang has potential for an intriguing second half.
– Dev (Varun Tej), Riya (Aditi Rao) and two other astronauts in space to fix the code for satellite Mihira but run into an issue. They have got less than 3 minutes to fix Mihira. Interval.
– Satellite Mihira is in a collision state with another satellite in the space which could result in severe damage to networks. Dev is adamant to go space to fix the code for Mihira.
– The flash back episode reveals why Dev (Varun Tej) quits his job. Dev has a painful past and his love story with Parvathi (Lavanya) has an emotional connection with his dream satellite launch Viprayaan.
– Team decides to bring Dev (Varun Tej) back into the team to travel to the space to fix the code for satellite Mihira. It’s time for Dev’s flash back. He dreams to launch satellite ‘Viprayaan’.
– Antariksham show started. Mihira satellite lost track in the space. The space center crew in Andhra Pradesh is worried that it will cause huge black out to the communication networks across the world.
Antariksham US Premier live updates will begin at 6 pm EST (4.30 am IST)
Preview: Antariksham
‘Antariksham‘ didn’t come alone, there are four releases along with this Varun Tej’s movie. ‘Padi Padi Leche Manasu’ is another straight movie and there are three non-Telugu films. The advance bookings of ‘Antariksham’ are alright as the straight Telugu movies have got more number of screens though they had to share the screens with the non-Telugu movies.
Being a sci-fi space movie, it has a limited target audience when compared to the other straight Telugu release. The director Sankalp Reddy has passed the initial test with the convincing and no confusion trailer. It was intriguing enough to attract the target audiences to the theatres and the rest will depend on the word of mouth from the opening shows.
Varun Tej has always been a game trying different movies and his conviction to take up this subject itself made it the winner, in the first round. The curiosity factor around the space thriller will soon add up if the movie gets good openings. It’s not a kind of movie to talk about the star power of a hero or the glamour of the heroines. Of course, Lavanya Tripathi and Aditi Rao don’t seem to be in the movie just for the glamour sake.
Hence, it’s the content and how the director dealt with the novel subject in an intriguing manner without creating confusion will make or break the movie. Here, the primary competition will be with Sharwanand’s movie, a love story that will have a universal appeal. It’s time to know how the interesting clash will end up.
Director Sankalp Reddy maintained his reservedness throughout the promotional period and it was Varun Tej who was active to a certain extent. The director’s previous movie ‘Ghazi’ worked solely because of the content and it would have done better if promoted extensively. Will the director strike the same chord with the content speaking on his behalf? Will this first space thriller in Telugu prove beneficial for the mega hero?
Stay tuned for the mirchi9 comprehensive ‘Antariksham 9000 KMPH Review’. We’ll be back very soon. Keep watching this space.
