Movie: Bholaa Shankar
Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: AK Entertainments
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Tamannaah, Keerthy Suresh, Sushanth, Raghu Babu, Murali Sharma, Ravi Shankar, Vennela Kishore, Tulasi, Sri Mukhi, Bithiri Sathi, Satya, Getup Srinu, Rashmi Gautam, Uttej,and others.
Dialogues: Mamidala Thirupathi
Music: Mahati Swara Sagar
DOP: Dudley
Editor: Marthand K Venkatesh
Action: Ram-Laxman
Produced by: Ramabrahmam Sunkara
Directed by: Meher Ramesh
Release Date: Aug 11, 2023
From Hyderabad to Kolkata, Shankar (Chiranjeevi) and his sister Mahalaxmi (Keerthy Suresh) go. While his sister attends art school, Shankar drives cabs for a living. A lawyer named Lasya (Tamannah) is introduced to Shankar, and her brother, Sushanth, develops feelings for Mahalakshmi.
While Mahalakshmi is getting ready for her wedding, Shankar begins a killing spree, which Lasya observes.
So, just who is Shankar? Why is he killing these criminals? What is his history?
The writing department is the film's other weakest technical team. The writers did a poor job. The production values are excellent.
Highlights:
Some scenes in the second half
Drawback:
Outdated story and screenplay
Meher Ramesh’s direction
Mahati’s Songs
Total First Half
Many cringeworthy moments
Analysis
The trailer for "Bholaa Shankar," the remake of the Tamil movie "Vedalam," makes it plain that viewers and fans should have realistic expectations. Additionally, none of the songs were top-charters. After the flops of "Shadow" and "Shakti," filmmaker Meher Ramesh came under attack from trolls. Therefore, no one had big hopes for this movie. We had no expectations when we went to the theater as well. The director of "Bholaa Shankar," Meher Ramesh, has demonstrated that he is incapable of living up to even the most modest expectations.
Big star movies typically draw audiences in the first half but frequently veer off course in the second. However, neither the first nor second halves of "Bholaa Shankar" have any redeeming features. From start to finish, it is chock full of awkward situations and predictable events.
Even somewhat better moments in the second half seem reasonable since the first half is so unimpressive. The entire movie is cliched and out of date.
A foolish humorous track featuring Vennela Kishore, who Bengalis refer to as Bumsi rather than Vamsi, can be heard in the first part of the album. In the second half, Chiranjeevi takes the initiative to add some "comedy" by copying the well-known scene between his brother Pawan Kalyan and Bhumika from "Kushi." It is rather embarrassing to see him replicate the scenario with Sreemukhi.
During promotional interviews, director Meher Ramesh claimed that he and his writers changed and improved upon the Tamil original "Vedalam" by 70%. However, we don't see any improvement. They've included a comedy track with Chiranjeevi, which 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.
Overall, "Bholaa Shankar" is a complete bore. It neither entertains nor features appealing tunes, as one would expect from a Chiranjeevi film. This one is packed with outdated sequences and cringe-worthy situations. A complete disappointment!