After watching Yashoda just a few months back and liking Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s performance in the film, expectations for Shakuntalam rose further. Releasing this Friday, director Gunasekhar has narrated the story of Shakuntalam. Based on the play Abhigyana Shakuntalam by Kalidasa, the mythological drama follows the difficult life of Shakuntala (played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu).
The film follows the legend: Shakuntala is found in the forest, abandoned by her mother Menaka. A priest takes her under his wing, doubling up as her foster father. However, he knows that Shakuntala’s life is full of sorrow and pain. She meets Raja Dushyant (Dev Mohan) and falls in love with him. Their romance blossoms in the forests of Shakuntala’s hermitage.
Dushyant is forced to return to his kingdom while Shakuntalam waits for his father’s blessings. While she gets the blessing and learns that she is pregnant, Dushyant is nowhere to be seen. Seasons change, life goes on, and Shakuntala patiently waits for Dushyant to return. However, her wait turns difficult when a powerful priestess by the name of Durvasa curses her that Dushyanta will not remember her when they meet again. Will Shakuntala’s suffering end? Will they meet again? For those who don’t know how the story ends, I am not going to reveal the twists and turns.
Shakuntalam is the story of a woman and her struggle. Unfortunately, the movie feels like it’s aimed at kids and kids only. Gunasekhar, experienced in mythological subjects and having won the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film in 1997 for Ramayanam, knows the subject and is charmed by Shakuntala too but seems unable to do justice to the subject- Torn between doing justice to the subject as well. Not making it content-heavy for kids.
The first half is poorly written and badly edited, resulting in disjointed scenes. While this is a story about Shakuntala, Gunasekhar shows Shakuntala through the eyes of everyone except himself. Although you see the character dancing through rich forests waiting for his king to return, it doesn’t add much depth to the character. Fortunately, the second part remains the same as the first part, giving the audience a better grasp on the events that unfold. However, the climax seems a bit rushed.
The two things that failed me in Shakuntalam were the dialogues and the VFX. After watching the film in Hindi, I felt the dialogues were heavily scripted, leaving even people watching epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata on television a bit confused.
As per my complaints with VFX, the film tried to go big with the visuals but it was underwhelming. The film was in 3D but except for two-three scenes, there was no need of 3D approach in the film. A quick fight scene is inserted in the second part which seems half-hearted and made me realize that despite the smaller budget, BR Chopra had portrayed better fight scenes in 1988’s Mahabharata.
Talking on the topic of visuals, several continuity errors were noticed in the film. In one scene, Samantha is seen barefoot and in the continuing scene, she is suddenly seen wearing Kolhapuri chappals. Given the grand scale, it doesn’t go unnoticed. In another scene, Samantha’s outfit magically changes from orange to yellow and it’s hard to ignore.
On the plus side, Gunasekhar leaves no stone unturned to make the sets grand. Be it the simple ashram or the grand palace of Dushyant, the art designers in the film deserve all the applause. Fashion designer Neeta Lulla has done a great job of keeping the costumes in sync with the theme of the film. Samantha looks gorgeous in every outfit she dons.
When it comes to the performances, there is no doubt that Samantha internalized the idea Shakuntala presented, the lack of depth in the writing kept Samantha from pushing the envelope. After seeing her in powerful roles in Yashoda, Super Deluxe, and Majili, Shakuntalam fails to do justice to Samantha’s talent. Still, she shoulders the film well. Samantha stands out the most in scenes where she relies on her emotions and expressions to deliver her words. In the second half, you find yourself empathizing with his character.
However, I personally feel that Samantha should not have dubbed for herself in Hindi. She looked confident and it affected her performance. Meanwhile, Dev Mohan looks decent in the first half but shines better in the second half. Like Samantha, he too was limited in terms of performance due to the lack of depth in the writing. Special shout out to Allu Arha, daughter of Allu Arjun. She lights up the screen as soon as she enters. There should have been more scenes with him.
Despite the flaws, Shakuntalam is one movie that you can take your kids to watch this weekend. They might find it a bit confusing initially but they will eventually follow the story.
Bottom line: Director-writer Gunasekhar plays it safe with the characters in Shakuntalam, giving us a film that lacks depth. He appeared so focused on the scenes that the story gets lost in the woods.
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