PRASTHAANAM FILM REVIEW BY --SIRASRI.

Film: Prasthaanam
Rating: 3/5
Banner: V R C Media and Entertainments
Cast: Sharwanand, Sandeep, Sai Kumar, Ruby Parihar, Jeeva, Jayaprakash Reddy, Vennela Kishore, Surekha Vani, Reshma, Ghosh, master Atulith, Balayya etc
Music: Mahesh Shankar
Editing: Dharmendra Kakarala
Cinematography: Shyam Dutt
Story, screenplay, direction: Deva Katta
Producer: Vallabhaneni Ravi
Release date: 16/04/2010


Deva Katta is back after a hiatus of sorts and unlike his last venture Vennela which was a romantic treat, he has taken up a rather serious political subject, whether he is successful or not let us see.


Story:
Lokanath (Saikumar) is very active in politics and is a key person to a party. A sequence of events gets his leader killed and he ends up marrying the leader’s wife and looks after their family.


Deceased leader’s son Mitra (Sharwanand) follows Loki’s footsteps and grows as a leader. However, Loki has his own son Chinna (Sandeep) who is keen on entering politics but is disregarded.


He turns against everyone and that creates a major chaos in the family. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.


Performances:
Sharwanand has got a key role to play but then the first half sees him rather subdued, it is during the second half one gets to see his potential. Given the powerful character, Sharwanand should have worked on his dialogue delivery at few places. Overall, he did a good job.


Sandeep is a revelation. Despite his fresh attempt, he has shown phenomenal confidence in front of the camera and has scored the brownie points. His performance leaves an impact and he has got a bright future.


Sai Kumar is apt for the role and shows the required maturity and composure. Few of his dialogues were intense and deep but only the dialogue king can give that punch to it. He should start focusing on bagging more roles on the silver screen and utilize his potential to the fullest.


Jeeva was the best bet as contractor Basireddy and he shows enough venom, Jayaprakash Reddy was hilarious, Vennela Kishore failed to impress, Ghosh as inspector made his presence felt, he is one to look out for in the future, Ruby was there for songs, Surekha Vani was standard, Reshma looks ravishingly beautiful, more focus should be kept on her. The other artistes who hail from the ‘Chakravaakam’ serial have done a fabulous job.


Analysis:
The film is ideally a political thriller but it is merely a backdrop that depicts the various shades of human emotions and how man can resort to extremities in life purely out of greed. The dialogues were mind blowing but a few could go above the head for the mass audience, the script was strong and the screenplay was effective. Background score was awesome and all the songs were good. Full marks to cinematography and art department, editing was crisp. The real strength of the film is the dialogues and the storyline.


On the flip side, two songs during the second half were unnecessary and they have dragged the film to an extent. The film is quite serious and there is a strong dose of philosophy despite the scenarios.


Content wise the movie has got it all but in a layman sense, there are places when the mass audience will find it hard to connect. The first half goes of breezily but the second half gets dragged to an extent.


Not much of a thing for family audience. Overall, this is a hard hitting treat and deals with complex human emotions so those who like such stuff will relish it.


Bottom line: Not for families, more of the intellectual type.


(Sirasri can be reached at sirasri@gmail.com)