First thing first. Everybody can't be a Rajamouli, even if you have the budget and the vision to match in order to churn out a Baahubali. Gunasekhar's Shaakuntalam is aspirational but has no story. Not at all. Not even an iota of it. All it has is a scale, a vision and a grand ambition. This deadly concoction has been converted to form what comes across as a tiring punishment for the big-screen audience (add to that 3D). Crammed with excessive CGI and everything massive, (the sets, the action and even the stretched-out sequences), this film is an attempt to create a larger-than-life saga with no soul and no storytelling. At two and a half hours, this production is a desperate attempt to create a spectacle, but the makers could not even lay their hands on a simple storyline with some logic involved to keep the audience engaged. Shaakuntalam Star Samantha Ruth Prabhu Can't Attend Events of Her Upcoming Film For This Reason.

The 3D version only adds to the already induced headache thanks to everything over the top without paying much attention to details. Make no mistake. You do find yourself marveling at the art direction,  the scale, and the VFX executed to bring the magical mythological tale alive, but honestly speaking the overkill of grandiosity is off-putting. Everything gets lost in the race to become BIG (most certainly, every BIG film can't be a Baahubali, and every grand attempt will not be converted into the success of KGF, if every big attempt doesn't come with an equally different concept to be able to stand out).

Based on Kalidasa’s Abhijnana Shakuntalam, this is the epic love saga of King Dushyant (Dev Mohan)and sage Vishwamitra and Menaka’s daughter Shakuntala (Samantha). Sage Durvasa’s (Mohan Babu) curse makes Dushyant forget all about Shakuntala until the spell breaks and the two reunite. This story looks so simple on paper but the director chooses to make the narrative complex and complicated in order to serve an overload of a visual treat. Some sequences are forcefully written, while some are so disjointed that you end up enjoying just the visual treat with no interest in how and why the story unfolds the way it does. Shaakuntalam: Samantha Ruth Prabhu Was 'Perfect Choice To Play Shakuntala', Says Director Gunasekhar.

The huge plus of the movie is the scale and how 'significantly high' this has been mounted. The larger-than-life characters, the humongous and beautifully lit palaces, the royal costumes and the fantastically designed war sequences could serve as a backdrop to die for (for some other tale perhaps). All the makers needed is this-- a decent story to be shown on the forefront to match the monstrosity of those opulent sets. Also, the essence and the emotions are choked by the grandiosity on display.

On the downside though you have dialogues that are unintentionally hilarious (blame it on bad dubbing), never ending songs with ashrams strewn with rabbits, deers and tigers co-ordinating and cohabiting to fullfill the grand theme--the eternal undying love! If that's not enough to give you a terrible headache, give the background score a chance to reach a point where you start begging for mercy.

As for the performances by the principal cast, the less said the better (and whatever little they have done has gotten lost in translation, at least in the Hindi version). Madhoo, Gautami and Prakash Raj are seen in small roles, but they add no drama or interest to the storyline.

Final Thoughts:

Shaakuntalam is a terrible bore even if you intend to sit with a bunch of buddies to enjoy a film that has turned out to be unintentionally funny.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2023 04:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).