Follow Us
Join UsStar Cast: Prabhas, Pooja Hegde, Bhagyashree, Sathyaraj, Kunaal Roy Kapur
Director: Radha Krishna Kumar
What’s Good: This would only strengthen what SS Rajamouli said about how the grand scale should always be backed by soul, this is just like staying at a luxurious villa situated amid a crowded market
What’s Bad: Prabhas’ character Vikram Aditya is a palmist, who is so bad at his job he couldn’t even predict the boring fate of his own film.
Loo Break: If you’re in for picturesque locales, you’d get what you want from start till the end but if you’re looking for a solid story, you’d have 138 opportunities (1 per minute) to take a loo break.
Watch or Not?: Only if you are a Pooja Hegde or Europe fan!
Available On: Theatrical Release.
Runtime: 138 Minutes.
User Rating:
The story starts with world-renowned palmist Vikram Aditya (Prabhas) predicting the emergency of 1975 by reading Indira Gandhi’s (Flora Jacob) palm. He has to leave India after this prediction and he starts to jump from one country to another. What do you mean by why he left the country even in an age when there was no Twitter? Vikram Aditya is pretty sure he will remain single forever because he’s missing a ‘love line’ from his palms, until one day he says Prerna (Pooja Hegde) travelling in a train transported from Wes Anderson’s world.
He falls for her but only wants to keep it till ‘flirtationship’, which is a boomer term for friends with benefits. Prerna somehow falls for him because he travels 300 kilometres on a bike in rain for her, despite being a rich bloke he doesn’t take his car but because he has to impress a girl… vroom vroom. Now, starts the circus of one character could die from either of them because palmistry says so, but you’ll soon realise it’s the audience that wants to get killed by the end.
Radhe Shyam Movie Review: Script Analysis
Director/Writer Radha Krishna Kumar falls in the infamous trending trap of ‘style over substance’ focusing majorly on how it looks rather than how it actually feels. The stunning yet forced grandeur doesn’t help in holding the intrigue, because the story just starts demolishing the narrative scene after scene in the second half. RKK makes Prabhas jump out of his comfort zone to play a romantic hero and kudos to him, but his writing often crosses the ‘mystical’ line to jump into the lame zone.
At times, you can’t even notice the eye-pleasing sets just because nothing interesting is happening in the story to grab your attention. The majority portions of the film look like they’re straight out of a SoBo couple’s pre-wedding photoshoot, in which the guy is probably an engineer. Cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa, production designer Raveender Reddy & costume designers Thota Vijayabhaskar, Eka Lakhani leave no stone unturned to make this look like an epic, even though it’s just unorganised chaos.
Radhe Shyam Movie Review: Star Performance
Prabhas said Baahubali has been chasing him eventually setting similar monumental expectations from all of his films, but he has done 2 films post-Baahubali and they’re Saaho, Radhe Shyam. Both of these films were sold as ‘grand scale epics’, so if you’re injecting the hype based on how stunning your film is why won’t the audience hope for another epic saga backed with a proper story? Also, why even after Sharad Kelkar (Baahubali), Shreyas Talpade (Pushpa) set a standard for Hindi dubbing, Prabhas has yet again taken the “I’ll dub in the languages I’m not comfortable with” route? It does nothing but takes away from the ample charm of his personality he otherwise has.
Pooja Hegde compliments the beautiful sets & aura of the film with her alluring presence. Thankfully, it’s not just her looks that are prioritised but she leaves a mark with her performance even with a very shabby script. Bhagyashree’s character adds nothing substantial to anyone’s life in the film, hence she gets an extremely restricted performance. Sathyaraj as Guruji follows a very formulaic approach in portraying an extremely peculiar godman. Kunaal Roy Kapur’s character is nothing but clutter to Vikram Aditya’s track as despite being a close friend to him, he just appears to disappear without adding or subtracting anything.
Radhe Shyam Movie Review: Direction, Music
Radha Krishna Kumar’s vision acts both as a boon and bane for the final product. It’s only because of his vision, the look and feel remain top-notch (barring some jarring CGI during chase sequences), and the similar vision makes him think it’s already too exaggerated the story as well. I notice a couple of Hollywood references from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind to even a little bit La La Land like vibes, you guys tell me if you spot the same. Also another request, there’s a scene (NOT A SPOILER) in which Prerna schools Vikram Aditya about the importance of life in her hospital, just keep a count on how many times maut/marna is said (in Hindi version) and please let me know the number.
I, unfortunately, watched the Hindi version of the film so songs by Mithoon, Amaal Mallik & Manan Bhardwaj, though would give you a feeling that they’re better than usual literal translated songs from its Telugu version, but comes with a similar outcome of many such songs from the past which has failed to stay alive in the fans’ playlist for a long time. Sanchit Balhara & Ankit Balhara’s flawless background score maintains the film’s overall grandeur without going overboard even once.
Radhe Shyam Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, this film’s vibe could be measured by a single scene (NOT A SPOILER) which is an action sequence shot at night showing Prabhas escaping a ship stuck in Tsunami. The details in that will blow your mind but it’s stretched so much, you’ll eventually lose interest & that’s Radhe Shyam for you.
Radhe Shyam Trailer
Radhe Shyam releases on 11 March, 2022.
Share with us your experience of watching Radhe Shyam.
Like watching action dramas? Read our Mahaan Movie Review here.
