Das CH
Das CH
The feel of watching a Shankar film dissipates once you fasten your seatbelts, as the destination we are heading towards is not upwards but downwards. The quality of the filmmaking deteriorates as each scene progresses.
The first 20 minutes of the film, leading up to the title, hint that the makers are merely winding us up for this tedious experience with a forced and familiar corruption story told through a disjointed narration.
Kamal Haasan’s entry as Bharateeyudu, despite a decent introduction, loses its impact after the initial killings, resulting in fatigue rather than emotional engagement. Except for the airport scene, where the character leaves a mark, everything else fails to impress. Fortunately, we have witnessed worse in Balakrishna’s “Okka Magadu,” so this is slightly more tolerable, but it still pales in comparison to its predecessor.
While Bharateeyudu is engaged in a killing scene, multiple other tracks are introduced simultaneously, and SJ Suriyah’s character is simply wasted. The screenplay of the film appears terrible.
Except for one or two scenes and Anirudh’s background score, there is nothing else noteworthy. It is a deeply disappointing effort from director Shankar so far.
Siddharth and Priya Bhavani Shankar’s roles offer nothing special, but they do justice to their parts. Rakul Preet Singh’s role, however, lacks significance.
Firstly, the killings by the protagonist are not very effective and seem a bit off. Additionally, during the middle of such scenes, the narrative gets diverted with a couple of other shots at various locations, which feels frustrating for those who are at least loyal to Bharateeyudu’s characterization.
Though the concept is cool, it felt like it didn’t require a 3-hour runtime, which is a waste of time for the build-up where the content is stored in the third part of the franchise. Siddharth’s emotional track, followed by the chase sequence and the climax, could have been wrapped up within 30 minutes. Instead, the makers test our patience with their prolonged screenplay.
“A puppet show for content set aside for later exploration”
The director Shankar just used “Indian 2” as an appetizer for “Indian 3,” where the trailer gives us all the elements we expected to see in the second part.
The makers of the film cleverly used the theme of guilt—ending their own family’s future for the sake of society and turning against the man who created this. They didn’t treat it as a direct sequel to Bharateeyudu’s guilt based on the climax of the first part but applied the treatment to other cast members. This approach looks interesting and adds depth to the protagonist’s characterization, but is an entire film for such content even necessary?
While Siddharth, Priya Bhavani Shankar, and Rakul Preet played their respective roles as supporters of Indian while dealing with their own struggles, it’s understandable that they did justice to the given roles. However, it lacks impact as the main focus shifts towards Kamal Haasan as Bharateeyudu.
SJ Suriyah’s role was just introductory, and the scenes featuring him in this part are a waste of time. The main content is stored for the later part. On the other hand, Bobby Simha’s role is terrible. Despite being such a powerful officer, not a single scene has any impact on the plot.
Overall Verdict: Well! It’s a film that could have just unfolded within 30 minutes but was used as a sacrifice to make a separate project before the massive Part 3. The Bharateeyudu 3 trailer cut has all the elements we crave and seems like Kajal Aggarwal has landed in an interesting role alongside Kamal Haasan. Going back into the past will definitely make us wait. Hopefully, the director delivers and sticks to his reputation, unlike the disappointment of Indian 2. We will have to wait and see.
