Cast: Ram, Raashi Khanna, Abhimanyu Singh and Others
Directed by: Sreenivasa Reddy
Produced by: Ravi Kishore
Banner: Sravanthi Movies
Music by: Devi Sri Prasad
Release Date: 2015-10-02
Ram earlier this year scored a commercial hit with Pandaga Chesko. Things seemed back on track for the young and energetic hero who ran through a very bad phase before that. Shivam looked colorful and Ram was pretty confident about this movie doing well at the box office. However debutante Sreenivasa Reddy messed the movie up with his script that tests your patience to the core. Shivam is one of the biggest disappointments of the year!
What is it about?
Shiva (Ram) is a great supporter of love and does anything to unite lovers. This puts everyone around him in deep trouble. He falls in love with Tanuja (Raashi) and tries everything to win her love. But there is Abhi (Abhimanyu Singh) after Tanuja and even Ram is chased by an egoistic factionist. Rest of the story is about how Shiva wins Tanu's love and how does he handle the bad guys.
Performances:
Ram is as energetic as ever. Despite his small frame, he believes in himself and exhibits lot of confidence that we would believe that he could indeed handle any number of baddies single handedly. He did well to pull off many scenes that are poorly written. But the director puts too big a task on Ram's shoulders and sadly he too couldn't pull it off after a point.
Raashi Khanna is cute and did okay. Abhimanyu Singh is alright. There are so many noted actors in the film to take care of the entertainment. None of them is utilized properly as the bad script lets everybody down. This is one more disappointing show from Brahmanandam who is repeatedly failing to recreate the magic he was known for.
Technicalities:
Young director Sreenivasa Reddy banked on a formulaic film that relies heavily on the treatment. Telugu filmgoers are being treated to similar kind of movies every week. So the director should have taken care about the entertainment factor. He should have offered some freshness to the audience. Instead he tries too hard to make us laugh and all his efforts go in vain.
Devi Sri Prasad too couldn't add any value to this film. Dialogues are alright. Editing is not up to the mark. There is lots of junk to be edited out from the final cut. Cinematography is neat. Production values are topnotch.
Thumbs Up:
Ram
Production values
Thumbs Down:
Story and Screenplay
Drags on and on
Poor comedy
Analysis:
Masala entertainers tend to survive at the box office in spite of the cliched stories. This is due to the fun factor that strikes chord with the audience who cherish masala films. Shivam too has lots of noted comedians and innumerable scenes that are dedicated to tickle the audience. Even the comedy scenes are poorly written.
First half of the movie is passable despite the boring moments. Real test for patience starts post interval with the film pointlessly being dragged on and on. None of the scenes that the director expected to evoke fun clicked making it a totally boring affair. It will be a big test for anybody to sit until the titles roll on.
Ram and other actors desperately tried to lift the spirits but the director turned villain to Shivam by messing up all the departments that he has taken care of. High time to realize that banking on the masala elements won't keep you in the safe zone until or unless you are extremely lucky. It's better to come up with good scripts rather than falling upon the tried and tested methods of commercial cinema. To cut the long story short, you can safely skip this one!
Verdict: Boredom