Gautamiputra Satakarni Review: Ambitious Effort which Works Considerably

Sethumadhavan

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I’ve always been interested in history and find myself being curious when I come across tales of personalities or events regarding which I’ve been a little in the dark earlier. Hence when director Krish announced post the success of Kanche that his next film in Telugu would be Gautamiputra Satakarni, it was no wonder that I was quite intrigued. For one there are not enough records available about this ruler of the ancient Satavahana Dynasty. And then of course was the announcement that this would mark the collaboration between Krish and Nandamuri Balakrishna aka Balayya for the first time. With the film being announced as the 100th release of Nandamuri Balakrishna, naturally expectation levels were set to go up. After all despite his advancing age and increasing girth, it is clearly observed that he retains his popularity and his films are keenly looked forward to, even today. The promos looked good but also suggested that the film would have to face the burden of an obvious comparison to Baahubali, a reason which made films like Puli (Tamil) and Rudhramdevi look way disappointing compared to S.S.Rajamouli’s magnum opus.

Just as there are not enough records and historical evidence of the life and times of Gautamiputra Satakarni, the film also does not have much in terms of a plot per se. It is not really an attempt to chronicle the life and times of the ancient ruler; it is more an attempt of telling us that he has a prominent place in Indian history and that it is unfortunate that there is not much of awareness about him. Right from time immemorial India was always a multicultural land, divided by numerous kingdoms, ruled by various dynasties and people went on to adopt various languages, religions and traditions. Hence it was never an easy task for a single king or emperor to have the whole of the country under his/her control, the need to ensure the same being a dream and vision for many rulers, most of whom failed in trying to fulfil their ambition. Director Krish tells us that Gautamiputra Satakarni (Satakarni, son of Gautami) was also one such ruler but with a clear cut need and a reason for wanting to bring the whole of the country under his control.  

The film begins in style as we overhear the conversation between Satakarni in his childhood and his mother Gautami Balashri (Hema Malini). The kid is curious to know why do wars take place and astounds his mother by saying that he will go on to become a ruler who would be capable enough to bring together the whole country as a whole under his domain, thereby ensuring that there would be peace and tranquillity and the need for war would be eliminated forever. And we see this conversation happening against the backdrop of a series of statues which are shown moving in line with the dialogues being spoken. Of course there is also a live action version of the same conversation that we get to see later on, as Satakarni rewinds to his discussion with his mother over war and the need to eliminate the same, in a response to a query from Vashishtha Devi (Shriya Saran), his wife. In fact Gautamiputra Satakarni is a film which hinges upon this particular aspect as it tells us about Satakarni’s ambition and how he goes about trying to achieve the same.

So Satakarni sets about sending a message to those kingdoms which are not yet under his domain and he offers them only two choices “sharanama ranama” (surrender or war). The first half of the movie is a brisk depiction of how Satakarni goes about dispensing away with two of the kingdoms and their rulers as they defy Satakarni’s message and refuse to take him seriously. The first of the two wars is fought on sea as Satarkani effortlessly decimates the enemy army, leading to a tame surrender by the ruler (Milind Gunaji). The second battle is fiercer and there is a lot more drama on display as well but ultimately Satakarni triumphs over the ruler (Kabir Bedi). This segment also sees Satakarni taking his eldest son to the battle with a valid reason, creating strife between him and Vashishtha Devi as she does not realize the true reason for which her husband is taking the child along with him to war. Seeing Satakarni’s success and his might increase, the Greeks are jealous and they now want to defeat Satakarni and conquer the whole of India. How do they go about attempting the same and how does Satakarni manage to tackle them is what the rest of the film is all about.

In terms of the VFX work involved I would certainly mention that the output is patchy, the comparison with Baahubali notwithstanding. The war sequences have been conceptualized well but if the VFX work had been better it would have been a grander visual spectacle. The action sequences (Raam-Laxman and a few foreign action choreographers) are of course one of the highlights of the film. Music by Chirantan Bhatt is effective; the songs are decent if not great while the BGM does compliment the visuals on screen. Sai Madhav Burra’s dialogues deserve mention, Balayya polishes them off delightfully and it’s definitely one of the reasons why the film works to an extent. Considering the scale of the film it’s remarkable that the film was completed in a few months and that is no mean achievement. What is also praiseworthy is that the film does not linger on unnecessarily either in the form of dialogues, situations, or characters which do not contribute to the tale in terms of value. As a result what we get is a crisply edited film (edited by Suraj Jagtap and Rama Krishna Arram) which is just of 135 minutes duration, a pleasant surprise considering that a film like this could have ended up floating in way too many excesses.

Kannada superstar Shiva Rajkumar is seen in a song which comes in at a significant moment of the film. Milind Gunaji and Kabir Bedi play the usual antagonists, there’s nothing much to talk about their work as such. Farah Karimi in a brief role manages to get noticed. Hema Malini as Gautami  Balshri looks radiant and graceful, though she is not really tested as such in terms of her acting prowess. Shriya Saran looks charming as ever and gets good scope in the film, her scenes with Balayya enabling her to perform and not just remain a glamour doll thankfully. Balayya is the life and soul of Gautamiputra Satakarni, he does good justice to the titular role, here his sword doing a lot of talking as well. This is a film which could have actually been great but falls well short of it, nevertheless it’s an ambitious attempt by Krish which needs to be encouraged.

 

Bottomline:

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Krish and Balayya have come together to present us with a larger than life tale of an ancient ruler, an attempt that works to a large extent. While it does not end up as memorable as expected, it has enough that goes in its favour to merit a viewing at the theatres.

 

Rating: 3.5/5