Acharya Review - A Predictable Mass Entertainer

PUBLISHED DATE : 29/Apr/2022

Acharya Review - A Predictable Mass Entertainer

Acharya Review

Ashwin Ram


Acharya is a mass entertainer starring Mega Star Chiranjeevi in the lead role. Ram Charan appears in an extended cameo role in the film and Pooja Hegde too. The movie is directed by the blockbuster filmmaker Koratala Siva and it has music by Mani Sharma.


Premise


After the sudden disappearance of Ram Charan, who is the protector of a temple town named Dharmasthali, its control is taken over by the villains who want to change it to an industrial town. Chiranjeevi, a fierce outsider comes as their saviour, who he actually is, how he is connected to Ram Charan in the movie, how he saves the people and their livelihood from the baddies forms the remaining story.


Writing/ Direction


The base of the film itself is a huge misfire, the villains want to reform a temple town and use it for their industrial business, the good people in the film don’t want that to happen as they need to pray to their God everyday. In 2022, this plot feels outdated by a mile, at least there could have been some form of empathy if they would’ve shown what that temple, its God mean to them and how strongly they connect with their beliefs, sadly we get to see nothing of that sort and hence couldn’t route for anything happening around. At least an exciting screenplay could’ve kept us going engaged, but the packaging is poor. Fight scenes are placed back-to-back just like that without any purpose, and just to add an emotion, a new character is trapped in danger for the hero to come and save them. There’s zero depth in Chiranjeevi’s characterization. Everything is so straight-forward and the predictable narrative doesn’t brisk the flow at point in time. Villains are also dummy and only their body parts work but not their brain. There is not even a single high point or smart moment in the first half, Ram Charan character is introduced at the break-point. So, I was expecting something from the latter, but sadly the second half stays dull too. Even his portions are so boring without anything special. There’s one scene where Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan impersonate as Military officers, that was good fun, otherwise the entire film is a bummer. Comrade characters are bluntly shown and there is no detailing or research with respect to that. Even before they reveal, the wafer-thin line is already open to the audience, stretching it further towards the end tests the patience. It becomes too tiring in the climax portions, as again there’s nothing but plain action.


Performances


It’s inspiring to see Chiranjeevi dancing with ease even at this age. He satisfies with his presence in the fight sequences, but there’s no scope for him to perform. Ram Charan tries to bring in some activeness to the screen, he does but the script doesn’t allow him to go ahead in peace. Pooja Hegde’s role is very crisp, she shines only for the eyes as she is underutilized just as a filler love interest of Ram Charan. Surprisingly, the hero Chiranjeevi has no romantic angle in the film. Sonu Sood as the main villain gets a weakly written single-shade character, he couldn’t offer much with his acting skills with a limited presence. Vennela Kishore appears hardly for two scenes, hence there’s not much space for comedy too.


Technicalities


Mani Sharma’s songs are just passable as none of the tracks are that much enjoyable. His musical treatment for background score is extremely disappointing, at least there could’ve been some energetic mass tunes to elevate the action scenes, instead he goes in intense serious mood for no reason which spoils the show. Tirru’s camera work is good and no complaints regarding the visual quality. But what’s disturbing the frames is the shabby work by the VFX department, also there’s an extensive usage of CGI needlessly, even the simplest of things are done in graphics. Nothing exceptional with Navin Nooli’s edit pattern, length is one of the major issues of the film. Fight sequences were quite appealing as the stunt choreography is decently done. Kudos to the dance choreographers as well, they’ve given some apt steps for the hero and the bit with both Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan was a treat to watch.


Bottomline


This flick is the perfect example to prove that big stars in a mass setting alone cannot save a film as there are larger aspects for a commercial film to be attractive like a solid script and something different in the narrative style.

User Comments