Gautamiputra Satakarni

GPSK,marking the collaboration of Nandi award winners director Krish and veteran actor Nandamuri Balakrishna in his 100th feature film was the talk of the Tollywood industry and critics and audience were equally excited to witness the reel-life presentation of Satavahana king Gautamiputar Satakarni who's believed to unite the empire from internal conflicts and western invasions.

Spectacular preview reports,celebrity applause and initial reviews from benefit shows increased my expectations on the movie which was kept in-tact by Krish who succeeded in creating space for trademark goose-bump sequences from NBK without compromising the historical accuracy of the movie.The most striking thing to be noted here is that Krish and his team could complete the production of this epic historical drama on such big canvas in a mean span of just 79 days! Take a bow Krish __/\__ The movie started of well with a stunning intro of NBK followed by a war sequence on sea that lasted around 15 minutes.Various characters in the story-line were introduced in a short span of time and Krish could create a connect with the Telugu audience instantaneously,thanks to memorable dialogues penned by Madhav Burra that celebrates the oneness and the unity of Telugu people.

Notably,the emotional part too was given due care alongside portrayal of wars,a reason why GPSK could strike a chord with the normal front-benchers and fans of Balayya.The second and final war sequences added with interval punch were shot exceptionally well and the best fraction of the movie that's well-trimmed by Suraj Jagtap and Rama Krishna Arram at around 135 minutes.

Yet another towering performance by Balayya stamped his authority in portraying historical figures with required grandeur on silver screen.The 56-old veteran actor was at his best shooting fiery one-liners,something that he's well-known for among his die-hard fans.Age doesn't seem to have brought any low in the dedication of NBK who manged to portray the war sequence with required zeal as demanded by the screenplay.Shriya Saran as the better half of Satakarni gave a notable performance which will be counted among her best performance s in recent years.Hema Malini too did her part well as Gautami Balashri.Kannada superstar Hattrick Hero Shivaraj Kumar appeared during a stage play sequence and won the hearts with his touching performance.

On the negative side,the CGI part during the initial war sequence was bit on the lower side,but luckily made up in the course of the narration.Also,the second half could have been polished better to increase the pace of the movie.

Cinematography by Gnanasekhar was top-notch and he succeeded in capturing the details exceptionally well ,boosting the impact of war sequences in particular.Music by Bollywood composer Chirantan Bhatt who earlier collaborated with Krish for Gabbar Is Back and Kaanchi was good with the pick among the songs being the duet 'Mruga Nayanaa' sung by legend SPB and Shreya Ghoshal.The Background Score was even better and perfect for a movie of such genre.

Overall,Gautamiputra Satakarni is a pretty well-executed war drama that's sure to win the hearts of Telugu audience.

The story of the film is based on Gautamiputra Satakarni(Balakrishna), one of the most powerful kings who belonged to the Satavahana dynasty in India. Even though there are many stories about how he ruled India, Krish showcases how he went on to win two crucial kingdoms ruled by Indian kings and also defeated the mighty Greeks who invaded India during the good old ancient days.

There is no doubt in saying that no one other than Nandamuri Balakrishna would have suited Satakarni's role as the star hero did. Right from Balayya's screen presence to his poise as the striking emperor, everything looks top notch. He looks regal as Satakarni and works extremely hard in all the war scenes. Balayya's dialogue delivery is in top form during war scenes and will surely bring goosebumps to fans all over. Shreya is the surprise package of the film as she gives her career best performance as Vasistha Devi. Shreya looks gorgeous as the princess and emotes supremely well throughout the film. The interval bang and the war scenes that come during the last part of the first half are very good. Hema Malini plays her supporting role to the T and brings a dignity to the film.

Credit should go to Krish for bringing life into the story of an unsung king and narrating it in a hard hitting way. Production values are top notch as Krish amazes everyone by opting for less CG and keeping things real. His story is very powerful and he as a director does not vary much in his narration.

This film riding high on the "Telugu self respect" wave has hardly anything about the Telugu culture. Supposedly a magnum opus by Krish, known for his hard hitting films, this film wanes when it comes to the trademark of Krish. I was totally disappointed when stellar actors like 'Subhalekha' Sudhakar and Tanikella Bharani reduced to seconds and minutes respectively. Actresses Shriya and Hema Malini too don't have much scope to display their acting prowess. But the biggest positive is how well Balayya acts departing from his much stereotyped roles. He delivers the well written dialogues with elan. Balayya is the sole reason this film causes the viewer to sit. 'Sirivennela' Sitarama Sastry's lyrics are poetic and thought provoking. But Chirantan Bhatt's music is too loud and the lyrical beauty is lost in 2-3 songs. The background music is loud and unending. The fight scenes are laughably choreographed. The director included four battles resulting in shallow character sketches.

Why should you watch this film ? - Balayya's acting prowess - The beauty of Telugu which is seemingly waning in this age - This film is a breather in an industry ridden with routine themes and genres

Disappointments: - Not much of Telugu culture - Deplorable background music - Shallow character sketches - Hastily made film ending in poor graphics - Laughable stunts and fights

Verdict: One can't constrict books of history into a 2hr 30 min film. A tight schedule and budget with a story of this sort renders the product ugly. Endpoint: I spent my money on this and got its value rather than the routine and boring crap churned out day by day.

Do not miss this movie, it is a great experience indeed.I went with pretty low expectations, but to my amazement the movie is nothing like the regular balayya movies. In fact it is much better than Bahubali. The visuals were amazing and the story just breezes through. There was not a single moment of boredom. For a change the critics are right about this one. The war scenes were breath taking. They reminded me of many recent Hollywood movies.I am still surprised how the directory was able to pull this through in such a short time span. One would expect poor VFX etc. But man this was just not like that. Go for it without any hesitations.

Making a film on a historical figure is not a joke, and with GAUTAMIPUTRA SATKARNI it becomes fairly evident that you need more than just sincere intent to pull off a film of this calibre. The atrocious writing of this film turns it into just a typical mass hero worshipping action flick which happens to be set in a historical period. This film is said to be based on the namesake king, but the story is essentially a series of long-drawn war sequences with a little bit of dialogues in between, and I am pretty sure that a king is much more than just his military conquests. The story is very predictable, and despite the film being a series of war sequences, none of those register. All the action sequences are terribly shot and poorly choreographed. The war scene lacks any strategy, and is just shown as people running towards each other with their weapons, and the overall vibe is just really bad. The poor war sequences of this film reminded me of another film directed by Krish named KANCHE which suffered from a similar problem.

Overall, I am not a fan of Krish and this film further reinforces this fact.