Gautamiputra Satakarni review,GPSK movie review

Gautamiputra Satakarni telugu movie review

Balakrishna took a calculated decision when he selected Krish to helm his prestigious 100th film. When he is offered a bunch of scripts for the landmark flick, Balakrishna choose Gautamiputra Satakarni, the story which has good prominence in Indian history but has been neglected by the people over the years. Both Krish and Balakrishna are confident that the retelling of a historical subject in a commercial format will appeal to audience.

Based on the greatest ruler of Satavahana kingdom, Gautamiputra Satakarni boasts an ensemble cast in the form of Balakrishna, Shriya Saran, Hema Malini and few others. Made on a limited budget in a short span of time, the film is predominantly shot in Morrocco and Georgia. The striking posters and the stunning trailer have generated huge expectations on the film. Chirantan Bhatt composed the tunes and First Frame Entertainment banner has produced the film.  Let’s us See if Gautamiputra Satakarni meets the expectations or not.

Story:

Satakarni , the ruler from satavahana dynasty , has an ideology of “One boundary, One Sovereignty ”. He envisages such ideology not to crush others for power, but after he gets vexed seeing the wars within smaller kingdoms of Bharata Khandam.

He goes on to conquer all kingdoms one by one, gives them back to the same rulers under his administration, expands his kingdom from Deccan to Northern Magadha. Satakarni wins over Marathas ( defeating them in Kalyandurg) to all the way till Greek King Demetrius (Kabir Bedi).

In a parallel, the story also highlights why Satakarni was named after his mother Gautami Balasri( Hemamalini), called as “ Gautamiputra Satakarni”. Satakarni’s wife Vasisti ( Shriya saran) is concerned about her husband’s life as he participates in the battles quite often. The family conflict runs between Satakarni, his mother and his wife is epitome of dynastic families.

Movie ends with Satakarni conquering Greeks in a bloody battle.

Lead Actors:

Balakrishna : Gautamiputra Satakarni is Balakrishna’s one man show on screen. While Balayya’s forte his Dialogue delivery helped him to don the role of Satakarni with ease, he should have taken more care with his appearance. He looked old in some scenes

Hemamalini : As Rajamatha Gautami, she is royal and bought much required dignity to the role.

Shriya Saran : This ageless beauty is a good fit for the role of Maharani Vasisti. As a wife, she opposes aggressive Satakarni who even dares to take their little kid to battle fields. In such conflict she showed her acting prowess.

Kabir Bedi : As Greek king Demetrius , he is good with his 6. feet personality

Analysis :

Gautamiputra Satakarni First half is Good with fast paced screenplay and well executed war episodes. In the second half , scenes between Balakrishna , Hemamalini , Shirya are good with emotion. The Rajasooya yaagam preparations, Satakarni converting his name to “Gautamiputra Satakarni” , Satakarni elevating Mother , Satakarni about Telugu pride etc. scenes came out well.

As the climax drags to more than required length, it has shown some negative impact on whole second half. Dialogues, written by Burra Saimadhav, are very effective throughout the movie.  Sai’s pen delivered powerful and yet meaningful dialogues in recent times .

• “Tandri ni minchina koduku untadu gani, Talli ni minchina Koduku untada ? “
• “Samayam ledhu Mitrama ! Saranama , Ranama ? “

Given the limited budget, Output Director Krish has delivered is appreciable.

Positives:
1) The motto of Satakarani’s “One Boundary, One sovereignty” has been narrated well
2) Balayya’s superb dialogues
3) A good first half
4) Scenes elevating Telugu pride
5) Scene highlighting Mothers, praise on women

Negatives:

1) Excessive war episodes
2) Balayya’s visible age
3) Less story

Technical Details:

Chirantan Bhatt’s background score should have been better. Except in couple of scenes he could not show impact. Gnana Shekar’s cinematography is the best technical department in the movie. The art department is adequate for this moderate budget movies. Ace Hindi designer Neeta Lulla’s costume designing is very good. Editing by Suraj & Ramakrishna in couple of war episodes is bad.In first half , in one of the war scenes, some shots are repeated three times.

Verdict :

Director Krish has picked a very good story that was never told before and did justice within the limitations.Being Telugus , knowing the less known great warrior Gautamiputra Satakarni’s history , is a break from routine movies. Nandamuri Balakrishna with his superb dialogue diction, Sai Madhav’s dialogues and Krish’s direction are the strengths of this movie. Despite excusable flaws, Gautamiputra Satakarni is a good watchable movie for this Sankranthi season.

Telugu360 Rating : 3/5

Release Date : January 12, 2017
Director: Krish
Music: Chirantan Bhatt
Cinematographer: Gnanashekhar
Producers: Y Rajiv Reddy, Jagarlamudi Saibabu
Casting: Balakrishna, Hema Malini, Shriya Saran, Kabeer Bedi and others.