PEN Studios’ Chatrapathi (UA) is the story of good versus evil.
Shiva is separated from his step-mother (Bhagyashree) and younger step-brother, Ashok, in childhood. Since Shiva was not the biological son of his mother, Ashok resented the love and affection showered by her on Shiva. In fact, Ashok had lied to his mother about Shiva being dead while the entire basti in which they lived was set on fire. Years pass by. Shiva (Bellamkonda Sreenivas) is now a strapping young man who is ever ready to help people in need. On the other hand, Ashok (Karan Singh Chhabra) grows up with the same negativity towards Shiva. All along, Shiva doesn’t give up hope that he will be united with his mother one day.
Shiva fights the local dons, becomes the leader of his town and promises to free the people of all the atrocities perpetrated on them. But he still has brother Ashok to contend with. He also has his sworn enemy, Bhawani Prasad (Sharad Kelkar), to fight. It may be mentioned here that Shiva had eliminated Bhawani Prasad’s brother, Bhairav Solanki (Freddy Daruwala), because of which Bhawani Prasad is baying for Shiva’s blood.
The film is a remake of S.S. Rajamouli’s Telugu hit (2005) of the same name. V. Vijayendra Prasad’s story is dated and predictable. A. Mahadev’s screenplay is full of clichéd scenes. The good versus evil drama is so hackneyed that one can guess scenes and sequences well in advance. The unfortunate part is that in spite of a gap of 17-18 years between the original and the remake, the screenplay writer has not cared to upgrade the drama. While the romantic track is weak, the emotions absolutely fail to touch the heart. Comedy is missing. Action is the only aspect taken care of, but that makes the drama lopsided. In other words, the screenplay is so terribly weak that the audience fails to get involved in the drama. Mayur Puri’s dialogues are routine and not at all clapworthy.
Bellamkonda Sreenivas is a poor actor. In the role of Shiva, his expressions are wooden. He also dances awkwardly. However, his action and stunt scenes are impactful. Nushrat Bharucha ia alright in a brief role as Sapna. Karan Singh Chhabra is earnest in the role of Ashok. Sharad Kelkar does well as Bhawani Prasad. Bhagyashree lends fair support as Shiva and Ashok’s mother. Amith Nair is quite menacing as Kathiya Jamaal. Freddy Daruwala is adequate as Bhairav Solanki. Rajendra Gupta has his moments in a clichéd role as Raghu Kaka. Rajesh Sharma evokes a bit of laughter as Kantilal. Sahil Vaid has his moments as Sikandar alias Sikku. Jason D’Souza (as Gappu) leaves a mark. Shivam Patil, Swapnil, Ashish Singh, Adi Irani, Mohammad Monajir, Auroshika Dey (as Gappu’s blind mother), Vedika Nawani (as Laxmi) and the others provide fair support.
V.V. Vinayak’s direction, like the subject, is dated. His narration concentrates mainly on action, leaving aspects like emotions, comedy and romance in the sidelines. Tanishk Bagchi’s music is very ordinary. Mayur Puri’s lyrics are routine. Song picturisations (Ganesh Acharya, Imran Sardhariya and Piyush-Shazia) are eye-filling but lack novelty or imagination. Ravi Basrur’s background music is effective. Cinematography (by Nizar Shafi) is good. Action and stunt scenes (by Anl Arasu, Ram-Lakshman, Chethan D’Souza, Moses Fernandez, Ram Sunkara and Joshua) are thrilling and exciting. Art direction (Seenu V. and Gandhi Nadikudikar) and production designing (Sunil Babu) are appropriate. Niranjan Devarmane’s editing is loose.
On the whole, Chatrapathi is too ordinary and too dated (in terms of drama) to make any impact at the ticket windows. Flop.
Released on 12-5-’23 at Inox (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.