Acharya Review

What's Behind

Mega Star Chiranjeevi's Acharya is releasing on April 29, 2022 in a spectacular manner across the world. The film is generating immense hype as Chiranjeevi is coming to entertain movie lovers after a gap of more than two years and he is sharing screen presence with his son Mega Power Star Ram Charan in a full-length role for the first time. The film directed by Koratala Shiva is increasing curiosity among all. Let us find out what Acharya offered to movie lovers.

Story Review

Acharya (Chiranjeevi) gets disappointed when he sees the temple town of Dharmasthali a contrast to what he heard of. He quickly finds the core problem as nefarious plans are on to separate Dharmasthali from the tribals of Paadaghattam. Where this leads to and what is the connection to it with the town's municipal chairman Basava (Sonu Sood), influential business magnate Rathod (Jisshu Sen Gupta), and the dream of Siddha (Ram Charan) and whether is love with Neelambari (Pooja Hegde) succeeds, becomes the crux of Acharya.

Artists, Technicians Review

The entire industry envied when Koratala Shiva got the lucky chance to direct Mega Star Chiranjeevi for which many aspire for decades. However, there is no denying the fact that Koratala was rewarded after he scored hits with his previous entertainers that are filled with a social message. Not only mega fans but also movie lovers expected wonders from Kortala and Mega Star Chiranjeevi and when Ram Charan became a part of it, their joy knew no bounds.

The Dharmasthali backdrop, temple setup, etc excited all and the proceedings start in a similar fashion. However routine elements enter and from there on it turned out to be a tedious watch. Even the entry of Chiranjeevi as Acharya did not liven up the proceedings and viewers wait patiently for something magical to happen as Chiranjeevi dances and fights with ease. The entry of Ram Charan brings life into the narration and the flashes of Ram Charan as Siddha bring curtains to the first half. When people expect a power-packed second half with Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan, the narration reaches a new nadir. The naxal backdrop and everything else turns tried and tested for a long as viewers have watched such scenes in many films earlier. With Koratala unable to elevate the narration with the twists and turns, monotony plays spoilsport with silly and illogical scenes like the comical fight featuring Ram Charan and Chiranjeevi. The film finally ends the relentless torture of the viewers with the mundane climax.

Koratala Shiva drew inspiration from many earlier films for Acharya and for all the hype everything turned artificial. Nothing breathed life into the story and even the stunts choreographed by Ram Lakshman failed to give goosebumps to the viewers and the dance movements choreographed for the songs by Prem Rakshit turned out to be repetitive. Dialogues looked pretty average and Koratala's reputation took a beating.

Chiranjeevi tried his best to do full justice to his role. He tried to bring life into his passive role with his mannerisms and expressions. For all his efforts, he could only stop the ship from sinking. He danced with ease and is a delight to watch be it the item song Saana Kashtam with Regina Cassandra or Banjara with his son Ram Charan. He did good stunts showing that he still has it in him to carry the film on his shoulders. But one gets a feeling that his judgment misfired this time.

Ram Charan with his performance increased the expectations of the proceedings among movie lovers. He performed well as a person who believes in dharma and even sacrifices his love to save dharma. He enacted action sequences along with his dad and danced well in a romantic manner with Pooja Hegde and delighted all the fans by sharing screen presence with his dad Chiranjeevi.

Pooja Hegde got a limited screen presence and she is confined to a romantic song and a scene. Others just passed through the motions. Sonu Sood got a typical villain role and he did what was expected from him. Nassar, Jisshu Sen Gupta, and Satyadev got limited roles while Tanikella Bharani and Ajay are not utilized properly. Regina Cassandra oozed with glamor in the special song. Mahesh Babu powered the film with his voice-over.

Tirru's cinematography is good and showed the Dharmasthali and Paadaghattam proceedings and also the Naxal backdrop quite well. The artwork of Suresh Selvarajan is good. However, at times, the sets looked artificial. Naveen Nooli's editing turned out to be average as he left many repetitive scenes which dragged the film's proceedings. Mani Sharma disappointed in no time as his background score turned out to be below average. Even the songs are pretty average and a couple of songs are talked about only for the dance movements of Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan. Production values are grand.

Advantages

Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan

Few stunts

Cinematography

A couple of songs

Disadvantages

Story, Screenplay, Direction

BGM

Dialogues

Artificial nature

Rating Analysis

Koratala Shiva's Acharya with Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan turned out to be a disappointing fare by all means. With missing elevations, emotions, and a completely outdated and routine story that lacked the real twists and turns, even fans found it a miserable watch. Considering all these aspects, CJ goes with a 2.25 rating for Acharya.