Sahasam Review

Behind the Movie Sahasam: Combo of Chandrasekhar Yeleti and Gopichand is important in its own way. With a high budget invested on an action adventurous flick with Pakistan backdrop, let us see what is this all about?

In the Movie Sahasam: Story begins with Pakistan terrorist Sultan (Shakti Kapoor) and his team of archaeologists searching for a hidden treasure of King Kanishka in and around Pakistan. In India, there is a poverty stricken life of ATM Security Guard Gautham Varma (Gopichand). Instead of believing in hard work, Gautham believes in luck factor to become rich overnight by buying lottery tickets and lucky gems, stones. On an unfortunate rainy day when dishonored during the performance of duty, Gautham finds an old bag falling from the house roof which has an ancient scripture written by his grand father who is also a Diamond merchant in Pakistan during the partition of India Sathyanarayana Varma (Suman), directing towards the hidden treasure in Pakistan.  

Now, the thrill of chase by Gautham for his grand father’s property is linked to Kanishka’s treasure. How did Gautham reach Peshawar with the help of strong Hindu advocate Sree Nidhi (Tapsee) where the exact place of Hinglaj Devi Temple is the starting clue for treasure hunt? How Sultan became a hurdle for Gautham in the entire process? Did Gautham finally win his ancestral diamonds? All these form rest.

Values of the Movie Sahasam: Like all the adventurous treasure hunt movies fall flat in providing enough commercial ingredients, ‘Sahasam’ too is not an exception. In fact, screenplay and making demanded more from the standards of Yeleti. Flat and straight narration without a single peak in cinema graph tended to add enough of boredom. Writing by KK Radha Krishna Kumar was frail. The logical intelligence we expect from Yeleti was completely missing. He took too many liberties unbelievably. Next, Sham Dutt’s cinematography was top notch catching the badland topography of Ladakh. All the scenes inside Hingla Devi Temple in second half were shot brilliantly. Kotagiri’s editing was sub standard relative to the output of other departments. Sri’s background score was captivating to elevate the mood and flavor. Then come, art department and graphics to win a100 per cent perfect score. In fact, work of these departments kept movie alive in second half. Production values of Reliance and BVSN Prasad are highly appreciable. 

Performance wise, Gopichand well suited for the role. His body language and frustration as a dejected youth fighting hard to become rich was a better work than that of action and adventure involved in later part of movie. His chemistry with Tapsee hasn’t ripened to the needed level. Truly speaking, Tapsee has nothing great to do here. Later on Shakti Kapoor is a bad selection for Sultan’s character. Cruelty needed to summon this character was missing. There was no lip sync in dialogues spelled by Shakti. Then Ali as Qayamat Raja sprinkled some laughter. Rest of the casting is insignificant.  

Out of the Movie Sahasam: Given the technical standards and superior concepts handled by Yeleti in past, this is a drooping project. Internally, there was no emotional connectivity with in the concept selected. One needs to be grateful towards Yeleti for showing the finesse in dealing with intricate clues leading step by step towards the treasure by crossing level by level. Even for those who have watched ‘Tomb Raider’ kind of films, ‘Sahasam’ will appeal in one or two episodes in the process of real chase for treasure.

First half has few humorous portions. As there are no twists and turns to shock, interval block ends pale. Then, second half is quite serious traversing through one hour plus mechanically. For average Telugu viewers who find entertainment as the ultimate goal of movie watching, ‘Sahasam’ may not be your cup of tea. Narration dips down to dead slow at times and the technical expertise some times lifted the pace automatically. Finally, missing of entertainment and edge of the seat moments shall impede the commercial output of film at Box Office. In B & C centers, run of ‘Sahasam’ is completely doubtful but for A and Metros, we have to wait and see.

Cinejosh Verdict: A Bit of ‘Sahasam’ and a Bit of ‘Neerasam’

                                                   Cinejosh Rating: 2.75/5

                                                                                            Reviewed by Srivaas