A.L.Vijay’s Shiva Thandavam (2012) Movie Review

Cast: Vikram, Jagapati Babu, Anushka Shetty, Amy Jackson, Santhanam, Lakshmi Rai
Director: A.L.Vijay
Music: G.V. Prakash
Cinematography: Nirav Shah
Editing: Anthony
Censor Certificate: U
Watched at Prasadz , Hyderabad

After critically acclaimed “Nanna” and disastrous “Veedinthe” actor Vikram is back with “Shiva Thandavam”. The movie, an action thriller with a slight revenge drama will showcase Vikram in dual image, one with echolocation ability, while the other is a cop. Tamil version ‘Thandavam’ has hit theaters a week before the Telugu version and received moderate reviews. This film is directed by A L Vijay. C Kalyan is the Producer along with UTV Motion Pictures. G V Prakash Kumar’s Music received mediocre response from the audience.

Story: Shiva (Vikram) a top notch RAW officer has no ideas of marriage and an ideal life until his huge Tamil village family forces him into a marriage with career woman Menakshi (Anushka). All hell breaks loose when Shiva takes over an important assignment over from his now injured best friend Sharath (Jagapathi Babu). Where the story leads Shiva’s life, the misfortunes he has to face and how he gets out of it to extract revenge form the rest of the story.

Performances: Vikram did extremely well in his character. His expressions and dialogues delivery is too good. Anushka Shetty is limited did well in emotional scenes. Chemistry between Vikram – Anushka is simply superb. Jagapathy Babu justified his role. Amy Jackson is alright and Lakshmi Rai is good in their roles. Santhanam is fine provided some entertainment value.

Technicalities: The screenplay and direction of the film is pretty routine. However, the director handled the some scenes well. Like,

–> Using Human Echolocation technique

–> Anushka-Vikram scenes

Music by G V Prakash Kumar is pretty average. Esp ‘Oka Vaipu’ song is good in the film. BGM is not upto the mark. Dialogues are casual. Nirav shah’s cinematography is neat. Antony’s editing could have been crispier. Action sequences by Manohar Varma are skillful.

Survi Verdict: Action Thriller films can be fun ride. Action films that bring humanist themes can be even better. But attempting to create an action thriller with deep meaning can be foxy, fear the film become overloaded with ponderosity and wackiness. It is here that Shiva Thandavam bumbles a bit, to the eventual detriment of the film.

Survi Review: 2/5

Theatrical Trailer: