Ravikanth Perepu’s Kshanam (2016) Movie Review
Kshanam Movie Review
Crew:
Directed by Ravikanth Perepu, Music By Sri Charan Pakala, Story by Sesh Adivi, Screenplay by Ravikanth Perepu, Cinematography by Shaneil Deo Editor Arjun Shastri & Ravikanth Perepu and Produced by Param V Potluri, Kavin Anne.
Cast: Adivi Sesh, Adah Sharma, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Satyadev, Vennela Kishore, Satyam Rajesh and Ravi Varma
Censor Certificate: UA and Runtime: 120 Minutes
An associate from investment firm is interrupted by a call from Ex Girl Friend Swetha (Adah Sharma), whose 4 year old daughter, Riya (Child Actor), is missing from past two months. Disordered links and reminders of Rishi’s past conversations with Swetha are his fragile hopes. With his help, Swetha extends her reach and combs every corner of Hyderabad. But all leads go cold – there is no Riya in the CCTV important footage, No one recalls Riya, there is no proper pics of Riya, Someone comes with evidence saying Riya as her daughter and even Police officials have no evidence of Riya. When it seems like Riya’s disappearance might be biggest cover up, Rishi pokes his nose around in dangerous Negro places, angering the Bobby (Ravi Varma), Karthik (Satya) and their associates, who are trying desperately to keep some secrets hidden. Is Swetha able to find Riya? Is she, through Rishi, able to get to Riya safely? What had happened to her? Why is Kala helping Rishi? What is the involvement of the Africans in this whole case? The rest of the drama answers these questions.
Frankly speaking an artist always knows his fortes and the work he is best at. As we see it, Adivi Sesh who is trying to make his mettle with his histrionics, is good in his character. His dialogue modulation is improved a lot and he dominated in acting department. Adah Sharma is pretty looking in few acts. Lead pair should seriously work on their emotional sequences. Satyam Rajesh has wonderful quality of getting into his scenes. Ravi Varma and Vennela Kishore are apt in their respective roles as a sadist brother and car dealer. Anasuya Bharadwaj impresses with her looks, but over acted in few important sequences in the end.
Beginning of Ravikanth Perepu’s Kshanam has everything going in a cool friendly manner in its first 30 minutes offering a simple point, interesting twist and blend of love. The narration keeps progressing promisingly but there is neither any major story developments nor any exciting enjoyable moments until we are shown the investigation facts regarding Riya’s case just before the intermission. Here another strange point to be mentioned is that the film reaches it midpoint even before the completion of one hour which makes you feel quite odd checking your watches and phones.
Post Intermission, it fast gets into the mold of an investigation, emotional and ambitious story of Ex-boyfriend caught in the situational web of love and her daughter. Now at this particular point, when one gets to know that it’s all heading towards those tense moments interestingly, it becomes pretty obvious that you start expecting an explosive never before kind of climax with something novel or path breaking. But sadly nothing of that sort happens on the screen and the film end on a thoughtful note showcasing some emotional moments of the past without any hard hitting sequences or a powerful punch. Director even failed to explain few interesting points in the film like, Riya forgetting her mother post kidnapping attempt, there is no proper explanation given to the first two Negro murders and Khanna’s murder in hotel room.
Hence in totally Kshanam is a fine attempt by the debutante Ravikanth Perepu giving you something never offered before in Telugu cinema. Yes, he majorly follows the original Bunny Lake Is Missing, Gone Baby Gone and Ugly route till the added climax, yet the way he conceives his second hour in particular surely deserves appreciation both from the cine-goers as well as by the audience unarguably. The project once again proves the well-known fact that cinema is actually storytelling and if you have a decent plot in store for your viewers then you surely got a winner in your hands. In the musical department, it has good songs but not any instant hits. “Chelia” and “Kshanam” songs stand out from the rest. BGM by Sri Charan Pakala score much more than soundtrack itself as it’s highly impressive in the sequences revealing the shocking twists. Cinematography Shaneil Deo is fine capturing basic essence of the subject ad dialogues are just average with nothing path breaking. The editors could have trimmed movie by 10 minutes to make it more sharper in the second half. Production Values of PVP Cinemas are apt.
Many times there are instances when we receive a very attractive and elegant designed ads, informing us about a new lavish restaurant/discounts in our locality with some luring offers. We opt for it and really impressed with the ambiance and decoration with many well-chosen shores and great music playing in the background along with a pleasant staff. But after a while when we are finished with our food, we don’t feel like having served with something exceptional or out of the world. The taste is just same as usual and food fails to rise above the routine, which doesn’t allow us to say that it was an entertaining evening well enjoyed. Something similar happened with Kshanam, which definitely rises above its capacity in the technical and visual aspects with some impressive sequences post intermission. But despite of so many positive features in its making the film fails to hold you convincingly in two hours of its duration and thus it cannot be rated more than an above average venture.
Survi Review: 2.5/5 (0.25 more for Satyam Rajesh’s Characterization – 2.75)
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