Savyasachi gets into the groove somewhere midway when it gets into thriller mode. The portions leading up to that, oh well, we’ll discuss that later. Imagine a situation where someone finds his world turn upside down, as though an unseen force tried to wipe something away from the face of earth. Everything looks bleak and it’s heartbreaking. Slowly, the mind that’s mourning over the turn of events begins to understand the presence of a sinister force. He sets out to unravel the mystery.
Naga Chaitanya as Vikram Aditya finds himself in this situation. It’s the actor’s second outing with director Chandoo Mondeti (after Premam ) and the idea of Savyasachi is interesting. Vikram Aditya is both Vikram and Aditya rolled into one. He’s ambidextrous and that capability is attributed to the vanishing twin syndrome. Medical science describes this phenomenon as a possibility of a twin disappearing in the uterus during pregnancy, due to various reasons, and the foetal tissue being absorbed (in this story) by the other twin. Vikram has a few cerebral remains of Aditya within him and the latter’s neurons extend all through his left hand, giving it additional power.
- Cast: Naga Chaitanya, R Madhavan, Nidhi Agerwal
- Direction: Chandoo Mondeti
This protagonist with enhanced powers has to take on a mighty opponent who’s some sort of a twisted genius. Had this antagonist (essayed by R Madhavan) used his intellect well, he could have been pathbreaking in any field. What we see is a man who’s extremely vindictive and vengeful. Without giving much away, sample this — we learn that he made an arty film that was rated zero by a reviewer. He hasn’t forgiven the reviewer, to the extent of having him on his hit list. (I’m just glad we don’t give ratings!) An early scene in the film holds clues of what will unfold later.
Had the focus remained on the battle between the protagonist and the antagonist, we might have had a cracker of a film. But Savyasachi throws it away by trying to serve a mix of action, romance, comedy, family bonding and psychological drama and not doing several of these aspects well. The romance between Vikram Aditya and Chitra (Nidhi Agerwal) doesn’t have the spark. Even the several hat tips to Nagarjuna’s early hits and songs reminiscent of the 80s don’t help. Barring a few scenes, the comedy too doesn’t measure up. An entire college skit inspired by Mahabharata is yawn-inducing despite a clutch of comic actors. And some of these jokes are in poor taste. What’s worse is this skit coming just when you’re warming up to a crucial tug of war, the Padmavyuham phase in the story.
The best portions unfold between Naga Chaitanya and Madhavan. But the collateral damage of the diluted narrative is that their characters aren’t explored to their full potential. Madhavan impresses in his limited portions and tries to rise above the sketchy character. Naga Chaitanya is all earnestness, yet again, and is fun to watch where he’s at a loss to explain the embarrassing behaviour of his left hand (the mother aptly calls it the Vikram-Betaal syndrome). Vennela Kishore and Vidyu Raman manage to elicit a few laughs, though it’s high time Vidyu isn’t poked fun at for her heavy frame. Thagubothu Ramesh is cast in a sober and wise role, for a change. Bhoomika is wasted. Keeravani’s music, cinematography by Yuvaraj, art direction and action choreography add some sheen to the film.
An ambidextrous hero against a psychopath might have seemed good on paper, before a whole lot of lame gags got thrown in.
