Bharateeyudu 2 Review: Shankar falters!

Bharateeyudu 2

What’s it about?

India has made significant progress. Corruption in the system has increased in tandem with its development. Senapathy, a freedom fighter, attempted to instill fear in corrupt officials and politicians in the 1990s. Still, the situation has deteriorated further. Chitra Aravind (Siddharth), who runs the ‘Barking Dogs’ YouTube channel, believes that Senapathy should return to instill fear among the corrupt.

When Aravind and his friends launch a social media campaign with the hashtag #ComebackIndian, Senapathy, who is currently teaching in Taipai, becomes aware and decides to return to India. He promises to meet Chitra Aravind, but first he goes on a mission to eliminate the powerful businessmen who are at the root of today’s corruption. How will Senapathy’s new mission progress, and will Aravind remain as enthusiastic as he was at the beginning?

Analysis

“Bharateeyudu 2” is a sequel to the film “Bharateeyudu” which was released nearly 28 years ago. In this sequel, Kamal Haasan reprises his role as Senapathy, a freedom fighter who battles corruption. The 1996 film became an iconic blockbuster. Despite 75 years of Indian independence, corruption persists. Senapathy is now a 106-year-old man who is physically fit thanks to his zen lifestyle and marma kala, and he had to return to root out corruption. This sequel’s plot is very similar to the original, in terms of arc and overall goal.

Director Shankar, who also wrote the story and screenplay, has provided enough hints about three prominent businessmen whose names frequently make headlines for influencing the current government to benefit their businesses, but his approach is not bold and lucid. As a result, Senapathy’s fight in this installment appears to be more akin to that of a regular action hero than a vigilante hero. Thus, the three-hour-long film has a sense of déjà vu or repetition of Shankar’s early blockbusters. Despite its lofty goals and grand production values, “Bharateeyudu 2” fails to provide any freshness or introduce anything new.

The film commences by intriguingly highlighting the nefarious activities of various government officials, followed by a portrayal of a group of friends who operate YouTube channel – Barking Dogs – with the aim of exposing these corrupt practices. The events preceding this group of friends summoning Senapathy’s reappearance are quite intriguing.

Senapathy encourages young folks to embark on a mission to uncover the corrupt individuals within their own families. The scenes related youngsters utilizing their mobile phones and social media platforms to carry out this task are narrated in a captivating manner. However, when it comes to Senapathy’s primary objective, his vigilant action is a chaotic and unexciting experience.

The film gradually loses its grip after the initial hour. Essentially, the main character’s objective lacks originality, and the overall storytelling fails to captivate us. Therefore, it becomes

Kamal Haasan, the great actor celebrated for his exceptional performances, embodies the character of Senapathy with unwavering intensity and fervor, even though his presence on screen is limited. The performance meets his typical standard, but the prosthetic make-up lacks finesse according to modern standards. The efficacy of his characterisation is not substantial.

Siddharth performs his role with conviction. The actor’s performance is particularly notable in two scenes: one where he interacts with his father (played by Samuthirakani), and another with his mother. It is disheartening to observe Rakul Preet Singh being regarded merely as one among many actors, without any notable presence. Priya Bhavani Shankar and the rest of the actors do not contribute any substantial significance to the narrative. Bobby Simha’s portrayal of a CBI officer is satisfactory.

As expected, Shankar, renowned as the quintessential showman of South Indian cinema, imbues each frame of the film with richness and grandeur. However, he fails to extract good songs. Anirudh Ravichander, India’s current number one music director, doesn’t come up with catchy numbers. Another significant drawback is the editing. Screenplay writing lacks a contemporary feel.

Bottom line: “Bharateeyudu 2” boasts a lavish production values, but the story and narration are uninteresting and out of sync with contemporary style. It doesn’t contribute anything new to the vigilante genre. Shankar falters here. Splitting the story and pushing major episodes to “Bharateeyudu 3” appears to have rendered this completely uninteresting.

Rating: 2.25/5

Film: Bharateeyudu 2  
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Kajal Aggarwal, Siddharth, Rakul Preet Singh, Bobby Simha, Brahmanandam, and others
Dialogue: Hanuman Choudary
Story: Shankar
Screenplay: Shankar, B.Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu, Lakshmi Saravana Kumar
Music: Anirudh Ravichander
Editing: A. Sreekar Prasad
DOP: Ravi Varman
Art: Muthuraj
VFX Supervision: V Srinivasa Mohan
Stunt Choreography: Anal Arasu
Produced by: Subaskaran
Written and directed by: S Shankar
Release Date: July 12, 2024

 

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