Shatamanam Bhavati Review

Remember, remember the Sankranthi of 2017 because it is not often that we get all the major releases for Sankranthi ringing the cash registers. Shatamanam Bhavati will join today. Let me get into the details.

Like many of you have guessed, this movie is about estranged aging parents left alone in India while their kids are all settled abroad. The movie starts off iffy, with some cliched scenes. But after the introduction of lead pair, the first half passes like a fresh breeze with Sharwa-Anupama(I will talk in detail about her later) on screen. Second half builds up to an emotional climax almost as in 90% almost on the lines of Bommarillu. But it works.

In short Shatmanam Bhavati is a template based family movie. Huge family, village back drop, festival season, differences between siblings and an emotional climax. Oh, totally forgot about the Kalyanam scene. Do not worry it is not like Brahmotsavam but very well picturized.

Music by Mickey and cinematography are the soul of this movie. Dialogues are good at places and cliched at few. Another major plus for this movie is Anupama. She looked like a ticking time bomb in A Aa and exploded, in a good way, in this movie. She uses her eyes to emote like a very seasoned actor. This girl surely will go places if she chooses the right scripts to showcase her talent. She looked gorgeous in casuals as well as village dressing. Watch out for the flashback song. Sharwa as usual cake walks through the role of a good Samaritan like he had already done in numerous movies. He changed his dialect very well to suit the role. Prakash Raj and Jayasudha enact the very similar roles they have enacted in numerous movies. Shiju and Indraja suited their roles well. Rest of the cast is all good except the younger brother. His was a very poorly written cliched role. The whole movie premise borders on becoming very melodramatic and impractical. But it is handled well after first 15 minutes.

Overall, Shatamanam Bhavati belongs to the genre most favorite to Telugu audience, Family movie and appropriate to this festival season. And the good news is that it delivers what it promised in a precisely calculated way. Watch it for subtle family emotional drama, music, visuals and Anupama.