Panchatantram Review: A heartwarming tale of many tales that will impress you

Hyderabad: 'Panchatantram', directed by SriHarsha Pulipaka and starring Brahmanandam, Naresh Agastya, Swathi Reddy, Divya Sripada, Sivatmika, and Rahul Vijay, hit the screens on 9 November. Here's our review:

Story:

The story starts with a retired All India Radio announcer Veda Vyas (Brahmanandam) deciding to participate in a storytelling competition. His daughter Roshini (Swathi Reddy) discourages him, saying that the generation has changed and he can't impress youngsters. However, ignoring her words, Vyas enrolls in the competition and picks out five senses as his theme to narrate five different stories. Those five stories and how they convey life lessons form the crux of the film.

Performances and technical aspects:

Brahmanandam is a treat to watch and gets into the skin of his character with ease. The remaining cast is also impressive and gives their best. Samuthirakani, Swathi Reddy, Divya Sripada, Shivathmika, Uttej, Vikas Muppala, and Swathi have meaty roles and walk away with all the applause.

Coming to the technical aspects, the dialogues work out but the editing is average. However, the different storylines have been woven nicely into the good screenplay. The production values are splendid and the music is impressive. Coming to the director, he has proven that he has ample talent and this is clearly visible in the film. The stories are simple, but it's the dialogue that catch your attention. He has also succeeded in extracting the best performances from his actors.

Analysis :

A perfect cast who gets into the skin of their characters is undoubtedly a major plus point for the film. Some of the scenes and emotions have been handled in a mature way. The dialogues are the biggest asset. The film portrays human emotions convincingly and has a strong and gripping narrative. As the director shifts seamlessly from one story to another, he creates just enough excitement to keep his viewers engaged.

But the main problem with the whole scheme of things is that only three stories appear engaging and emotional in the film. I personally liked Shivathmika, Swathi Reddy, and Divya Sripada's stories. The director should have narrated the remaining two stories in a compact way as the pace is pretty slow. There is no sustained emotion in the other two stories to engage the viewers.

The director tried his best to establish each of these sub-stories, but he seems to have forgotten the pace of the narration, and there are loopholes.

Verdict :

Doing an anthology film is not easy. Considering this fact, the director has done a good job. The film has decent performances and good dialogue. In fact, the dialogues help the director elevate several scenes in both halves. The film will surely appeal to the urban audience who like anthologies. However, it will be hard for the general mass audience to embrace it even with good word of mouth.