Just when the South Indian Regional language cinema had gained a new set of audience in the North, comes a poorly written mega venture featuring Prabhas and Pooja Hegde in the lead disappointing the excited audience.
Narrated by Amitabh Bachchan and set in the 1970s as a period love story, Radhe Shyam had an interesting premise proving the accuracy of palmistry/astrology and its predictions made by a renowned palmist (Prabhat). But the writing neither brings forward the premise in any believable manner, nor the story progression keeps you involved, resulting in a lacklustre venture.
Made on a massive scale, the film’s biggest drawback remains its highly glossy, fairytale look, overemphasising on VFX and all unreal backgrounds. Besides, the script never finds any grip upon the audience, including a climax that goes overboard both in its on-screen presentation and story development.
It begins on an exciting note when Prabhas is invited by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi and he predicts she will soon announce an emergency in the country, bringing her downfall. The sequence makes you expect something extraordinary coming ahead, but the writing miserably fails during the rest of the film and the direction doesn’t give you anything worth mentioning, except the sequences dealing with Prabhas’s next prediction about Pooja’s life.
Among the merits, Radhe Shyam has an exciting premise, couple of above-average songs and a stunning Pooja, who forces you to keep on watching, even when there isn’t any likable chemistry between the lead couple. Prabhas largely relies upon the powerful screen presence and his dialogue delivery seems to be uncomfortable playing a role without any action.
As per its theme, Radhe Shyam tries to prove the point that no science or study of any kind is perfect or absolute (with Karma playing its role), especially the science behind palmistry and astrology. But the script fails to present that with conviction, further ruining it all with a weird ending, making it worse.
Overall, this is a long, tiring film of 140 minutes that doesn’t deliver as per the hype created. Having everything at its disposal be it budget, an exceptional technical team, and the cast, Radhe Shyam directed by Radha Krishna Kumar (a similar name to its title) had to be a lot better than what has been served as an eternal love story to the viewers.
Rating : 2 / 5
(Released in theaters)
