Shambho Shankara was apparently a dream-come-true for Shakalaka Shankar: his dream to be a hero. Alas, he should have dreamt of being an actor instead of a hero, thus reliving us from the onanism that the film was. It would have saved the time, energy and money of the makers as well as the audience.

Cast: Shakalaka Shankar, Kaunya Chowdary, Ajay Ghosh
Director: N Sreedhar

Shankara is a village bum who lives with his family and does all the good that he can for his fellow villagers in Ankalamma Palle. He butts heads with the President (Ajay Ghosh) who is corrupt and textbook evil. Shankara enters into the physical examination to become a policeman and is rejected despite coming first in the test. Then, after a series of crimes, an arrest, a seemingly illegal release and many monologues, Shankara gains the SP’s favour and gets 'special powers' to lead the village to betterment. How he eradicates the crimes in the village and finds the root cause is the rest of the convoluted story.

One hour into the film, you find yourself still baffled by the proceedings. And after that you just give up trying. Every scene has a mind of its own. As  for the narrative.. What narrative? Looks like the makers listed a bunch of outdated cinematic situations – all of which are only meant to show off the many shades of Shankar – and threw them together as a film. It’s merely a showreel for Shankar and nothing else.

Shakalaka Shankar takes himself too seriously in this film. He would have done much better if he took the job seriously instead. 

There isn’t much on the technical front to even mention. Everyone tries. That’s about it.

If you are someone who enjoys the typical Telugu serials – the melodrama, the tediously heavy dialogue, the unnecessary hype and the tired storytelling – this one might be right up your alley. Otherwise, give this one a hard pass.