Pantham Review: Made for the masses

Director Chakravarthy takes on corruption in our political system in this action entertainer, but he is unable to fully exploit the potential of the subject
Pantham Review: Made for the masses

Reeling under back-to-back duds, Gopichand returns delightfully with his 25th film, Pantham, an action entertainer laced with a social message. He plays Vikranth Surana, a likeable NRI millionaire committed to the cause of giving back to the people. In the process, he turns into a modern-day Robin Hood of sorts and robs from immoral politicians to fulfil his dream of having a corruption-free society. 

Direction: K Chakravarthy
Cast: Gopichand, Mehreen, Sampath Raj 

Incorporating a strong social message in an intrinsic way to inculcate awareness among people and create a better society is a tested formula for success. But one needs to adopt a gripping narrative. And though there is much to appreciate about the overarching theme of this film, the narration demands some patience on the part of the audience.

The film drills into some genuine issues and director Chakravarthy exposes the extent of corruption and graft involved in our political system. But he somehow misses the pulse and is unable to exploit the full potential of thesubject, leaving us with a film that has a stage-play feel to it.

Much of the first hour involves chases and fights as Vikranth tries to literally outrun his fate, but the cat-and-mouse pursuit gets boring after a while as the goons resort to mundane ways of crossing the paths. The flashback is insipid and rushed. Besides these gaping holes in the script, Pantham has mild twists to keep the audience entertained. What really keeps the film afloat, however, is Gopichand’s riveting performance and the second hour which has been meticulously planned without over-simplification. This is undone a bit towards the climax when the film slips into preachy dialogue and delivers laboured messages about the common man becoming an integral part of corruption.

Mehreen plays a role that only demands that she sing, dance and do some basic things that a heroine in a commercial potboiler is expected to do. She fails to strike up any romantic chemistry with Gopi and performs so monotonously that you feel disconnected with her character. Srinivas Reddy and Prudhvi provide some wisecracks. The cinematography is good, but the music is just about average.

The film is enjoyable in parts, but it could have been much better. Overall, the intentions of the director are loud and clear -- this is a film is deliberately made to appease the masses and yes, they will lap it up.

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