Shamanthakamani: Engaging, enthralling and entertaining

Movies like Shamanthakamani, Pellichoopulu and Kshanam mark the beginning of new-age cinema in Tollywood. They are proof that young directors and also the audience are craving novelty, skipping the run-of-the-mill entertainment.

Shamanthakamani’s director Sriram Adittya makes us wonder if this is his second movie, as he shows immense promise. You would think he was trained at the New York Film Academy. It takes a lot of effort, talent and energy to narrate a complicated script like a breeze.

Cast: Sudheer Babu, Nara Rohith, Aadi, Sundeep Kishan, Rajendra Prasad
Director: Sriram Adittya

The movie is an anthology of five people who directly, and indirectly, become a part of a heist, and about how the police decode it. Greed, imbalanced emotions, and impulsive relationships make up the core of the movie and it's all true to reality.

Ranjith Kumar (Nara Rohith) is a corrupt police officer trying to decode the mystery behind the robbery of a vintage 1971 Rolls Royce (aka Shamanthakamani), used by the royals of Mysore, which belongs to Suman. He procures the car at an auction. This five-crore worth car is taken to a five-star hotel by his son Krishna (Sudheer Babu) and it gets lost. P Uma Maheshwar Rao (Rajendra Prasad) is a mechanic who is notorious for unlocking the car without the keys. Aadi (Karthik) wants to impress his lover Madhu (Chandini Chowdhary), who is rich and wants him to become rich for her. Shiva (Sundeep Kishan) is heart-broken because his girlfriend ditches him for a rich guy. With money driving them, their lives revolve around making their bank account swell, but what route do they opt for? Will the corrupt police be able to crack the mystery? Who is the culprit? What happened to Shamanthakamani? How all these threads come together forms the plot.

Every scene is well framed. You don’t need popcorn as you will be biting you nails in suspense. After a long time, Telugu cinema boasts of a gripping thriller; one that is both unpredictably and captivating.

The cinematography is as good as the script and the background score increase the pulse rate. Dialogues are sharp and comedy adds magic to the narrative. Every actor does justice to their role. If not for their performances and dialogue delivery, the script would have fallen flat. That the film receives a standing ovation during the climax speaks volumes about it.

Bottom line: It will take another equally thrilling movie to bring us out of the hangover of this film.