Game Changer Movie Review
It’s been six years since a film of Ram Charan in a solo lead role was released in theatres. After the global success of RRR, he did an extended cameo role in Megastar Chiranjeevi & Koratala Siva’s forgettable film, Acharya & simultaneously teamed up with Tamil cinema’s legendary director, Shankar Shanmugam for Game Changer with Dil Raju as producer. After getting stuck on the sets for about three years because of unforeseen issues related to Shankar’s Indian 2, the film finally released today in theatres. Did Ramcharan deliver a solo successful film after Rangasthalam with Game Changer? After delivering a horrid film like Indian 2, did Shankar reclaim his lost glory? Did Dil Raju, who delivered a series of flop films in recent times, get back on track? Let us find out with a detailed analysis.
What is it about?
Ram Nandan (Ramcharan), the newly appointed Vishakapattanam district collector, during the process of eliminating criminals from his district, takes on Mopidevi (S. J. Suryah), a state cabinet minister and the son of the ruling party Chief Minister, Bobbili Sathyamurthy. After seeing Parvathy (Anjali) at a public meeting, Sathyamurthy gets a heart stroke, gets admitted into the hospital and passes away. While Mopidevi getting ready to become the Chief Minister of the state after the passing away of his father, a video recording of Sathyamurthy’s last wish comes out. What was Sathyamurthy’s last wish? What is the connection between Appanna and Sathyamurthy? How are Ram Nandan, Appanna and Parvathy related? Forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Ramcharan delivered a simply superb performance in the role of ‘Appanna’. Around twenty-minute flashback episode on Appanna’s character is the heart and soul of the film and Ramcharan just lived in the role. His multiple looks, style, swag and dances in the role of Ram Nandan will be liked by fans immensely.
S. J. Suryah in the role of Mopidevi is entertaining in the second half. His confrontation scenes with Ramcharan & few mannerisms are worth enough to appreciate. Anjali as Parvathy delivered a knockout performance. Along with Appanna’s character during the flashback, she lived in her role and made the audience emotional. Kiara Advani in the role of Deepika, Ram Nandan’s girlfriend, is written in an outdated manner. Almost all the sequences involving her along with the dialogues written for her character looked very artificial and outdated. She looked and danced very well along with Ramcharan in the ‘Dhop’ song.
Jayaram in the role of Muni Manikyam & Sunil in the role of Side Satyam generated a few laughs, especially in the second half. Srikanth in the role of Bobbili Sathyamurthy and Rajeev Kanakala as Mukunda got crucial roles and both of them were adequate in their roles. Both Brahmanandam & Vennela Kishore are wasted in short insignificant roles.
Technicalities:
Thaman delivered an impressive background score. He elevated many ordinary sequences, especially in the first half, with his electrifying background score. His songs worked well on screen with grand visuals. ‘Arugu Meedha’, ‘Konda Devara’ & ‘Dhop’ songs are worth appreciating.
Shameer Muhammed & Ruben’s editing would have been better. Five to ten minutes during the later part of the second half and a few cliche sequences in the first half would have been edited. The cinematography by Thirunavukarasu is good during the flashback portions. But his work in ‘Jaragandi Jaragandi’ song would have been better.
Production values by ‘Sri Venkateswara Values’ are grand. Every penny that Dil Raju & team spent can be seen on screen, especially in songs. The usually calculative Dil Raju seems to have given a free hand to the director & provided all the resources without any restrictions on the budget.
Positives:
1. Ramcharan’s Performance As Appanna
2. First 60-Minutes in Second Half
3. Pre-Interval Sequence
4. Thaman’s Music
5. SJ Suryah’s Performance In Second Half
6. Production Values
Negatives
1. Outdated Execution In First Half
2. Weak Writing
3. Forever Dragged Climax
4. Choreography In ‘Jaragandi Jaragandi’ song
5. Cliched Dialogues At Most Parts
6. Lack of Emotional Connect In the First Half
7. Poor Editing
Analysis:
Shankar used to blend socially relevant themes perfectly with emotions and grandeur during his peak until Robo. Since the gigantic success of Robo, the good old master filmmaker in him is nowhere to be seen in his subsequent films. It is surprising to see a talented filmmaker like Karthik Subbaraj providing a beaten-to-death storyline for Gamechanger. And, Shankar was executed in an equally beaten-to-death format.
Right from the word go, every sequence in the first half gives us a sense of Deja Vu. The actions taken by the IAS officer, Ram Nandan after taking charge as a collector, the dialogues, the ‘Muqabla Muqabla’ like dance sequence in the ‘Dhop’ song, the tug of war between Ramnandan & Mopidevi, etc., are just a rehashed version of Shankar’s previous works. It is only during the pre-interval sequence & the twenty-minute flashback episode in the second half, that get to see a glimpse of good old Shankar.
Ramcharan as Appanna during the flashback episode with his memorable performance & his partly entertaining tug-of-war sequences with S. J. Suryah in the second half made the film watchable to an extent but Shankar with his age-old & redundant execution disappointed to a large extent. Instead of extending Appanna’s character for a little longer, the director and his writing team ended the flashback portions rather quickly & spent more time with confrontation sequences in the name of racy entertainment.
Thirunavukarasu’s cinematography in the ‘Jaragandi Jaragandi’ song failed to capture such a huge set well and Prabhudeva’s choreography for the song is poor, to say the least. The editing department is yet another culprit that worked against the film. The climax sequence is dragged on forever & the abruptly cut shots during the climax irritate the audience after a point.
Overall, Ramcharan with his memorable performance in the role of Appanna, S. J. Suryah with his entertaining performance & Thaman with his electrifying music made Game Changer watchable in theatres for Mega fans during the festive season. Shankar delivered a better film compared to Indian 2 but that is about it.
Bottom Line – Nothing Unpredictable
