Review : Ram Setu – Good concept, underwhelming narration

Akshay Kumar, who is going through a series of flops, has now come up with the adventure thriller Ram Setu. The film generated good interest among movie buffs as it is related to Indian heritage. It hit the screens today. Let’s see how it is.

Story:

Aryan Kulshreshtha (Akshay Kumar) is a renowned Archaeologist who gets promoted as Joint Director of the Archaeology department due to his remarkable work. Indrakanth (Nasser) decides to construct a project named Sethusamudram, destroying Ram Setu, but for that to happen, Indrakanth should obtain a scientific clearance proving Ram Setu is a natural formation. Hence Aryan is given the task of ascertaining whether Ram Setu is formed naturally or is man-made. The rest of the film is about the journey of Aryan in this process.

Plus Points:

The idea to explore the thousands year older Indian heritage of Ram Setu, which is believed to be constructed by Lord Sri Rama himself, is good. Several facts about this ancient construction have been mentioned in the film, and enough research was done to showcase the details.

Akshay Kumar does well as the Archaeologist and carries the film throughout. His character requires him to play a professional who is hell-bent on his mission, and Akshay lives in the role. He is ably supported by Jacqueline Fernandez.

Telugu actor Satyadev gets a good role and is nice in his debut film. He gets to travel along with the protagonist throughout the film. There are a few exciting scenes like Akshay walking on Ram Setu, and a couple of chase sequences in the second half that grab our interest and are executed pretty well. The climax twist though routine, is presented in a fair manner.

Minus Points:

The filmmakers had a fascinating subject that hasn’t been touched in Indian cinema, but they didn’t succeed in coming up with an equally exciting narrative. Though there is a lot of fiction added, it still doesn’t engage enough. One has to have a racy screenplay for this kind of adventure thriller to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, but that does not happen here.

The film runs on a flat note most of the time. The first half an hour or so isn’t related to the actual plot, and the character establishment of Akshay should have been done in an even sharp manner. Whenever we get across a few interesting moments, they are short lived and derail the interest of the audience.

Many scenes are conveniently written in the film, which doesn’t give the thrills the audience expects and makes one predict the following sequences. One more huge drawback is the VFX work. Being such a biggie, the visual effects are wholly below-par, even hampering the impact.

Technical Aspects:

The music by Daniel B George is thoroughly disappointing, which shouldn’t be the case for an adventure thriller. The editing is okayish, but a few scenes should have been trimmed further. The production values are decent. The cinematography by Aseem Mishra is fine. The Telugu dubbing is decent.

Coming to director Abhishek Sharma, he picked an exciting point but didn’t deliver to its full potential. Instead, what we get to see is a half-baked product that has been in the making for a while. A fast-paced screenplay with a few more exciting scenes would have made much more difference. The research work is appreciable, but the narrative isn’t impressive.

Verdict:

On the whole, Ram Setu is a dull adventure thriller that manages to hold our attention only in a few sequences. Akshay Kumar tries hard to hold our attention but the bland and lack of gripping screenplay makes the film an underwhelming watch this weekend.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

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