Satyabhama Movie Review: A Heroine-Centric Thriller
A thriller with a strong female protagonist, Satyabhama is Kajal Aggarwal’s latest feature. She has been quite outspoken about it.
Married to a writer, Satyabhama (Kajal Aggarwal) is an IPS officer who is devoted to ensuring the protection of women in Hyderabad.
She regrets not intervening to protect Yaseen, a lady who had spoken out against Yedu’s abusive behaviour towards her. After murdering Yaseen, Yedu is currently evading capture.
New suspects, unexpected turns, and more problems crop up as Satyabhama begins to pursue Yedu despite the many obstacles she has already encountered.
Performance
In her breakout role, Kajal gives a solid performance as a police officer. Her style is more modern and there is less “action” in her portrayal. Her presence is captivating, even though her character development is weak.
By taking up the role of husband, Naveen Chandra flips the script on the conventional wife.
The portrayal of Chotu by Prajwal is quite remarkable. In this job, Ankit Koyya is weak. Prakash Raj plays a little part.
Sampada plays Ankith’s girlfriend and Neha Pathan plays Yaseen.
The technical score by Srikant Pakala is perfect for this suspenseful film, which is neither exhilarating nor boring. Good enough cinematography. Moving at a snail’s pace, the film drags on.
The film seems longer than it actually is, so the editing could have been tighter.
Analysis
Satyabhama is primarily concerned with a police officer’s dogged hunt for the fugitive who murdered his wife. She clearly intends to go on a mission to apprehend the fugitive within the first fifteen minutes of the film.
But new director Suman Chikkala and screenwriter Sasi Kiran Tikka have added a plethora of unnecessary subplots and characters to confuse audiences and keep them guessing.
It starts out as a simple story, but it gets more and more complicated and starts to go in other directions. Also, instead of being a coherent film, it begins to look more like an international web series.
The story turns to follow the lives of Yaseen’s friend and romantic partner, who runs an internet game firm, after her murder.
We assume this boyfriend is the antagonist after an episode delves deep into AR games. Next, we see Yaseen’s brother, and the story starts to resemble a terrorist thriller after this. Then we see Kajal taking action to stop the trafficking of young girls.
The subplots at first add nothing to the main plot but become meaningless filler as the film progresses. All the supposed subplots look completely ridiculous once the real twist is revealed, and that is the main problem.
A feeling of shock is lacking despite the abundance of story developments. The main character’s ultimate story twist seems both illogical and ineffectual.
As more and more police procedurals go viral on the internet, Satyabhama tries to cash in. The authors, however, appear to have failed to account for the essential distinctions between a film and a web series. Consequently, the story is interrupted time and time again by logical problems and diversions.
Despite Kajal’s best efforts and a handful of interesting scenes, the police drama Satyabhama is more tedious, drawn out, and uninteresting than its predecessor.
Movie: Satyabhama
ibomma Rating: 2/5
Cast: Kajal Aggarwal, Naveen Chandra, Prakash Raj, Ravi Varma, Harsha Vardhan, Neha Pathan, Sampada, Payal Radhakrishna, Prajwal Yadma, Ankit Koyya, and others
Music: Sricharan Pakala
Screenplay: Sashi Kiran Tikka
DOP: Vishnu Besi
Editor: Kodati Pavan Kalyan
Producers: Bobby Tikka, Srinivas Rao Takkalapelly
Written and Directed by: Suman Chikkala
Release Date: June 7, 2024
