Saaho

On the whole, Saaho surely does not live up to all the expectations and hype laid upon it. Prabhas leads from the front and the action part is very good. But all this only comes in the last half an hour. Rest of the film has an improper screenplay and confuses the audience. Sujeeth’s inexperience takes the film down in many areas. The real test for the film will start once the long weekend is over. Fans of Prabhas will like the film but all those who are watching this film need to lower your expectations completely as Saaho does not have the adrenaline pumping moments which the makers and promos boasted off.

Billed as India's biggest action entertainer, Saaho is all about the feud among a few members of world's biggest crime syndicate, based out of Waaji city, somewhere away from India. Some of the over ambitious and brutal men (and a woman) of the gang finish off Roy (Jackie Shroff), their leader, in order to obtain a secret black box through which they aspire to become billionaires. Meanwhile, cops in India are after a smart thief (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who looted two lakh crore rupees. The team is headed by Ashok (Prabhas) and Amrita (Shraddha Kapoor). After thorough investigation, it's revealed that there's a link between the huge sum and Waaji city. The arrival of Vishwa (Arun Vijay), the son of Roy, makes the plot more intriguing as he sets out to find his father's murderer and the lost money in India. A movie made on such a grand scale with numerous actors needs a gripping screenplay and convincing characterisations, and that's exactly what Saaho lacks. There is a hero and the mandatory heroine, and there are way too many villains that it becomes difficult to focus on these many character on screen. None of the antagonists leave a big impact, and this results in a lack of emotional connect with the protagonist. Prabhas looks a little uneasy as the investigating cop in the initial scenes, but transforms as the character as the story progresses and excels in the action scenes. He, probably, is the sole saving grace. Shraddha delivers what's offered to her and plays her part decently. The placement of the songs are big let-down though they have been shot lavishly. The presence of several talented artistes does not help much. They all look different on screen, but the many characters are almost the same in their histrionics. The film also tests our patience after a point due its overlong duration. And it is largely dubbed in Tamil, leading to lip-sync issues. The makers of Saaho reportedly spent a bomb to film the action scenes, but that's evident only in a few of them. A good number of shots are made in VFX — while some of them are of top-notch quality, there are some ambitious shots which appear below par. Saaho is an ambitious project which relies on technical aspects and its hero's larger-than-life image, and not on its script.

Saaho unveils too many characters and two consequential twists. It is helped by breathtaking visuals in bits and pieces. However, at its core, it's a bloated film that fails to manifest its potential. The storyline holds promise but the story-telling is topsy-turvy. The screenplay should have done away with those smoking and drinking scenes in the least and presented imaginative villainism that values creative lines, not outdated deliveries. You spend Rs 250 Cr and give us routine-talking baddies and a hero of too few words? Not done.

Bottom-line: Not Even for Die-Hard Fans.