Ratings: ⭐️⭐️
Shiva (Sreenivas Bellamkonda) lives in Pakistan with his mother (Bhagya Sree) and brother Ashok (Karan Singh Chhabra). Ashok hates Shiva, as the latter is not his biological brother. One day Shiva gets separated from his mother due to Ashok during an exodus from Pakistan.
Shiva lands in Gujarat as a refugee and is forced to do criminal activities. He transforms into an aggressive guy a few years later. Also, Shiva’s quest for his mother never ends. During this, one of the boys in the refugee camp gets attacked, which makes Shiva revolt. He becomes the savior of the oppressed, and soon, people start referring to him as Chatrapathi. Did Shiva meet his mother finally? What challenges did Ashok cause Shiva? This forms part of the rest of average.
Sreenivas Bellamkonda is too good in the role of Chatrapathi. The actor has put his heart and soul into the Hindi remake, which is sure to please the mass audiences. Compared to his previous movies, Sreenivas has improved a lot in terms of dialogue delivery. His action scenes are stunning, and Sreenivas shows the dancer in him once again.
All in all, Sreenivas makes a promising debut in Hindi cinema.
The second half of the movie is slightly better compared to the first half. Karan Singh Chhabra, who reprised Shafi’s role, is stunning. The actor’s body language and mannerisms are spot on. His scenes with Sreenivas made the second half watchable.
Chatrapathi, the remake of SS Rajamouli’s Telugu 2005 hit of the same name, serves as the Hindi launch pad for Telugu actor Bellamkonda Sreenivas. As events that unfold over 123 bottom-warming and unintentionally rib-tickling minutes prove, this latest Bollywood hopeful is more rando than Rambo.
In Sreenivas’s defence, it can be said that everybody else in the cast goes through the motions. Director VV Vinayak’s inability to get a handle on even the routinest of mass entertainers has one noteworthy quality: the incompetence is consistent from the first frame to the last.
A lengthy action sequence which comes in the second half, where Sreenivas and Nusshratt get attacked, is conceived superbly. The dialogues and elevations are designed in a way to amuse the mass audiences, and the makers succeed partially.
In the film industry, once a filmmaker starts ruling the box office, producers also rip out his old works and try to resell it to gullible audiences. Hence, even when the Hindi dub of Chhatrapati is easily available on the internet, the makers have roped in director V.V. Vinayak will remake the 2005 film in 2023. The time lag is visible on the screen and the product looks old. Curiously, with no re-imagining in play, the remake feels like a dubbed version.
On the whole, Chatrapathi is a film that is high on action and low on emotions. Sreenivas leads from the front and gives a solid performance. Karan Singh Chhabra is one more asset, but the film doesn’t have a balance of mass and emotional elements. Hardcore action lovers can enjoy a few action set pieces, but the movie might not please all sections of the audience.
The story takes place in Alang in Gujarat, where people slip into Mumbai slang to express their deepest thoughts. The clunky dialogue produces at least one gem.
One of Shiva’s friends has been grievously injured. I’m here, by your side, Shiva tells his friend by way of comfort. But I’m on my way out, the dying man replies.