Yashoda Review
Samantha’s stellar performance saves the thriller from sinking
Starring: Samantha, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Unni Mukundan, Rao Ramesh, Murali Sharma
Director: Hari Shankar Harish Narayan
Music Director : Mani Sharma
Language: Tamil and Telugu
A pregnant, low-class protagonist. A Hollywood starlet dies unexpectedly in India. Assumed murder of a multimillionaire and his model lover. Unknown substance. A potentially dangerous ingredient in a cosmetics product. A brilliant scientist has discovered a miraculous treatment for a rare illness. A sleuthing crew has 122 affluent ladies in their sights. Connecting a corrupt politician with a malevolent genius is an unholy alliance. A dose of adrenaline, both literal and figurative, in the shape of a lady who finds redemption in her youthful appearance. Anyone can see that the tale of ‘Yashoda’ is a jumbled mess, despite the author’s best efforts to weave together various elements.
The film begins at first, and the film makes an effort to present Yashoda (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) as a helpless female protagonist. When Yashoda is eight months pregnant, a rogue male character orders her to take a pill without explaining why. She is taken to a shady surrogacy centre where the evil Madhu (Varalami Sarathkumar) shows her true colors despite her best efforts to appear unfeeling.
The facility scenes are completely dumb. The movie does its best to be retroactively witty, but the thrills never really take off. Yashoda becomes friends with a gang boss, a free-spirited lady, and a helpless little girl from a red-light district. Sisters from different mothers form an artificial kinship, and their conversations barely touch the surface of their complicated relationships. Motherly feelings are not shown strongly by dramatic means, and explanations are always sought through dry lines. The centre’s top nurse seems more like the mother-in-law from a sitcom than a figure who answers to ruthless managers.
Each and every one of Yashoda’s experiences at the surrogacy centre has been a stroke of incredible luck. Even though the bad guys have a reasonably good idea of what they’re up against and access to cutting-edge technology, it takes them an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to stop her.
Production-wise, the picture holds its own. The picture is greatly aided by cinematographer M Sukumar’s superb efforts. Mani Sharma has shown time and time again that he is an expert at composing music that can brighten even the darkest of situations.
Good performances aid in finally holding the film for a loss;
Samantha successfully conveys the intensity of her feelings by letting them seep into the frames. She helps add speed with her actions (which were performed with the help of Hollywood stuntman Yannick Ben and Venkat). Marthand K Venkatesh’s editing of the second half improves the tempo. Murli Sharma as a police officer and Rao Ramesh as a corrupt politician are both suitable choices. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar shows a lot of skill in a part with a lot of grey areas on the moral spectrum.