Shamitabh: A good concept but an average execution stops it from becoming a classic
R Balki’s movie has been different in concept and content right from his first film “Cheeni Kum” and then “Paa”. Balki is also responsible for presenting Amitabh is various avatars and with “Shamitabh” he continues with his endeavor with a new concept and again presenting Amitabh in a different avatar.
Written by Balki the concept of the movie is unique and tells us the story of a dumb actor Danish (Dhanush) who wants to make it big in 
Bollywood but his handicap of being dumb fails him every time till he meets Akshara (Akshara Hasan) who is an AD and who sees a potential in Danish and helps him medically to solve his problem of speech but even after the surgery they still have an issue of a voice for Danish. After an extensive search they come across Amitabh Sinha (Amitabh Bachchan) who is convinced by Akshara to become the voice of Danish and hence the Star “Shamitabh” is born, what happens after Danish becomes Shamitabh forms the rest of the movie.
The concept is new but the screenplay fails to justify the unique concept as the pace becomes slow in parts and some of the sequences look too convenient to take the movie ahead like the sequence of how Akshara & Danish discover Amitabh which looks too clichéd. The good part of the script is that the all the three protagonists Danish, Akshara & Amitabh are etched out well and some sequences especially between Dhanush and Amitabh Bachchan are the highlight of the movie. The main highlight of the script is the chemistry between the two protagonist Danish & Amitabh. The main flaw is the climax which looked quite hurried and the movie ends abruptly keeping many questions unanswered. Another flaw is that some sequences are stretched unnecessarily slowing the pace.
The performances are the highlight of the movie and makes it watchable. Amitabh Bachchan as Amitabh Sinha is good and it showed on screen that he enjoyed playing the role. Dhanush as the dumb actor Danish excels and rises above the script in his portrayal. The chemistry of Dhanush and Amitabh Bachchan is the highlight of the movie. Debutant Akshara Hasan is impressive but she needs to work on her diction and dialogue delivery. Rest of the cast is impressive.
P C Sreeram as usual is top notch. Music by Illaiyaraja sounds fresh though most of the songs are situational.
Balki with such a brilliant idea could have done wonders but he falls short in executing the idea on the silver screen. Rather at the end it seemed that Balki was confused on how to end the movie and it showed. I will go with 3 stars…
Movie Rating: 
(3 / 5)