Shankar Dada MBBS

Starring : Chiranjeevi Sonali Bendre, Paresh Ravel, Srikanth , Anjala Jhaveri, Venu Madhav, Rohit, Girish Karnad
Music : Devi Sri Prasad
Dailogues : Parchuri Brothers
Cinematography : K. Dutt
Story : Vidu Vinod Chopra
Direction : Jayanth
Production : Gemini Film Circuit
Date of Theatrical Release : 15th October, 2004

Story

Shankar Dada (Chiranjeevi) is a good hearted don in Hyderabad who runs away from home at a young age. He extorts money, kidnaps and roughs up people for money. But, he lies to his old age father (Girish Karnad) that he is a doctor in the city. Every year when they come to the city to visit him, he pretends to be a doctor and makes them happy. Finally the drama comes to an end, as one of the doctors in the locality Lingam (Paresh Rawal) tells Shankar’s parents the truth when they try to strike an alliance between their son and his daughter Sunitha (Sonali Bendre).

Shankar decides to complete MBBS and become a doctor to live up to his parent’s wishes. He joins the college in which Paresh Rawal is the principal, and turns into a menace to him. There is a parallel track where he cures the patients in the hospital, not through medicine, but by showing love and affection towards them. How he lives upto his parent’s dream and makes Sunitha fall in love with him, while gaining the principal’s acceptance,forms the story’s crux.

Artistes Performances

This film is another ‘One Man Show’ from Megastar who carries off the comic role with amazing ease, with his timings and mannerisms. The way he translates the telugu proverbs into English brings the hall down. Though his dances are good as usual, the film is devoid of a highlight step like in Indra, Tagore. But his reckless, walking style which he uses in the film more than makes up for it. Sonali Bendre is sweet, and suited the role aptly. Srikanth fits into the character of ATM with ease, and used the Telangana accent comfortably. Paresh Rawal’s dialouge delivery is impeccable, so are his mannerisms. But, the ‘laughter therapy’ track in Munnabhai performed by Boman Irani is more hilarious, in comparision. Rohit does very well as the cancer patient, while Sharvanand, Venu Madhav and M.S Narayana appear only in couple of scenes each. Anjala Jhaveri does a guest appearance in the ‘Chaila Chaila’ song, while Pawan Kalyan appears for a couple of seconds in another song. It would have been better, had he done a step with Chiru or even shared the frame with him.

Technical Departments

The film is a remake of hindi superhit Munnabhai MBBS, and the changes made in the film deserve a pat on the back. Without loosing the flavor of the original, changes were made by the director to suit the tastes of the telugu audience. The ‘college ragging’ track in Munnabhai was replaced, and made way for a ‘Love failure’ track which also leads to the Chaila Chaila song. Jayanth comes up with a very good entertainer once again. The music by Devi Sri Prasad is good, but the background score could have been better as it had more vocals, than music. Paruchuri Brothers have come up with a few good comical and thought-provoking dialogues, unlike their trademark fiery ones. Cinematography by Dutt is not upto the current standards. The production values by GFCI are below-par.

Analysis

The movie takes off on an average note, but the first half ends upto be excellent, as the entertainment graph goes up till it reaches the interval-bang. There are three songs in the first half Pattu Pattu, Shankar Dada and Chaila Chaila. While Pattu Pattu is disappointing, Shankar Dada intro song has been done well. Chaila Chaila had a creative, new picturization concept. In the second half, the Na Pere Kanchanamala song is raunchy, while eh Jilla, Eh Jilla stands out of the crowds. The dances composed by Raju Sundaram are superb. The second half has lesser entertainment in comparision, but is good too. The comedians Venu Madhav and MS Narayana appear only for 2-3 scenes, with the rest of the comedy being generated by Megastar himself. The movie is a treat for fans, and movie lovers. It started off with an instant superhit talk all over, and is bound to for a good run at the box office.