Radhe Shyam

Radhe Shyam Story: World renowned palmist Vikramaditya believes he isn’t destined for love but falls for Dr Prerna. He predicts a long and bright future for her but it looks like there’s something else in store.

Radhe Shyam Review: Radha Krishna Kumar’s Radhe Shyam has everything going for it – stunning visuals and music, a star cast headlining it, heady romance and more. But the film falters and even struggles to live up to the hype it created.

Guru Paramahamsa (Krishnam Raju) runs a Vedic school of sorts and is reached out by a set of scientists. There is visual conflict between him and one of the scientists from the get-go because his deep belief in astrology and palmistry is questioned. This sequence introduces the audience to Vikramaditya (Prabhas), aka ‘India’s Nostradamus’ because his predictions never go wrong.

Through-out the film Vikramaditya claims he has no love-line and wants a ‘flirtationship’. Yet, he falls hard for Dr. Prerna (Pooja Hegde), a woman fighting some inevitable circumstances. The dichotomy here is that his reading of her palm indicates a good future while everything else indicates otherwise.

Radhe Shyam attempts to drive home the point that no science is absolute and that there’s always a chance to change your destiny with karma. This seemingly applies even to the world’s best palm reader. However, this one-liner doesn’t justify the 140 minutes long film that seems tediously long, especially when the core point doesn’t reach the desired mark. The film fails to leave a mark despite all the apparatus it had at its disposal, including well-known names in the technical team.

The bland chemistry between Pooja and Prabhas is also a deterrent to this love story, their characters too aren’t etched with enough depth, clarity or reasoning. This impacts their individual performances even if they make an effort to play their parts convincingly. The screenplay is cluttered with pointless moments and characters who don’t serve the story. Radhe Shyam has been shot on a grand scale in different parts of Europe, lending it a fairytale-like vibe. The music by Justin Prabhakaran also blends well with the story. The VFX team deserves applause for their work.

But all of this barely salvages a love story whose destiny could’ve been truly something else.