Prasthanam (2010) User Reviews

Must see,worth for money and time.

[prgsurendra · 9/10 · 3 May 2010]

No words to say...Really Dev Katta'S direction was wonderful.Sharvand will now get the respect he deserves for this colossal performance. The supporting cast,most notably Saikumar,Jaya Prakash Reddy,Jeeva,Sandeep,buoy the film to new perspectives.Yash Bhatt's camera work within these completed sequences takes a modern twist that really works for the gruesome scenes."A man reaps what he sows" is my favourite line from the movie. Sandeep,Sharwand,Saikumar gave there best performance.To be frank first i also felt that basic line of the movie is taken from Sarkar but i was wrong. Dialouge are the big asset for the movie.don't miss it.This film is a must see. I am proud this is movie is from Tollywood.Many of the good things from that script are also presented here in diverse and creative ways.

Without doubt, one of the greatest Telugu movies ever made

[sasiinguva · 9/10 · 19 September 2012]

Despite all it's faults- the shitty and unnecessary songs, a very bad romantic angle which is incongruous with the story and some poor jokes - despite all of that, Prasthanam is without doubt, one of the greatest Telugu movies ever made. And even if we compare it on a global level, with other political thrillers in English, Hindi and other languages, this movie deserves a place in top 50.

So what makes Prasthanam, so great a movie?

1) Story - The actual story begins in the second half, and the viewer who has been taken on a bicycle ride until then, is taken on a roller-coaster ride of twists and turns. But, unlike ordinary thrillers, behind these twists and turns, the three central themes of the movie - jealousy, corruption of character by greed for power, father's love - play out beautifully and come to their blossom fittingly in the climax - like a perfect Christopher Nolan movie.

2) Dialogues - No words to describe those dialogs. They are so powerful. So profound. So deep. Especially the ones in the climax. Hearing each one of them delivered by the deep voice of Sai Kumar gives you goose bumps. These are the dialogs to die for. You can watch the movie however many times just for these.

3) Acting - The three main characters are played to their utmost perfection by the actors Sai Kumar, Sarwanand and Sundeep Kishan. Especially the portrayal of the complex character by Sai Kumar is beyond the boundaries of imaginary perfection. I wonder, why he didn't get a national award for best actor.

4) Character of Father - Never in Telugu movie history, was a character as complex, had so many shades and yet at the same time, so realistic as that of this central character. It has father's love, greed for power, guilt and loyalty - shades that are so against each other - but which are so beautifully blended and built in this character by the director, that this factor alone would make the movie a timeless classic.

So, why didn't Prasthanam win any national award or why was it not the Indian entry for Oscars. I have no idea!!! I can only think that it's because of the faults I mentioned in the first paragraphs. But one expects that the judges who are supposed to be esteemed critics of movies and know their ins-and-outs, would happily overlook these small hurdles on the road to cinematic wonder provided by Prasthanam.

NOBODY IS BLACK OR WHITE !!

[ghanshanichirag · 9/10 · 29 September 2021]

A riveting story depecting various emotions in a human. An absolute masterclass by devakata . Its a must watch for sure . The acting is just stupendous by everybody especially the 3s,the trio of Saikumar, Sharwanand & Sundeep kishan. Its an extraordinary drama with gripping and hardhitting dialogues. DO WATCH IT!!

One movie against all others - Prasthanam, a new journey in Telugu cinema.

[ramis666 · 4 May 2010]

At last a Telugu movie which made me gasp and shout out loud, "whatamovie!" In the industry where 6 songs, three fights, some violence and an item number seem to be the yardstick, Deva Katta's "Prasthanam" beats all the rules. Director Deva Katta deleted four songs from the movie as it hampered its narration (ever heard it anywhere folks?) and it shows his dedication to bring out a movie like never before and he succeeds in it. In fact Deva Katta's hard work is written all over the screen, right from the title cards. The narration is top notch, the dialog's brilliant and the screenplay good. Sai Kumar is one of the most underrated actor of the Teulgu industry and he's going to get some fans from this movie. Sarwanand is brilliant and his dialog delivery is excellent but he needs to work on the emotional scenes though! This is mostly a dialog driven movie and a very serious one too. The movie ends at the right time and the last scene is simply brilliant. The humor department handled by Jayaprakash Reddy is awesome, on the whole it's one movie after a long time made out of sheer dedication and with love towards the language (the English usage is minimal and the Telugu used is top class). A perfect ten and a Telugu movie classic.

A Must Watch....

[Prathyush · 10/10 · 16 May 2010]

I have a major prasthanam hangover. This movie is just awesome. A must watch telugu movie (pretty rare these days).

Story: A very intense and engaging story with a political background. The movie is very long but NEVER a dull moment. The writing is just poetic and out of the world for tollywood. The dialogues are novel and powerful. The major idea of the movie is that there are no heroes (good) and villains (bad) rather its always the struggle between the good and bad within one's self.

Acting: All the major characters played their roles perfectly. Sai kumar was just mind blowing - prefect for the role. All of the scenes involving sharwanand and saikumar were brilliant. sharwanand exceeded expectations. Side characters were not that good being a low budget movie but thats just nitpicking.

Score: The background score was elevating. The score made the already well written scenes much powerful. hats off to mahesh shankar for coming up with such a great score to complement brilliant direction. Music was good. Couple of songs were unnecessary - could be trimmed. But the rest of the songs were nice.

The director (dev katta) maintained good grip over the movie and created a near perfect movie for the budget. Dev katta is a director to watch out. In vennela he made brilliant comedy in the first half, but failed to keep the audience engaged in his character study in the second half. But with prasthanam he hit the bulls eye in his penchant for character studies.

I would say this is a must watch for anyone who likes good real cinema.

Stunning , Brilliant, Speechless !!!

[RebelRavindra · 10/10 · 15 July 2013]

WOW... Prasthanam is a stunning film with great performances. Saikumar & Sharwanand gave life to the movie. I was watching this film, knowing that it is a political thriller. But i never knew the conflict was so interesting. Once the actual conflict point is revealed... i was glued to my seat. Sundeep Kishan who earlier did a role in Snehagitam, which frankly i didn't like ...came up with a whole new character. His performance for the Grey shaded role was perfect.

But the entire show stealer was Saikumar, his character is never seen on a movie before. He is the biological father of Sundeep Kishan, and the stepfather for Sharwanand. The legacy of his political career is the actual conflict point. Saikumar was intense through out the movie, He has the most powerful voice in the entire Telugu film industry. The dialogs penned by Devkatta are awesome. They got blend into the script.

On the other hand, Sharwanand came up from no where. He is known for his selection of roles and stories. But Prasthanam shows his avidity in selecting good plots and roles. He was another asset in the film. His performance in the first half of the film was quite natural, but in the later half and towards the climax was a bomb. He was so good in the climax episode.

Vennala Kishore, who had a great praise for his earlier role in Vennala film directed by Devkatta. Didn't catch up with the entertainment part. But once the plot of the movie is started, we tend to forget ourselves. Devkatta, who earlier gave us Vennela came up with an awesome political thriller. He is definitely gonna make a mark for himself in the industry.

PRASTHANAM stands against all the earlier movies of Telugu film Industry. I'm speechless when the film ended. Stunning plot and great performances. Prasthanam is the real gem from Telugu film industry. Adjectives are beyond the quality of this film. a 10/10 for this EPIC !!!

Prasthanam - The journey

[bharatdgreat · 8/10 · 4 May 2010]

they say, the beauty of a movie lies in the way it's written. that's why you mostly never get awed by the beauty of an Indian film.

it is one of those rare movies that are very well written barring a few minor glitches. technically good, this movie explains why some Indian films don't need songs.

you just can't camouflage a drama in the name of a musical.

Prasthanam, written and directed by: Deva Katta.

Mitra, the good - Sharwanand Loki, the bad - Sai Kumar Chinna, the ugly - Sundeep Kishan.

this movie in every sense is not a masterpiece, but what makes it the most important in Telugu cinema is that the way the writer decides to take three morally different characters and throw them in to the desert of politics, where only one's true intentions can help him.

Modern Mahabharatam

[santhoshhemu · 9/10 · 21 June 2020]

Actor Sai Kumar kudos to him i have never seen an acting performance like him. He is most underated actor and his performance in climax is just spellbounding.

I have watched several movies in several languages but i have never seen a movie like this, this movie is one of my favorites. The screenplay, story narration and especially dialogues each and everything is good, only thing i disliked in this movie is songs they are worst. Please skip all the songs while you are watching this movie 😁.

Coming to story deva katta got inspiration from vyasa Mahabharatam, family fued between brothers which end up in killing several people in kurukshetra war. He took the storyline from Mahabharatam and redesigned to it to suit to modern era. Take a bow man you are genuis, you deserve respect.

Please do watch this movie it is worth your time.

If you think that Sarvanand is the hero then you didn't understand the movie

[ch-hareesh · 10/10 · 20 June 2016]

This is the movie that has been close to reality than any other Telugu movie ever made.Saikumar was outstanding in his role. Devakatta is an awesome find. Hopes he makes films that are close to realty and stay away from the commercial Zhit. Dialogues are awesome and will touch you deeply. Climax is the one of the best in Telugu movies.

Sarvanand and Sandeep Kishan has done a decent job.The romantic scenes are unnecessary and will side track the movie.That's the only negative.

Hope they will be more movie like this where the HERO is not a super human that beat the Zhit of villains.

Overall an awesome movie and a must watch for all movie lovers

A well crafted and well executed political thriller...

[gowrishpramidi · 10/10 · 15 June 2016]

This film is really considered to be one of the greatest films of which Tollywood have ever witnessed and gains the cult classic status and also makes the homage for the world's greatest films like the godfather trilogy , the Scarface, Nayagan , Dalapathi and few other vibrant political dramas. Coming to the performances I mean just common what can I say, Saikumar...Saikumar... Saikumar..one can't really craft such a philosophical and such a serious script unless it is supported by an elegant cast with content like Saikumar and Sharwanand.

Sharwa just like his other films gives a great importance to the script and shines as always.And we can't simply ignore the man who penned and directed this saga..Its Deva Katta after Vennela gets into the limelight and all the dialogues which were written has got a great dept and its intrinsic value..And at last it is also considered as a homage of our greatest Hindu epic "The Mahabaratha"

Love this movie

[trivedikomal · 10/10 · 6 January 2024]

The parallelism drawn between this movie and Mahabharata is awesome...

Such a masterpiece by Deva katta... A must watch Telugu movie...

A very intense and engaging story. This movie is about charcters and each and every small character makes an impact.

The actor Sai Kumar has the most powerful voice in the telegu film industry...

Dramatized dialogues are delivered with utmost authority by Sai Kumar for this movie.

Cinematography of the movie is excellent..

This movie also shows that there are no good men or bad men.. its a war between good and bad within our minds... Do watch this movie .

Is it right to be held for 2 and half hours to see a many destroy himself not with guilt but with fear. And a fearful man be portrayed as a man with ideals.

[braddugg · 4/10 · 20 September 2014]

Is it right to be held for 2 and half hours to see a many destroy himself not with guilt but with fear. And a fearful man be portrayed as a man with ideals.

Who has the faith to go the distance is the one who can stumble upon any heads and destroy anything for his own selfishness. This is the way I thought after I had seen it. The movie is about family feud that is bestowed upon them by a deed of one of the key members who becomes a heir and a strong man. His fault was to misread people and thus bring upon his own destruction. Did I tell the whole plot, or partially I do not know but I recommend this movie to be seen for dialogues. The dialogues are exemplary and delivered superbly by Sai Kumar (Lok Nath) and Sharwanand played within his own self though at times his limitations were shown. Other did their bit just to complement the characters.

Editing is bad and lot many scenes even if cut would not have made actual difference oh, please remove the romantic songs throw them off. Cinematography is commendable, not only in showing the feudal politics but also in showing us emotions and bringing characters alive. The music does its bit in background and background songs are good too.

Yet, there are many points the film missed in identifying. It actually included a lot many scenes just to justify characters is that necessary is what I ask the director, may be for Telugu Audience yes, but I am one of the rotten lot or can I make a character in a few scenes and not too many, I think 2 scenes of consistency or 2 scenes of variation will bring out a character but here it revels in showing nearly 20 scenes to show us how corrupt and how selfish he is.

But I would give in for most, yet a half hearted attempt that baked in a lot of unwanted songs just to make it 'COMMERCIAL' this is compromised cinema and I dislike such attempts.

An average 2/5 for the effort by director and for acting by Sai Kumar and good cinematography. All else is as routine as a gangster movie.

Do watch 'Road to Perdition' and 'Godfather' please.

must watch for all telugu audiences

[praneethsuv · 12 May 2010]

almost after ten years we get a very good movie laced with beautiful dialogues.. we often get boring moments in telugu movies when it comes to songs or fights, but this movie is a real winner.. of the two songs in the movie both are too gud.. specially evade vaadu.. watta performance by sundeep kishan .. this guy can make wonders in telugu where we lack a proper telugu speaking villain.. every actor is outstanding coming to their part specially saikumar.. but director cum writer of the movie deserves a spl appreciation.. if he doesn't get a award for this movie something is definitely wrong with the judges.. i don't understand the reason why the movie still running in very less theatres where other meaningless masala movies are running in many theatres though they lack the point.. lastly the movie is a very attempt in telugu industry specially aimed at educated segment of people.. hope the movie gains good money, name & fame..

A Bumpy " Prasthanam "

[simh · 5/10 · 9 June 2010]

Saw prasthanam today, and i was disappointed. deva katta is no exciting talent to look out for. i read a lot about prasthanam. unfortunately the depth and intensity was found missing in the movie which was otherwise aplenty in the paper's. and yet once again trailers did the trick for me. they deceived me. read in a interview in which MR.katta claimed that he never thought about the commercial success of the movie and that he made an uncompromising attempt. but, dear sir why do you have to include three shitty songs and a highly irritating love angle to the film which you've claimed to be made without any compromise.

Except For the extraordinary hair raising first scene and the brilliance of the cameraman sprinkled at selective places through out the movie. the rest is what we've already been watching throughout the years. on the whole not so enjoyable " Prasthanam

Prasthanam::

[bhargav32004 · 15 May 2010]

For a movie to have a feel good feeling with the audience, I believe the script and screenplay play a big role. There have been many films in the recent past, though not having a tight story line have fared well and people have liked them. But I would say that PRASTHANAM is not such a kind of movie. An intense movie with a very tight screenplay and exceptionally good script. By far, Prasthanam would be setting a new trend. I have always admired directors who work hard for their screenplay rather than depending on the starcast. Deva Katta has come out with an extraordinary film extracting the actors potential to their maximum.

The strength of the movie lies in its simple nature and its striking resemblance with our normal life. The hero and the characters are not supernatural beating down 10-12 goons with a push of his hand or doing extraordinary feats. I have to admit I have seen many people in my real life portraying the differt shades showed in the film. Dialogues by Devi Katta were were intense and emotionally provoking. It is for such films people await for. I definitely feel this film should be watched by everyone..:)

Regarding its legendary status, it's surprisingly unremarkable

[Ansango · 5/10 · 26 January 2024]

PRASTHANAM is predictable, but it still is a decent tale of political rivalry, jealousy and greed up until that terrible twist that almost ruins the entire affair. The dialogues are brilliant, and the casting is superb.

Loki is a complex character that's brilliantly played by Sai Kumar. At one hand he secretly wants his own son Chinna to live happily and lavishly without knowing any hardships of life, on the other hand he also cares for his stepdad Mitra, and even though choosing him as his successor is a selfish choice, it still means that Mitra too is going to prosper. But, the last twist revealing that he was evil all along makes the entire affair muddy and robs hos character of all the nuances. From a conflicted father, he just becomes a selfish goon who only cares for himself. This thing wasn't hinted at any point and comes out so suddenly that it leaves you with a very bitter feeling.

Similarly, at one point Chinna is openly shown stabbing a person in front of the media, and the entire state is appalled, so much so that a leader of 25 years was on the verge of a devastating loss. But after a few minutes, he is shown openly in bar dancing, as if nothing has happened. I know people forget quickly, but not this quickly, that too if the person is so high profile.

Every story needs to maintain its internal logic, and that's where this film falters. I mean, why didn't Basha reveal the truth to Mitra earlier? It would have been beneficial for him as well as for Mitra?

There are so many writing gaps in the second half, that it completely kills the vibe of this film. The overstretched second half and abrupt song transitions aren't helping the case much.

All in all, I would say that this film begins strongly with a solid epilogue and first half, but due to very substandard screenplay and poor writing choices, it ends its run in a limping manner.