Yashoda movie review: Samantha Ruth Prabhu shines, but she cannot hide the flaws in this thriller

Language: Tamil, and Telugu Cast: Samantha, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Unni Mukundan, Murali Sharma, Sampath Director: Hari-Harish Since the morning of the release of Yashoda, I have seen multiple reports that claim that a lot rides on Yashoda for actor Samantha who plays the lead in this film. To be honest, the actor has proved time and again that her performance will stand the test of time, and it is then not fair to encapsulate all of an actor in one project. Yashoda is not a film that would receive rapturous attention from the audience, and neither is it a dud. It is a promising premise aided by great performances of its lead cast. What it does suffer from is lack of bringing its vision from paper onto screen. Without going too much into the details of the film’s plot, which is a thriller that you must experience as an audience, what I can tell you is that there is all signs of making a great film in _Yashoda_ ’s first half. It sets up the characters, their lives and their ordeals. For instance, why does Samantha as Yashoda interested in being a surrogate? Who is Madhubala (Varalaxmi), and what is the truth about her identity and so on. So where exactly does it falter? It begins to misstep the moment the film begins to hide behind Yashoda. Instead of packing up the plot, and fleshing out the arc enough to aid the punches that the film hopes to land, the main hope for the film is Yashoda’s antics. How she gets close to other surrogates, how she befriends people in the clinic that she goes to are hyperfocussed. Most of the times, the why becomes an afterthought. It is also this nuanced look at delivering twists that is missing from the film. For instance, does a twist land the punch, and leave audiences gasping? Or does it leave them mildly interested? They could also be left clueless if the said punches didn’t land. Where you can place Yashoda in this scale is smack in the middle. They are clear about the twist that they want to introduce and it is smart. However, the way they introduce it and way these particular scenes are written do not do much for the plot progression. It is not so much that you see what is coming because the twists are cliched and borrowed from stereotypes. If anything, some of the most interesting things about the film apart from its premise is its twists. It is unfortunate that they do not have space to breathe and take shape of their own. The punch is required to make a good shocking twist in a thriller effectual is what is missing from the film. Considering that the film is a thriller, it is important to pay attention to the pace of the film. At times, this also suffers because of humour that is not seamless. The humour in this film, which on second thought feels unintentional, is jarring and ends up leaving us disconnected from the seriousness of the plot. In fact, the dependency on Yashoda’s act throughout the film goes overboard, has the same effect. Because it was so obviously out of place, it threw me as a viewer out of the story momentarily. This in turn affected how engrossing the film could have been. Such disturbances occur not partially, but often throughout the story. The onus is then on the viewers to stay with the characters. I am then forced to pay attention as opposed to me being instinctively engrossed in the film. This is, in fact, my biggest complaint abut Yashoda. The fact that the thriller gave me the time and space to let my wander. Throughout it all, my attention did stay on one thing, or I must say, one person and that is Samantha. She lights up the screen in ways few actors are capable of today, and she does so with so much enthusiasm and affection for the camera that one cannot help but be attracted towards her character on screen. To conclude, Yashoda as a film is a great example of how a film could be interesting, entertaining, and yet flawed to the point of contention. Rating: 2.75 (out of 5) Yashoda is playing in cinemas

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.