Shalivahana Shakhe movie review: Interesting subject but weak execution mars this sci-fi thriller

Shalivahana Shakhe movie review: Writer-director Girish leads the cast of this thriller about changing destiny with a time turner, following a death

Girish in a still from Shalivahana Shakhe

Shalivahana Shakhe movie story: Four friends, Ranga (Girish), Pandya (Chillar Manja), Daya (Dayananda Sagar) and Suri (Prashanth YN), decide to go for a splash at an open well. During his swim, Ranga finds a conch, which he thinks would make for a nice gift for his girlfriend. But then, moments later, Pandya takes a dive into the water, and then fails to come back up. By the time Ranga, Daya and Suri get to him, he is no more. Worried that even an accidental death could be construed as murder and that they’d be punished for a crime they didn’t commit, the friends decide to get rid of Pandya’s body in an area frequented by a cheetah.

Later that night, Ranga finds the conch glowing; intrigued, he blows it and goes to bed. The next morning, when Ranga begins to have a sense of déjà vu about all that happens around him, he realizes that he’s reliving the previous day, which also means that Pandya is still alive and could be kept that way.

Shalivahana Shakhe movie review: Director Girish, who made the horror anthology Ond Kathe Hella, a few years ago, returns with a thriller that marries mythology with science fiction. A magical conch with the power to manipulate time is at the heart of the tale; a device that will let the protagonist go back in time and set things right. In this case, it is the accidental death of a friend. The timeline is reset a few times, each time with a different outcome. Whether or not the group of friends remain unscathed is what the film is about.

Girish, who had a supporting role in his directorial debut, promotes himself to leading man with Shalivahana Shakhe. The narrative follows a time loop, so, naturally, a lot of events are on repeat mode, but Girish ensures that it does not get monotonous, by introducing minor changes that have a bigger impact in the larger scheme of things.

While the concept of Shalivahana Shakhe is interesting, the film does not have a strong enough cast to make it impactful. Its budgetary constraints become apparent in the minimalistic settings of the narrative and Sundar Veena’s very fake beard. The writing also needed to be more coherent – for instance, for a bunch of close friends, it is strange that at the earliest sign of trouble, they bail on each other.

Shalivahana Shakhe movie verdict: Time loop, as a concept, has been rarely explored in Kannada cinema, but for audiences exposed to world cinema,

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