Double iSmart Telugu Movie Review, Ram Pothineni, Kavya Thapar

Movie name: Double iSmart

Release date: August 15, 2024

123telugu.com Rating: 2.75/5

Starring: Ram Pothineni, Kavya Thapar, Sanjay Dutt, Getup Srinu, Ali, Sayaji Shinde

Director: Puri Jagannadh

Producers: Puri Jagannadh, Charmme Kaur

Music Director: Mani Sharma

Cameraman: Gianni Giannelli, Shyam K. Naidu

Editor: Karthika Sreenivas R

Related links: Trailer

Double Ismart is the latest action thriller starring Ram Pothineni, directed by Puri Jagannadh. The film came with quite a lot of expectations—let’s see how it goes.

Story:

International mafia boss Big Bull (Sanjay Dutt) desperately tries to escape death after being diagnosed with Glioma. A scientist suggests that transferring his memory into the brain of another person could make him immortal. Their search for the ideal candidate leads them to Shankar (Ram Pothineni) in Hyderabad. The memory transfer takes place and what follows is the thrilling core of the story, best experienced on the big screen.

Pros:

Ram Pothineni is back as iSmart Shankar and like the first part he delivers a superb performance in the sequel. His massive stance and intense dialogue delivery are once again entertaining.

Kavya Thapar joins Ram as his love interest and their scenes together are nice to watch. Sanjay Dutt, who plays a mafia boss, adds some weight to the film, though his performance is just okay.
The rest of the cast performs within their limits and the action scenes are well executed in places.

Negatives:

While the basic plot is decent, justifying the decision to make a sequel, Puri Jagannadh and his team didn’t seem interested in making the narration engaging. The story demands a compelling screenplay, which is conspicuously missing, especially in the second half, making it hard to stay engaged.

The emotional aspects are not expressed due to lack of depth. Many characters seem to exist only to fill the screen. Jhansi’s role could have had more impact and her flashback scenes could have added some emotional weight. Pragathi’s over the top performance is better left unmentioned.

The comedy is disappointing. Ali’s character and his attempts at humor are more annoying than funny. The songs and their placement feel out of sync with the story, seemingly added to give the audience a break, but it doesn’t work.

Manisharma’s trademark intense background score, which could have improved the film, is a significant miss in this sequel. The face-off scenes with Sanjay Dutt don’t work, making his Telugu debut less impressive. His character is poorly portrayed and the dubbing feels awkward.

Technical aspects:

It is high time that Puri Jagannadh thinks and comes up with a script that revives the solid, vintage style that many fans have been missing. Unfortunately, this is another weak film that does him no favors. The storyline is nice, but the execution is disappointing.

Editor Junaid Siddiqui could have improved the film by cutting out many unnecessary scenes that disrupt the flow, especially in the second half. Raj Thota’s cinematography is satisfactory and the production values are up to par. However, Manisharma could have done better, at least to improve the film in certain areas.

Pronunciation:

Overall, Double iSmart struggles to live up to the hype of its predecessor, iSmart Shankar. Despite Ram Pothineni’s commendable efforts, his talent feels underutilized. The plot has potential but the execution falls short, especially in the dragging second half. Kavya Thapar’s presence is minimal and Ali’s comedy track fails to elicit any laughs. Sanjay Dutt’s portrayal of the villain comes across as a run-of-the-mill villain. If you’re looking for solid entertainment, this might not be your best bet.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.75/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

Click here for Telugu review