Game Changer Movie Review: Game Changer, helmed by Director Shankar, features Ram Charan in the courtesy of Kiara Advani and SJ Suryah, who’s as good an actor as any handbook on electoral politics. The film looks marvelous, but, plot-wise, it’s pure dross.
Following the tremendous success of SS Rajamouli’s RRR, Game Changer is Ram Charan’s biggest release without actors other than himself after a long time. Besides being his first solo direct release, the film will have the actor in dual roles, thus clearly ensuring double dhamaka for the audience. After the debacle of Indian 2, Shankar is back with Game Changer, which marks his Telugu debut. Is it a ‘Game-Changing Day’ or ‘Game Over’ for Shankar-Ram Charan duo? Let us find out!
Ram Nandan (Ram Charan) is an IAS officer, who has anger issues. An honest officer, he doesn’t succumb to the various temptations that corrupt an officer. He is now a high-ranking officer and wants to make Visakhapatnam a corruption-free place. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Bobbili Satyamurthy (Srikanth), who has so far plundered the government, will turn into a divine being in no time and asks his sons, Mopidevi (SJ Suryah) and Maavera Munimanikam (Jayaram), and his ministers to stop favouring anyone and run a corruption-free government for the next year while they remain in power.
When Ram Nandan faces Mopidevi, who has amoles to become the chief minister next, it changes the course of their lives and that of Andhra Pradesh. Will that dream of Ram Nandan come true? Well, will his anger act as hindrance to his righteousness? Game Changer shows all this dynamic stuff in a span of two hours and 45 minutes.
But for Shankar, the ace director, Game Changer is yet another film of his that deals with corruption. An exception is that, after many years into his career, this was his first and only Telugu film in which he directed Ram Charan. Political drama exclusively scripted by Karthik Subbaraj boasts elements that suit the Telugu sensibility audience translated with a little twist from the original. Game Changer, however, follows the path of formula-the father-son versus villain arc.
First half of Game Changer is really boring to witness again reminds you of the earlier film Indian 2- its sequences are hardly coherent and engaging enough to build such an anticipation for a powerful second half; Sunil, as Sathyam, is probably trying too hard for that kind of comedy to be crowbarred into the obligatory romantic angle with Ram Charan and Kiara Advani, does not add much at all to an already political story based on the elections. It is only just before the interval; one moment defines quite a life-turning moment for Charan and the film starts to get its pulse alive.
Definitely, central to the movie would be elections and politics, but here again, there are seemingly no significant exciting ideas. Obviously Charan’s sermons on electoral politics don’t hold good as they only reflect on how vote banks are being bought out of money, and elections are reduced to grossly exaggerated jokes. Ram Charan, in acting in dual roles as Ram Nandan and Appanna, brings to life Game Changer. This is where most of the work is needed to lift the entire film as a mediocre political drama. SJ Suryah, who is totally covered in so many layers of make-up, screams by the loudest to show emotion. After these two, it was Jayaram and his funny one-liners that gave the film a few moments of levity. With some scope to explore further, Srikanth and Samuthirakani played interesting characters.
Director Shanker is always remembered for the emotional flashbacks in his films. We see Subbanna active as an activist and stuttering in Game Changer, but would have welcomed a little more agency to his character, which, we feel, would have taken the second half further ahead.
Camera gaze in Game Changer is exceptionally problematic, in fact, even more so when it comes to the portrayal of women: it zeroes in on their navel and bosom and reduces them to mere objects of the male gaze.
It is high time now that Shankar should start self-reflecting on grandeur filmmaking. As for the songs, while set in eyebrow-raising set pieces, hardly make you feel wow, like they did in the 90s- these pretty much don’t make any impact or worth humming.
Game Changer promises the ideas, but ultimately it does not make a strong impact.
