Star Shine:
Cleaning up systemic corruption has been Shankar’s pet theme, whether in Indian, Mudhalvan or Anniyan. He also has a larger-than-life style and the ability to make the absurd palatable. But Game Changer has no new ideas, only a star in a double role who will bring in fans. He has a sense of larger than life cinema, and the ability to make the absurd palatable, but then he makes Game Changer, and it is clear he has no new ideas, just a star who will bring in fans. Hopefully the fans will not even notice how shallow the film is, because they will have been bludgeoned into passivity by all the noise in and around it.
Game Changer has a few seconds to establish that the chief minister (Srikanth) of Andhra Pradesh is dying, and his clownish finger-snapping son Mopidev (SJ Suryah) wants to grab the post. Then, the hero, Ram Nandan (Ram Charan) makes his entry, dressed in black tank top and folded lungi, and beats up some baddies, for no reason at all; then he lands in a helicopter amidst a dancing throng dressed like they were getting ready for the Republic Day float. So Ram Nandan dances too, because action and dancing are the star’s specialties.
Ram is the new collector of Vizag, with more powers than the prime minister—which he even lists out, in case anybody was incredulous. His family runs after him to get married, but is revealed in a quick flashback that he was in love with Deepika (Kiara Advani), who disapproved of his anger, and the tendency to beat up anybody in sight. The leading lady is there just for a couple of songs, and then forgotten about till Shankar decides it is time to stage another big song-and-dance number.
In between, Ram Chandan is made CM by the now properly dead CM, then divested of the chair by Mopidev. He has barely lit the pyre, when the action shifts to a tribal dance number and a flashback to Ram’s principled father (also Ram Charan), who would be CM, but for his stutter. No point in wondering how the CM’s post is handed to all and sundry like a slice of pizza, because in Shankar’s world anything is possible. Because Ram Charan is the “global superstar” (the credits say so), he can be IAS, IPS and politician depending on his mood.
He keeps clashing with Mopidev who refuses to accept defeat, and tries to rig the elections. But Ram can get dozens of drones to fly and commandeer bulldozers and trash compactors to take on Mopidev’s goons, while he sits at a table in the open and orchestrates the mayhem.
Forget the lack of a coherent script (Vivek Velmurugan, Sri Madhav Burra and Karthik Subbaraj), Shankar just moves so fast, that no moment register, the camera (Tirru) moving frantically like it were trying to outpace molten lava from an erupting volcano. The songs are instantly forgettable, but the loud, insistent background score could wake up the dead on the next planet. He can’t even decide on a cause– sand mafia, milk adulteration, deforestation and mining are all picked as if through a game of darts.
Given a chance, Ram Charan can act, but he can’t even grieve a death like a normal person, he has to beat himself on the chest and head with the dead one’s slippers (pristine of course), probably the longest Shankar allows the camera to linger on his star’s face. Shankar’s vigilante style politics need an upgrade along with his much too bombastic filmmaking style. Cinema should not be made just for fans; others might stray into the cinema too, and wonder what the fuss is all about. A film like Game Changer does Ram Charan’s charisma no favours.
(This piece first appeared in scroll.in)
