Luv You Shankar Review: Shreyas Talpade, Tanishaa Mukerji starrer film revisits the My Friend Ganesha formula!

LUV YOU SHANKAR

Producers- Tejas Desai and Sunita Desai

Director- Rajiv S. Ruia

Cast- Shreyas Talpade, Tanishaa Mukerji, Hemant Pandey, Abhimanyu Singh, Sanjay Mishra and Mann Gandhi

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Shivansh (Mann Gandhi) is an eight-year-old kid who lives in London with his parents. His ramblings while being treated in hospital for an accident convinces the doctor that he has had a past life in Varanasi. Shivansh now sets out to visit Varanasi and reunite with Madhav (Hemant Pandey) who was his close friend in his earlier birth.

Shivansh soon learns that he was Rudra (Shreyas Talpade) in his past life and a devout follower of Lord Shiva. He also learns that Rudra was killed by Siddhu (Abhimanyu Singh) who is now a fraudulent guru named Siddheshwar.

Determined to seek justice for his past life, Shivansh embarks on a journey to the holy city to avenge Rudra’s death and how Lord Shiva helps him fulfill his mission forms the crux of the plot.

Though ‘Luv You Shankar’ initially shows a lot of promise with flashy glimpses of past events, the hope for an engaging plot quickly fades away, when all you get to see is events backed by formula.

As far as performances are concerned, Shreyas Talpade manages to ensnare the audiences with his sincere portrayal of Rudra while Abhimanyu Singh, scores with his role which is a blend of emotions and deceit and cowardice.

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Mann Gandhi’s portrayal of Shivansh is just about manageable, and Tanishaa’s brief appearance as Shreyas’ character’s wife leaves little impact, because there is not even one single scene which holds her to the hearts of the audiences.

Hemant Pandey’s portrayal of Madhav stands out, adding some excitement to the narrative, while Sanjay Mishra’s brief cameo manages to inject a little bit of slapstick humor into the final moments.

The film begins in London and later makes a swift transition to Banaras, but the makers have failed to capture the essence of both cities. On the flipside, I should say that the animated depiction of Lord Shiva falls short of its potential, thus highlighting a missed opportunity to employ advanced technology for a more credible and captivating visual.

To sum up, I should say that director Rajiv S. Ruia has just about revisited the formula that he had earlier used in his own film ‘My Friend Ganesha,’ and made a film that will appeal to them kids in a limited measure though this time it lacks the original impact it had created with a lot of original impact.