Game Changer Movie Review: The film “Game Changer” officially started in 2021. This is Shankar’s first straight film in Telugu. It started off as a Dil Raju production.. Later, due to various problems, the shooting was delayed and the entire film was released in 2025 Sankranti. In fact, there were no big expectations for this film, the reason for that was the result of Shankar’s previous film “Indian 2”. With that.. What is the status of “Game Changer”? What is the status of Dil Raju, who made the film with a budget of almost 400 crores? It has become a topic of discussion in the industry. And has Shankar made a comeback? Has Ram Charan also broken Rajamouli’s curse like NTR? Let’s see..!!
Game Changer Movie Story:
Ram Nandan (Ram Charan), who came to his own district as a collector, puts a knife to the neck of the illegals and puts an end to the anarchy they commit. In that order, he has to face Bobbili Mopidevi (S.J. Surya), a butcher's son and minister waiting for his father Bobbili Satyamurthy (Srikanth) to die.
When Mopidevi, who cannot bear Ram Nandan's honesty, files a case against him and removes him from the collector's duties, Ram Nandan unexpectedly becomes a key figure in the Abhyudayam Party. However, to what extent has the battle between Ram Nandan and Mopidevi reached? Was Mopidevi able to become the Chief Minister? How did Ram Nandan resist it? This is the plot of "Game Changer".
Game Changer Movie Analysis:
Shankar's films have lavishness, shock value, and a good message, and they evoke the idea of questioning the injustice happening in society. Game Changer has all these but does not fit properly. Especially due to unnecessary commercialism, the emotional elements that should have been elevated in the film have been hidden. However.. Those who have some understanding of the election rush in Telugu states before 2024 and Andhra politics and politicians will like this film. Above all, Ram Charan's performance, S.J. Surya's performance as Mopidevi, Thaman's music, and Thiru's cinematography work can be seen as a Sankranthi tradition.
Director Shankar hesitated to put his mark on “Game Changer”. The story presented by Karthik Subbaraju has guts, but.. the unnecessary insertion of a love story, and the episodes written for it not being worked out properly.. the audience gets disconnected from the movie in many places. First of all, this story is not at the level of being made into a pan-Indian movie. It would have been better if it had been released only in Telugu or Tamil languages. Being a political movie, having some satires and situations related to Andhra politics is not something that will connect much with people of other languages. However.. this is a much better movie than “Bharatiyeudu 2”.
But.. it is not a Shankar-level movie. The audience expects a lot from Shankar, but.. it should also be confident and beautiful. He followed that format in all his previous movies. But.. for some reason, it has been lacking lately. Therefore, even though Game Changer is a good film in terms of story and actor's performance, it fails to meet the expectations of the audience. Overall, it must be said that Shankar, as a director, was unable to fully entertain the audience.
Game Changer Movie Actors' performance:
Ram Charan's performance as Ram Nandan is more entertaining than Ram Charan's performance as Appanna. Especially in the role of Appanna, Ram Charan has masterfully crafted emotional scenes as the stuttered leader. Especially in the scene where Charan makes a phone call in the trailer, he has to be praised. He is also impressive as Ram Nandan but.. he scored more marks than before.
S.J. Surya did a heroic job in his role. The madness of Mopidevi's position is clearly visible in his eyes and body language. Srikanth surprised. There is no role that Srikanth has not played in his career over the years, but.. acting without showing negativity in a role with a negative shade is not a common thing. Srikanth's character arc is also good.
Anjali got a good role. Her character as Parvathy will be remembered for a long time. Her dance & expressions in the song Konda Devara are particularly impressive. Jayaram's comedy timing was dominated by Mano's dubbing voice. Samudrakhani remained like an audience in the movie. Kiara Advani is limited to just songs and a few romantic scenes. Although Charan & Kiara's chemistry is good.. the love episodes lack naturalness and her role remains just a glamour touch.
Technical performance:
There are many good songs in the movie. The film crew should know why they were not released. However.. the song "Nana Hairana", which impressed everyone, was also cut from the movie. Thaman did 100% justice to the movie. He elevated the movie to the best of his ability with songs and background music. However.. the placement of some songs did not work out but.. while "Arugu Mau" was heartfelt, "Konda Devara" gave good momentum to the second half. Charan's dance moments in the Koparyap song are entertaining.
Cinematographer Thiru's work is the main asset of the movie. The way the robotic camera was used for elevation shots is good. It must be said that the robotic camera was used for most of the scenes in the meantime in “Game Changer”. Also.. a lot of care was taken in the matter of collar grading. If you want to know how the infrared cameras used for the first time for this film are working, you can understand it after watching “Nana Hairana” which will be added on January 14. Thiru’s work as a technician elevated the commercial film very well.
Since it was his dream Shankar film.. Dil Raju did not compromise anywhere. While Dil Raju said that he spent 75 crores on the songs alone.. the total cost of the film was 400 crores. It can be said that the climax fight peak is a commercial film format.