If you’ve seen early Amitabh movies like Sholay, Deevar, Namak Haram etc., to name a popular few, you will know that Amitabh was not the only actor in those movies yet he was the key factor in the success of those movies. Amitabh’s character moved the story forward and the story and his character and of others in the movie complimented each other. Amitabh’s height, voice and his acting added to the scale of the movie. In his later movies where he looked old but still worked has a young hero, his character lent to the story. And there was balance.

But in Shamitabh, there is just, too much Amitabh. I had a feeling that the movie was contrived to provide him footage more than the story and his character deserved. Either Amitabh is too obsessed or the director R. Balki is in awe of him and his voice.

The entire movie is to cash in on , The Voice. And a story is developed to use the voice on another face through use of technology.

The concept is good. And taking mercy on the cine-crowd’s intelligence quotient, there is a half-hearted demo to explain the voice transfer technology. The dumb, Dhanush, gets the voice technology hardware thru a few easy coincidences. All he needs now is a software, “voice” and stardom waits round the corner.

In drops a drunk, a waste, the longest running aspiring hero- Amitabh. Dhanush, the dumb face and Amitabh, the voice, hit is it off. But a few scenes down the line, the Voice turns into a headache. The Voice wants his due recognition and the dumb face is on an ego trip. So far so good.

But not so good. Mostly, I found myself checking my mobile for some interesting message miraculously appear thru aeroplane mode. Saw a couple walk out of the hall probably to ask for the money back. I mean, the movie pacing is in question. And mostly it happened when Amitabh was dominating the screen with his solo overacting. The story was sacrificed to display gurgitated dialogues which connected with no one.

I have good words for Dhanush. He has presence and in front of the wizened Amitabh he held his own. He is far from being a heart throb but he will have his own followers.

Akshara Hassan is like photo copy of her mother Sarika. For people of my Palaeolithic age, you’ll know what I mean. But I hated her hairstyle. Time and again, I was tempted to get a big scissor and clip those locks which invariably dropped and covered the right side of her face. But, she is good refreshing face and she has years to develop in the field.

The story idea is compelling. The movie is not. Though there are snippets of interesting moments and that’s about it.