Chanakya Chandraguptha is a period film based on Mauryan Empire and starring two greatest actors in Telugu Cinema of all time- NTR and ANR. This film brought ANR a great name for the interesting portrayal of the role of Chanakya in it.
Story Details:
Kautilya the great poet from Mauryan Dynasty gets the title Chanakya after writing an Epic book named “Arthasastra”. He avenges on the kingdom of Nandus and plays an instrumental role in transforming Chandragupta into a warrior king. He also helps the Emperor to expand his kingdom with his tremendous thinking capability. The story in short deals with this journey of a unique historic character- Chanakya and his bonding with the Emperor Chandraguptha- right to the Title of the film.
Performances:
ANR performed par excellence as the clever Chanakya and his histrionics were amazingly unique throughout the film. His acting reaches magnum opus stage when his character gets insulted by the Nandus. NTR is at his usual royal best as the Emperor Chanakya and the tremendous on screen presence of these two senior actors is another asset for the film. The veteran actor from Tamil Nadu- Sivaji Ganeshan played the role of Alexander the Great- Making this film having three greatest actors of South India in one film. Jayaprada is glamorous as the queen of Emperor Chandraguptha and her pairing with NTR was once again appreciated by the audience.
Technical Aspects:
Though the story line was criticized for its liberty beyond historic facts, the combination of NTR-ANR-Sivaji Ganeshan gives it the much needed foundation. NTR himself directed the film giving it the rock steady narration and music by Pendyala scored well.