Meher Ramesh must be the only commercial filmmaker in the history of Indian cinema to make a comeback after a hiatus of 10 years, only to deliver one of the worst biggies of the decade. 'Bholaa Shankar', whose treatment and style are primitive, is turning out to be a major disaster at the box office.
The director's previous film, 'Shadow', was released in 2013. He had ten years to go back to the drawing room and reassess his directorial style. He had a number of pan-India films to watch and learn from. He had a ready-made story ('Bholaa Shankar' is the remake of a Tamil film titled 'Vedhalam') whose pros and cons could have been rigorously analyzed shot by shot. He had so much time since the project was finalized by Chiranjeevi that he could literally have rewritten 1008 drafts.
Treatment-wise, 'Bholaa Shankar' is a shame. It is in the same league as Pawan Kalyan's 'Sardar Gabbar Singh'. Maybe, it is worse because it is a remake. At least, 'SGS' was not a remake.
Netizens are asking, even at the cost of being blocked by the 'Shakti' and 'Kantri' maker on Twitter, when he will save Tollywood by simply retiring.