Sankham

Sankham (also spelled Shankham, “Conch”) is a 2009 Telugu action comedy written and directed by Siva and produced by J. Bhagavan and J. Pulla Rao under Sri Balaji Cine Media. Gopichand and Trisha lead, with Sathyaraj, Chandra Mohan, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Ali in support. S. Thaman composed the music, Vetri shot it and Gautham Raju edited it. It was released on 11 September 2009.

What the story is about

Chandu is a rich, rough-edged young man raised in Australia by his uncle Krishna Rao. He loves martial arts but never gets to use them for real. Mahalakshmi, who lives in Australia with her uncle, a restaurant owner, is just as keen on martial arts, and after a few misunderstandings the two fall in love. Then Mahalakshmi is forcibly taken back to her hometown in Rayalaseema, and Chandu follows her.

Her father Pashupati and his archenemy Sivaiah are the powerful heads of two neighbouring villages locked in a long feud. When Chandu asks for Mahalakshmi’s hand, Pashupati sets him a test: escort his brother Rajappa, who has spent 25 years in exile fearing for his life, safely home from the railway station. Taking on that job draws Chandu deep into the villages’ old war, and towards a discovery about his own past.

Cast and crew

• Gopichand as Chandu
• Trisha as Mahalakshmi
• Sathyaraj as Sivaiah
• Chandra Mohan as Krishna Rao, Chandu’s uncle
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Pashupati Naidu, Mahalakshmi’s father
• Supreeth as Rajappa, Pashupati’s brother
• Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Pichaiah, Mahalakshmi’s uncle
• Ali as Saif Ali Khan and Venu Madhav as Prem Kumar

Writer and director: Siva. Producers: J. Bhagavan and J. Pulla Rao (Sri Balaji Cine Media). Music: S. Thaman, released by Aditya Music. Cinematography: Vetri. Editing: Gautham Raju. Runtime: 155 minutes.

Reviews

Reviews were mixed. Jeevi of Idlebrain rated it two out of five and called it “a clichéd film”. Rediff felt Siva had made “a mass movie which may fare well in the B and C centres”, watchable for Gopichand “if you can bear the tedium of time and action and a cliched storyline”. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Phir Ek Most Wanted, into Bhojpuri as Baghi Balma and into Tamil as Sivappu Saamy. We have not found box-office figures from a named outlet.

Where to watch Sankham

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Sankham on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Sankham and the reviews it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.