Review: Yashoda stands out in parts

The plot of this thriller revolves around an impoverished girl named Yashoda (played by Samantha) who consents to be a surrogate mother.

Hyderabad: The highly-anticipated film of the month, Samantha-starrer ‘Yashoda’ finally hit the screens. Produced by Sivalenka Krishna Prasad under his Sridevi Movies banner, the film is directed by Harish Narayan and K Hari Shankar.

The plot of this thriller revolves around an impoverished girl named Yashoda (played by Samantha) who consents to be a surrogate mother.

---

Yashoda’s life revolves around her younger sister. As she desperately needs money for her sister’s surgery, Yashoda decides to raise the required amount by becoming a surrogate mother.

And thus, she steps into Eva, a high-tech surrogacy facility headed by Madhubala (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) that helps people realise their dreams of becoming parents through surrogacy.

It’s a big change for Yashoda, who slowly develops bonds with other surrogate mothers in the facility. Everything seems fine at first, but after a minor incident, Yashoda begins to suspect that there is something fishy about the place.

Taking things into her hands, she decides to investigate the surrogacy mafia on her own. The key to the story is how she deciphers it.

‘Yashoda’ takes time to engage the viewers. The director duo’s attempt to make surrogacy more widely accepted, while also depicting how people abuse good things to their own selfish ends, is commendable.

Hari and Harish attempted to tread a fine line while attempting to prove that surrogacy can have both positive and negative effects. The main idea of the movie is intriguing and hasn’t been hitherto explored.

There are a few well-carved out interesting sections, which make the movie stand out in parts. However, the twist in the story doesn’t work out well in the end.

It’s Samantha who carries the whole film on her shoulders, as she has been doing with a few movies in the recent past. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Unni Mukundan get to play bold roles and they do it with panache.

Besides the lead roles, the ensemble cast also has Rao Ramesh, Murali Sharma, Shatru, Madhurima, Kalpika Ganesh, Divya Sripada and Priyanka Sharma who have some good parts though not exactly meaty roles.

Mani Sharma did justice to the film’s music by composing some melodious and haunting tunes, and Sukumar does a good job in the cinematography department.

On the whole, the story isn’t new though the attempt is praiseworthy. Samantha fans can enjoy this intense movie if they want to see her flexing her muscles too.