Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Cast/Actors: Siddharth Gupta, Sushmitha Bhat, Sanskruti Jayana, Nivaashiyni Krishnan & J. Karthik
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Director: Hardik Gajjar
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Production House: Sajan Raj Kurup, Shobha Sant, Poonam Shroff & Parth Gajjar
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Release Date: 7th May, 2026
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Available On: Theatrical Release
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Released/Available In Languages: Hindi
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Runtime: 2h 29m
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Movie Review:
A spate of animation films on Ganesha, Hanuman and Narasimha have intermittently caught the fancy of the Indian audience.
Here comes a film with real actors slipping into the roles of Lord Krishna, the three prominent women in his life, Radha, Rukmini and Satyabhama, and a sprinkling of family members.
One of the biggest runaway successes at the plush Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in 2024, was the spectacular musical Rajadhiraaj: Love. Life. Leela, dancing and singing with Lord Krishna from Vrindavan to Dwarka. It was scripted by Raam Mori.
Retaining the colours and the playful ambience of the play, Ram Mori joins hands with writer-director Hardik Gajjar and co-writer Prakash Kapadia to tell more stories about Lord Krishna (Siddharth Gupta), this time on the big screen.
It starts off like an endless musical that isn’t going anywhere important. But after the hour of songs and dances settles down, Gajjar begins to unravel the reasons behind the Lord’s seemingly debatable moves.
For instance, most logical and progressive minds would wonder about the relevance, or indeed the ethics, of putting on a pedestal his romance with Radha (Sushmitha Bhatt), the love of his life, when Krishna had virtuous wife Rukmini (Nivaashiyni Krishnan) in his life. Or how Satyabhama (Sanskruti Jayana) fit into this already questionable triangle. That and more and is unspooled in this instalment that lingers on the heart (hridayam).
Taking off with Jackie Shroff’s well-recognised voice before the actor himself appears in wisdom-spouting guru attire, there’s a good attempt at explaining mysteries of Lord Krishna’s actions that sometimes seem like antics.
You come out of the 2.5 hours experience feeling a bit more enriched about Lord Krishna than when you went in.
However, the writer-director takes far too much for granted. Not every viewer walking in is equipped with knowledge about Satyabhama’s father’s ire against Krishna and why he did what he did to him. There is a lot of straightforward telling that was required to impart the correct background and story of all that happened to Lord Krishna which Gajjar misses. It leaves the viewer with questions unanswered.
Similarly, considering the scale of music in the film, it’s astonishing that much like the Ambani play, composer Prashant Sashte does not leave you with even one memorable melody to hum or take home. Remember English plays like Jesus Christ Superstar or Eva? To this day, we sing their numbers.
Maybe for the next instalment, the makers will write a more comprehensible narrative that explains every action and provides background for a much larger audience to grasp the full meaning of the Krishna Avataram.
And please, a musical should give you an album you can keep hearing and humming.
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) – Watch Or Not?: Catch a screening. It does give more insights into Krishna than other works have so far provided the viewer.
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Movie Review Score Rating: 3 out of 5 (i.e. 3/5)
Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart (Hridayam) Official Trailer:
Credits: Saregama Music
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