Indraganti Mohan Krishna decided to change his career game with an action drama as the medium Budget love dramas and family films are not really elevating his stature. Whenever he collaborated with Nani, he made a movie that helps them both. This time he got a chance to deliver something special for Nani with the actor’s 25th film. Taking his other usuals like Sudheer Babu, Nivetha Thomas and recent favorite Aditi Rao Hydari, he promised a suspense and eventful maze of a film, “V”. Let’s see how he delivered.
Plot: A killer (Nani) challenges daredevil, super cop, Adithya (Sudheer Babu). The cop transcends to fame with one communal riots incident and there is a hidden connection between his raise and killer’s jealousy against him. As we dig deep, we get to know that killer is an ex-army officer, name, Vishnu. Why is he trying to challenge Aditya? What is the hidden connection? How do other characters play there role in “V” maze?
Performances: Nani elevated the cheesy lines given to him really well. Few random scenes just to show how disturbed he is, doesn’t bode well to the overall impact of the story but he pulled them off well. His body language in this character is different from his Nenu Local but dialogue delivery is similar to it. May be in his next performance, he can work on it too.
Sudheer Babu looked very good in scenes where needed to portray straight forward emotions. But when they required him to be slightly dynamic, he looked a bit stoic and in some awkward. May be he can play better characters than just an urbane personality.
Nivetha Thomas decided to let some skin show off this time around and she did not get much substance to play with. Aditi Rao Hydari got a more juicy role and contrastingly from Sammohanam, she did not have to show off her beauty here.
All others are good but no one registers!
Technicalities: Marthand K Venkatesh cuts keep the flow intact. Going with the script and vision of the director, the editor managed to balance narrative style and actual scene requirement.
Music by Amit Trivedi doesn’t have anything special to talk about. SS Thaman’s background score adds to the drama in the film. In fact, few scenes have an impact because of his score. But for some parts, you may feel like you have heard it somewhere and you can exactly find where, if you think little bit.
Cinematography by PG Vinda at times overshadows the content that Indragranti has at his disposal. Had he slightly let himself go back in few scenes and shots, emotional drama could have been elevated better, one feels so. Because style takes over substance in key scenes.
Indraganti Mohan Krishna decided to go for the wild goose hunt with as cheesy lines as he can write and as crisply as he can narrate a cat & mouse game. But his clash between the titans (main characters) did not grow beyond few one-liners for climax to leave an impact. When you take Athadu, Trivikram Srinivas managed to humanise one character and keep the other one outlandish for his climax to leave us with an impact.
Yes, here there are two heros. But when two seem outlandish one cannot die for another one. Script needed to balance both of them after the initial set-up through out the runtime. But once, one story takes over the other, it just seems like we are looking at a random person than a character that we are asked to follow from the first scene. This is where the script looses grip and leaves it to actors to elevate it, completely.
He decided to go brutal with his action cuts and that is a welcome change from his usual no too much blood policy.
Analysis: Few films and directors feed off their actors more than we can imagine. They tend to write material that a good actor elevates and bad actor spoils. Indraganti Mohan Krishna is one such writer and director. If an actor can understand his material and deliver, then the script looks good otherwise the flaws expose themselves right in your face. This time he casted Nani, Sudheer, Aditi Rao Hydari and Nivetha Thomas, who elevated his cheesy lines, predictable plot to a decent level.
He tried to execute the material to the best of his abilities as a director and his action cuts are brutal, energetic. But his main strength drama doesn’t maintain the same intense throughout the film. It just drops like a musical note after a crescendo and then never picks up. The major emotional impact is overrun in a superficial manner as style takes over substance at most places.
Still Nani and rest of the cast elevated the material to a watchable level. It requires patience from people who don’t love action dramas. And for those who love them, this may seem routine but plausible. Overall, an easy weekend watch.
Bottom line: Nani elevates the material.
Rating: 2.5/5
Genre: Suspense Drama, Action, 18+ (violent imagery)
Available on Amazon Prime Video
