A Kannada film titled, Vijayanand based on the life story of renewed Karnataka businessman Vijay Sankeshwar had a simultaneous release in Telugu with the same title today. Let’s see how it fares.
Story: Vijayanand is a biopic on reputed Kannada businessman Vijay Sankeshwar. The film starts with the initial days of Vijay( Nihal Rajput) who work round the clock and develops his father’s printing press. At one point in time, Vijay who is not satisfied with the family business decides to kick-start a lorry transport business on his own. What kind of hurdles will Vijay undergo in the expansion of the transportation business? Later, how will he emerge as one of the leading entrepreneurs by using his skills, forms the crucial crux.
Performances: Nihal Rajput’s makeover as Vijayanand is good. He literally lived in the given lead role and is impresses with his acting. Nihal pulled off given India’s biggest logistics company VRL PVT Ltd owner role with his screen presence in a few key portions in the second half.
Senior actor Anant Nag perfectly fitted in the father role and his screen presence is an advantage for the film. Prakash Belawadi is fine in his role as a Newspaper head. Actor Ravichandran is decent in his limited screen time.
Other artists who did key roles are okay in their respective roles but most of them are hardly known to the Telugu audience.
Technicalities: The setup created for the movie is good and the art department should be appreciated for it. Production design work is fine as the earlier days are recreated nicely. The work done to showcase the olden days is visible on the screen.
Gopi Sundar’s music works in parts. While his songs fail to register, the background score elevates a couple of crucial scenes in the second half.
The photography work by Keerthan Poojary is good as he tried to capture the vintage texture in the film nicely. Hemanth Kumar D’s editing work is a big letdown as close to fifteen minutes of the film can be easily trimmed to keep the duration within limits.
The Telugu dubbing work is done on a proper note and the artists who have lent their voices to all characters in the film should be appreciated.
Analysis: Rishika Sharma directs Vijayanand. The director tried to present the life story of Vijay Sankeshwar in a decent manner but she would have worked more on executing the film in an even more gripping way.
Though the initial parts of the film are showcased nicely, as the film proceeds the audience’s attention will be diverted due to the slow-paced narrative. Lack of emotional connectivity is also a drawback for the film. To summarize, Vijayanand is a biographical drama based on the life story of Kannada’s business magnetic Vijay Sankeshwar. Though Nihal Rajput gave a decent performance, the lack of proper scene order and lengthy runtime might not get positive feedback from the Telugu audience.
Verdict: Boring biopic!
Rating: 1.5/5
