V is a Telugu movie, and if a top star is portrayed as an antihero, he cannot be a devilish person at any cost.
Language: Telugu
Indraganti Mohana Krishna V, starring Nani and Sudheer Babu, begins with a quote from William Shakespeare The Tempest: “At this hour all my enemies lie at my mercy.” But the movie is not really based on the play or the characters. So what is the meaning of the quote? The answer lies in the run-up to the many brutal villain deaths in history at the hands of a mysterious assassin.
The assassin (Nani) enjoys the act of killing so much that he finds creative ways to kill his subjects, but most of them have to do with finding the proper technique to ensure a quick death. He loves puzzles and challenging those in power because he wants to prove something. And the responsibility for stopping this killer rests with a tough cop, DCP Aditya, who is struggling to find a motive behind the murder spree. Aditya knows that time is running out quickly and no matter how hard he tries, the killer is always one step ahead of him.
The whole drama revolves around the battle of egos between these two characters, played by Nani and Sudheer Babu, and who will emerge as the winner. So far so good. But of course, the biggest villain in the movie is the world and the characters that inhabit it.
The story itself feels like a watered-down version of an FBI manhunt operation, in which you are expected to sympathize with the killer. Why? Because it is a Telugu movie, and if a top star is portrayed as an antihero, he cannot be a devilish person at any cost.
So there must be a purpose behind it. This, in turn, affects the way we perceive history. We empathize with both the hero and the anti-hero. We support you both and we want you both to win. As a result, the clash of egos just feels like an endless wait for the big reveal, a flashback, that you can feel coming from a mile away. All of this makes the drama pretty predictable.
Then there’s the whole aspect of how the story is told. In one word, V Fight to find your rhythm or create dramatic moments that will take you by surprise. There is hardly an element of tension even when the investigation is ongoing.
If Aditya is hell-bent on catching the killer, should she focus on her personal life and how she flirts with a crime novelist, Apoorva (Nivetha Thomas), whom she just met a couple of days ago? Their fleeting romance punctuates the drama as an unnecessary comma in a sentence. He is suspicious of her at one point, but it doesn’t lead to anything that he finds interesting. His passion for criminal literature helps Aditya in one way, and the run-up to that moment seems like a banal exercise. Couldn’t they have been in your office, going through files and other data? Or how about a different puzzle that actually requires you to short-circuit your gray cells because it’s so hard to crack? The more you think about V, the more you realize the shaky ground it is built on.
The only time the drama comes to life is when Nani appears on screen. In the first act, at least, he presents himself as an unpredictable character, whose ability to get inside the heads of the people around him sets him apart. He scares them with his jokes and stays calm whatever happens. Nani pulls it off well, and her occasional conversations with Babu, who is serious in his role, are reasonably well written. But those moments are usually short-lived. Among other actors, Aditi Rao Hydari, who plays a key role, has limited screen time. However, she is the emotional core of the story. Everything looks fine on paper, but the effect doesn’t translate well on screen.
Thaman’s baseline score lacks punch. On the bright side, the movie is well shot and PG Vinda sets the right mood and atmosphere with its lighting.
When you think about how the whole movie unfolds, it seems that Krishna, the writer and director, has three stories to tell: one is the confrontation between the policeman and the murderer; the second is a revenge drama, with a large canvas but little at stake; the third is a comment on the many social ills in society. Only one of these stories is remotely interesting on screen. Perhaps, at the end of the movie, you will find out what that is. But when you do, you’ll feel like you’ve solved the puzzle without having to try too hard. That is the catch-22 situation that V it is inside. It is intended to be a puzzle, but it is also fairly easy to solve.
V is streaming on Amazon Prime Video India.
Rating: ** 1/2
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