Mega Prince Varun Tej is known for starring in different genres of entertainers. Of late his films are failing to set the screens on fire and now he is gearing up to show power as Gandeevadhari Arjuna. The film directed by Praveen Sattaru is releasing on 25 August 2023. The film's OTT rights are bagged by Netflix and streaming will be after the completion of its theatrical run. The film's teaser and trailer generated interest and let us see what Gandeevadhari Arjuna offered to viewers.
Gandeevadhari Arjuna story is all about how an Ex RAW agent saves an high risk target from his adversaries. India's Minister for Environment and Forest, Aditya Raj (Nassar) becomes a high risk target as he was about to attend the UN Meet on Climate. Changes.
As a last hope, Arjun Varma (Varun Tej), ex Army Officer and Raw agent has been roped in much against the wishes of his advisor, IAS officer Ira (Sakshi Vaidya). To find out why Ira is against Arjun, why Adithya Raj is facing the threat, what it has got to do with his daughter Priya (Vimala Raman), grand daughter Riya(Baby Veda), CNG owner Ranveer ( Vinay Rai), Ex BSF officer Devender (Ravi Varma) and others should be unraveled on the screen.
Varun Tej played the role effortlessly. He looked fine as the army officer with his physique and look. He showed good expressions and intensity and emoted well in important scenes. He enacted good action sequences to entertain his fans.
Sakshi Vaidya got good screen presence compared to her earlier films and looked good on screen. However her role turned inconsequential and did not find much relevance to the proceedings. Nassar brought his experience to make his presence felt as the Union Minister who goes all out to do anything for the country and also showed good emotions during his interactions with his daughter and grand daughter. He made an impact during the climax scenes.
Vimala Raman is good in the role of his daughter. She performed well and so is Baby Veda who looked cute in her role. Vinai Rai who played the role of the main villain did not fit the bill. He looked odd and out of sync and resembled a comedian rather than a powerful antagonist. Ravi Varma overacted in the role of Vinai Rai's assistant and he got only a couple of dialogues.
Abhinav Gomatam and Narain looked silly and comical in the roles of interpol cops diluting the essence of the film. Others performed according to their roles.
Gandeevadhari Arjuna's story readied by Praveen Sattaru is a message-oriented spy thriller. Just like in his earlier films PSV.Garuda Vega and The Ghost, Praveen Sattaru decided to send a powerful and hard-hitting message to the society with the help of his spy. Right from the start till the finish he stuck to the point of action sequences putting his hero, Varun Tej, and the Union Minister to save the environment from getting polluted.
The idea is good but the entire story turned out to be waferthin. To the top of it, formulaic dialogues and scenes affected the film's proceedings. He included a few twists and turns that excite all and when they expect more of such kind, they get disappointed as they go missing in the narration. The pre-climax connects chords with the sentiment of the people with Nassar giving a good message to the entire world and in the process through dialogues highlighting how the US, UK, France, and other superpowers turned the other nations into their favorite dumping yard. Praveen Sattaru should have taken care of including interesting twists and turns and a few powerful emotions to take the film to another level.
The music of Mickey J Meyer turned out to be boring and impacted the film's narration. Much to the disappointment of all, the background score turned out to be below average. He failed to elevate the scenes with his BGM which plays an important role in a spy thriller. The cinematography of Mukesh Kumar is good in bits and pieces. One doesn't get a feeling that the entire film was shot in the exotic locations of the UK. Only at times, do people come to know that the film was shot in the UK in a lavish way. Dialogues are pretty ordinary. The production values of Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra are good.
Altogether, Gandeevadhari Arjuna is an action thriller with a good message. Praveen Sattaru showed Varun Tej in a role elevating his heroism as a spy and at the same time drove home an important message to society. A little bit of fine-tuning of the story and script would have elevated Gandeevadhari Arjuna to another level. Considering all these points Cinejosh goes with a 2 Rating for Gandeevadhari Arjuna.