Viikings head Sachin Joshi’s bi-lingual action drama thriller in Tatineni Sathya direction has released today in theaters. Let us see, what the film is all about?
Sathya (Sachin Joshi), a professional Kabaddi player is arrested and put to trial on charges of murdering his wife Shruti (Esha Gupta) during their first night in Goa. As police fails to recover dead body, the case is handed over to special officer (Kishore) while Shruti’s father (Prabhu) fights for justice to hang Sathya. Meanwhile, Sathya is shifted to Goa prison where Jailor (Supreeth) has a past revenge equation to balance with Sathya.
As investigation proceeds on, Goa police recover the hand of a dead person Catherine (Esha Gupta) killed on same night. So, here comes the question… how many girls did Sathya kill on that one night? Further deep into cracking the case, Police finds that there is a big conspiracy connected to Shruti’s Crores worth property and finally Sathya is also declared killed by Goa doctors while playing Kabaddi in jail ground. Rest there is a thrilling explanation to whole narrative.
Tatineni Sathya’s story had plenty of inspirations from Abbas Mastan films in Bollywood. Bluffing the audience from first frame is though an unhealthy screenplay format yet Sathya and Kannan succeeded to keep the proceedings to large extent intact. Technically every frame is handled so grandly with colorful DI locking viewer attention to main screen. Direction wise, there are loopholes in executing the whole script as per plan but there are also enough number of good scenes to appreciate the effort. Writing department of Venu Mandepudi gave best shot to hide the film from getting a dubbing flavor.
Technically, camerawork from Binendra Menon is top notch. May it be slow motion shots in prison or beautifully shot romance in Goa beaches and cruises, Binendra breathed life and soul to Veedevadu. Sharp cuts from editing Prawin Pudi are excellent in retaining a specific mysterious mood. SS Thaman’s background scored added more value and so are his songs shot exotically. Production standards from Viikings are too good.
About artists, Sachin Joshi is though central hero of the film, it’s the interesting treatment and engaging narrative stole the show. Sachin definitely improved his confidence levels and body language from rest of his past flops. Esha Gupta extended her hot and sexy looks from Instagram to big screen. Her tall height, juicy assets are a good choice to rejoice. Kishore’s police act is impressively etched. Vennela Kishore, Srinivas Reddy tickled the fun-bone. Supreet, Prabhu were apt to the crime plot. Rest all including Prathap Pothan did their jobs.
Goa Prison Scenes
Thrill Quotient
Cinematography
Last 15 Minutes
Non Native Lead Artists
Flat, Confusing Narrative
Direction
Missing Emotions
Veedevadu is made on an interesting premise of protagonist projected negatively and struck in Goa prison. Story is told in a to-fro style revealed in couple of flashbacks to keep the suspense alive. But it was too late in opening the actual mystery element just last 15 minutes before the end. Thathineni Sathya made the show interesting by making well use of technical and production teams at disposal.
From very beginning, Sachin is introduced as psychologically unstable candidate who murdered his wife. All the Goa prison shots are technically attention holding. Amalgamation of artists from Telugu, Tamil, Hindi film industries made the plot a cocktail failing to sympathize with characters. Yet, the colorful visuals dominate the show. From opening the flashback to playing Kabaddi game in prison to Kishore’s intelligently cracking the mysterious crime or Esha Gupta hotness; first half has more surprises to keep us hooked.
Second half falls into a complex mode with entry of Catherine (Esha Gupta) and the case becomes further challenging for Kishore. Storytelling takes a flat note in these parts. In parallel, Supreet and his prisoners’ team try to invigorate a commercial flavor while Harshavardhan as sidekick to Kishore provided some splits. Whatsoever, when it’s time for Prabhu to build the pressure removing Kishore from the case, the stage is set for pre climax Kabaddi match. Unacceptable levels of cinematic liberty lead to Sachin’s dramatic demise as Kishore untangles the puzzle.
All in all, Veedevadu has its own share of ups and downs. But a thrilling crime plot cracking with intelligent mind games is a refreshing, welcome change for cinema lovers. While commercial verdict depends more on acceptability of such stories by lower order center audience, CJ goes for 2.25 stars.