What's Behind
Rana, Sai Pallavi's Virataparvam directed by Venu Ugudula overcame many rumors, negative news, and many delays before finally hitting the theatres across the world. Ahead of the film's theatrical release on June 17, 2022, the film's promotions reached the Skytop and many celebrities heaped praises after watching the special screening. The trailer even caught the attention of the Bollywood makers. Let us see whether Virataparvam lived up to all those expectations.
Story Review
Young girl Vennela (Sai Pallavi) from the interior of Telangana, motivated by her father (Sai Chand), keeps on reading various literature and great works and in the process gets inspired by the poems written by Ravanna (Rana) using the pen name Aranya. Vennela falls in love with his poems and goes in search of Ravanna, who happens to be the top commander of the Naxalites. To find out whether Vennela meets Ravanna and how Ravanna receives her and how Comrade Bharatakka (Priyamani), another comrade (Naveen Chandra), Ravanna's mother Rubee (Zarina Wahab), police officer Pratap (Banjerjee), Human rights activist Shakuntala (Nandita Das)are connected and what role another Naxal (Nivetha Pethuraj) played, watch Virataparvam on screen.
Karl Marx reason War one life reason
Ravenna books Meerabai Krishna
Sai Pallavi as Vennela
Artists, Technicians Review
Sai Pallavi is known for her powerful and impactful performances. She came up with a stellar performance and with the stunning expressions and emotions, she carried the film on her shoulders. She turned even normal scenes to another level weaving a web of magic. She turned the soul of the film. She delivered the dialogues in a powerful and emotional manner making everyone glued to her despite the presence of many stars.
Rana complimented her with his performance. His settled performance and the scenes featuring him and Sai Pallavi stood out. Sai Chand and Easwari Rao performed as Sai Pallavi's parents. Rahul Ramakrishna is good and Banerjee as the cop made an impact. Priyamani, Nandita Das,Zarina Wahab did justice for their roles.
Director Venu Udugula came up with an intense love story in the Naxal backdrop. He drew inspiration from the real-life incidents of a woman Sarala who fell in love with the Naxal in Warangal. The start is interesting with the way Sai Pallavi is introduced in an impactful manner like the birth of Vennela. Nivetha Pethuraj made her presence felt in a powerful cameo. From then on Sai Pallavi took over and created a powerful impact. Rana played an important role and looked mean and lean and put up an impressive performance.
Till the time, Sai Pallavi goes in search of Rana, the narration is interesting but from then on it turned predictable and routine. The love and feelings of Sai Pallavi for Rana are not highlighted in a proper manner and also how Rana who was a hard-core Naxalite got moved and accepted her love is not convincing. The first half ends on an interesting note. However, the second half turned out more of a war between cops and the Naxals and everything became unidimensional.
Venu Udugula's screenplay took a beating and the lack of commercial angle undid the impact. He failed to make the optimum use of actors like Zareena Wahab, Eswari Rao, Sai Chand, Banerji, Nagineedu, Rahul Ramakrishna, Devi Prasad, Anand Ravi, Anand Chakrapani, and others. Priyamani and Naveen Chandra also got limited scope to perform but they made their presence felt.
The music of Suresh Bobbili is in sync with the storyline. The songs are situational. The song introducing Rana is impactful. The background score tuned by Suresh Bobbili elevated the scenes but at times, it went out of sync. Dani Sanchez-Lopez and Divakar Mani's cinematography captured the scenic locations in a natural and realistic manner. The editing of Sreekar Prasad left a lot to be desired especially in the second half. Production values are good.
Advantages
Sai Pallavi
Rana and other cast's performances
BGM
Cinematography
Disadvantages
Editing
Uni Dimensional story
Missing universal appeal
Routine elements
Rating Analysis
Sai Pallavi, Rana's Virataparvam directed by Venu Udugula and promoted by the makers turned out to be the out and out Sai Pallavi's show. She eclipsed everyone and created an intense, emotional, and soulful storm. However, the lack of commercial elements, real twists and turns, uninteresting screenplay, and missing romantic elevations turned the film into an average entertainer. Considering all these elements CJ goes with a 2.5 rating for Virataparvam.