When the controversial director Ram Gopal Varma engaged in political discussions with AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy and the ruling dispensation, announcing films like Vyooham and its sequel Sapatham, many anticipated his return to provocative tactics. With his reputation having faded over time, marked by a string of C-grade films targeting Chandra Babu, Pawan Kalyan, and Chiranjeevi, there were concerns about the quality of his upcoming projects.
As predicted, the release of Vyooham faced numerous hurdles, with the opposition party TDP taking legal action against the filmmakers. After enduring several delays, Vyooham finally made its way to the silver screen. Now, all eyes are on the impact it will have on movie lovers and whether it can revive Ram Gopal Varma's career.
Vyooham's story explores the sudden circumstances surrounding the death of YSR and the subsequent plots devised by various stakeholders. Veera Sekhar Reddy becomes the CM of AP after leading the Bharat Party to power with his padayatra. However, he loses his life in a tragic manner in a helicopter crash.
The state MLAs of the Bharat Party send a letter to the National President Sonia (Elena Tuteja) supporting Veera Sekhar Reddy's son Madan Reddy (Ajmal Ameer) as the CM. But the national leaders took strong exception as Sonia was warned against making Madan CM as they felt he was more belligerent and would not heed their diktats. They made Kashaiah (Mallikarjuna Rao) the CM and from then on politics in the state changed when Madan decided to undertake the Odarpu Yatra to console people who ended their lives after the demise of his father Veera Sekhar Reddy. Where this leads to what role Madan's mother Vijayamma (Surabhi Prabhavathi), wife Malati (Manasa Radhakrishnan), Gampati Shyam Babu (Vasu Inturi), Subba Reddy (Kota Jayaram), Indra Babu Naidu (Dhananjay Prabhune), Kiranjeeevi (Dharma Teja), Shrawan Kalyan (Chintu) and others play form the rest of the narration.
Ajmal Ameer though did not have the looks of Jagan, performed well on the screen. He showed good expressions and emotions and delivered dialogues with ease. Maanasa Radhakrishna plays second fiddle as Jagan's wife in the film and she is convincing. Surprisingly Ram Gopal Varma included the character of Jagan's sister Sharmila though she got only one dialogue.
Dhananjay Prabhune resembled Chandra Babu quite well and he imitated Chandra Babu's mannerisms body language and dialogue delivery to make an impact. Dharma Teja and Chintu who played the roles of Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan also resembled them and performed as expected from them. Others performed according to their roles.
Vyooham story readied by Ram Gopal Varma is the first of the two part film that highlights Jagan's journey to power and his quest to give good governance. He starts the narration with Jagan giving directions for the arrest of Chandra Babu Naidu, through indirect dialogues generating interest among the viewers. From then on the narration takes a predictable turn. The proceedings takes place with actors passing through the motions.
As usual Ram Gopal Varma showed Chandra Babu, Lokesh, Pawan,Chiranjeevi and others in a vicious and low manner but this time he took care that he didnot use the real names. It seems he was forced to change the names to facilitate the film's release as the court stalled the film release on multiple occasions. However, Ram Gopal Varma used rhyming names and minced no words while targeting them. Dialogues are predictable singing praises of Jagan. Story is predictable and so too the screenplay and direction. However one gets a feeling that RGV this time put in lot of effort to ensure that the film is not that substandard compared to his previous films.
The songs tuned by Balaji are situational and highlighted the emotions according to the scenes. Two songs are in celebration of Jagan announcing his new party and other when he comes out of jail on bail. The next song is when Jagan undertake padayatra and here Balaji used the song 'ravali Jagan, Kavali Jagan ' to thrill everyone. He elevated the scenes with his background music. Editing of Manish Takkur is average. There are few scenes that slowed the pace of the film. Cinematography of Sajeesh Rajendran reflected the mood of the story. He showed the scenes in an effective manner. Production values are decent.
Altogether, Vyooham's story highlights the developments that follow after the death of YSR and Jagan's struggle to come to power, and how his opponents plotted against him. Ram Gopal Varma followed the same template of Yatra 2 directed by Mahi V Raghava. Ram Gopal Varma this time, however, unlike his earlier films, this time refrained from coming up with insulting and cheap dialogues on opponents and this augurs well with the film. For all that said and done, the film suffers from unknown plot and people can enjoy the film if they are the diehard fans of YSR, Jagan Mohan Reddy. Considering all these elements Cinejosh goes with a 2.25 rating for Vyooham.