V Review: V for (Routine) Vendetta

V Movie

What’s it about?

A police officer gets killed in Hyderabad. DCP Aditya (Sudheer Babu), who won medals for his brilliance in his job and is also very popular among the common public, takes the charge to investigate the case. The killer (Nani) challenges Aditya to stop him before he murders another four persons. The killer also leaves enough clues for the police officer to decipher. Will Aditya nab him? What is his real motive?

Advertisement

Analysis

The common understanding is that revenge stories, by and large, follow the same template regardless of a tweak here and there. Very few directors succeed in presenting such a beaten-to-death plot interestingly. Indraganti Mohana Krishna, known for making sensible movies such as ‘Sammohanam’, has attempted the action genre for the first time with Nani and Sudheer Babu starrer ‘V’ but borrowing ideas from many of super hit films to tell the story of vengeance don’t work much. 

‘V’ begins much like a Korean action thriller and follows the basic line of a Korean thriller “I Saw the Devil” (a police officer hunting down the serial killer who murdered his wife). Elements of other popular films like Murugadoss’s “Ghajini” are also mixed. 

Thankfully, ‘V’ doesn’t blatantly lift the scenes from these movies, but what it does is déjà vu feel. This is where Indraganti falters big time. 

Although he sets up the story interestingly with cat and mouse games between Nani and Sudheer Babu, the ‘big reveal’ turns out to be a damp squib. How did Nani and Dil Raju agree to such a clichéd backstory, when the entire film hinges on this part?

Director Indraganti has shown his mark in the initial part of the movie, the gripping first act is true strength. But the moment, he opens the flashback, ufff.. it goes down. 

Nani is in fine form and is a riveting watch in certain scenes. Example: In a bus journey, he makes a practical joke on the fellow passenger who is watching ‘I Saw the Devil’ on the tablet. But he doesn’t suit in the role of an army officer. Sudheer Babu is a perfect fit in the role of a cop. He matches with the Nani in many scenes. 

The less said about the female lead actors the best, both have got formulaic roles and have limited space. 

On the technical from, ‘V’ scores high. Each frame has richness. This perhaps, PG Vinda excels in picturizing actions stuns. Thaman is the other technician who has excelled. His background score is the best. 

 While Indraganti Mohana Krishna is shown his mark in handling action sequences, he surprisingly faltered on the scriptwriting, which normally is considered his strength. 

Bottom-line: ‘V’ is a revenge drama that has weak writing. Clichéd and predictable later portions have marred the mood.

Punchline: aa ‘V’dhamga!

Reviewed by: Jalapathy Gudelli
Rating: 2.5/5

Film: V
Cast: Nani, Sudheer Babu, Aditi Rao, Nivetha Thomas, Vennela Kishore, and others
Music: Amit Trivedi
Background score: Thaman
Cinematography: P.G.Vinda
Producers: Raju, Sirish, Harshith Reddy
Written and Directed by Mohana Krishna Indraganti
Release Date: September 5, 2020
OTT Platform: Amazon Prime
Advertisement
 

More

Related Stories

What’s it about? A police officer gets killed in Hyderabad. DCP Aditya (Sudheer Babu), who won medals for his brilliance in his job and is also very popular among the common public, takes the charge to investigate the case. The killer (Nani) challenges Aditya to...V Review: V for (Routine) Vendetta