Movie: Vijetha
Cast: Kalyaan Dhev, Malavika Nair, Murali Sharma
Director: Rakesh Sashii
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Yet another actor from mega family has made his debut and this time, its Kalyaan Dhev, the younger son-in-law of Megastar Chiranjeevi. Directed by Rakesh Sashii, the film, Vijetha, borrowed its title from Chiranjeevi’s 1985 hit doesn’t show the protagonist selling his kidney’s for the sake of his family. This one belongs to Srinivasa Rao (Murli Sharma), who sacrifices everything for the happiness of his son, Ram (Kalyaan Dhev).
The father wants nothing but the best for his son and lives with a hope that he will achieve something in his life. But Ram is neither ambitious nor exceptional, and yet takes undue advantage of the situation and grows up as an aimless individual. One incident changes the fate of Ram and he wants to redeem himself falling in line with the system and make his father happy at the end.
The film starts off smoothly but becomes a repetitive and a predictable mess when the director fails to fully exploit the emotional sensibilities of such a plot. Intended as a launch pad to depict the potential of the Megastar’s son-in-law, the film’s story has got all the trappings of a 1970s commercial potboiler. It oozes naivety with an obsolete romantic track of the hero trying to impress the heroine doing some household chores and helping her mother to earn good points.
Our hero’s dilemma continues until the end of the first half. Then, more complications crop up and it takes over an hour to tidy things up. The script largely relies on infantile humour, misplaced songs and stalking a neighbourhood girl in the name of love. Kalyaan Dhev’s character resonates with every youngster because it reflects some real experiences. But the writing is the weak link as there is hardly any surprise in the narrative and aside from being inherently melodramatic. The director sticks to a belated coming-of-age tale with the same cliches for the purpose of milking the emotional conflict.
The film benefits from the compelling performance Rakesh draws from Murli Sharma. He brings subtle intensity to his role and delivers nuanced performance. Kalyaan Dhev clears the first test with good looks. But he needs to refine his acting skills and work on his expressions as he is about as expressive as a sack of grains. Malavika Nair has really little to do but she performs without any major hiccups. Harshavardhan Rameshwar’s music passes muster and KK Senthil Kumar’s cinematography is sharp.
Vijetha is the kind of film which is completely derailed by its shortcomings due to its stretched plot. It reminds us why we are tired of watching movies with outdated themes over and over again. Although it’s not an awful film, it’s thoroughly boring!
— Murali Krishna CH
muralikrishna.db@newindianexpress
@onlymurali