Film: Bejawada
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Shreya Productions
Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Amala Paul, Prabhu, Abhimanyu Singh, Mukul Dev and others
Music: Pradeep Koneru, Vikram Negi, Bapi-Tutul, Amar Mohile
Cinematographer: S Bhupathy
Editor: Goutham Raju
Story, screenplay, direction: Vivek Krishna
Producers: Ram Gopal Varma, Kiran Koneru
Release date: 01/12/2011
Naga Chaitanya who was seen in romantic roles has arrived with a rough role. Given the controversy and the RGV factor involved, let us see how the film is
Story
Based on the backdrop of Vijayawada, the story begins with Kalidas (Prabhu) a powerful goon who is a do-gooder to society. His loyal and trusted aide is Vijay Krishna (Mukul Dev). But Vijay’s presence gives insecurity to the power hungry and crooked Shankar Prasad (Abhimanyu), brother of Kalidas. However, Kalidas is killed one day and Shankar takes over. He spreads the word that the murder was done by Vijay Krishna. Meanwhile, Vijay’s youngest brother Siva (Chaitu) is a student leader who is a good student and also in love with Geetanjali (Amala), the police commissioner’s daughter. The story takes a turn when Vijay Krishna is murdered and Siva decides to get into action to put an end to Shankar. Whether he is successful or not forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Naga Chaitanya prepared well for the role and put a good effort in emoting the anger and intensity. While his screen presence was not that strong in the film, he covered it with positive body language.
Amala Paul was dazzlingly beautiful. She has the right kind of natural attraction and sex appeal that mesmerises the audience. Most of the magic is cast by her through the eyes.
Abhimanyu Singh was apt for the role. He shined in few scenes and showed that menacing looks. However, his character was not etched strongly to show him as a worthy villain.
Mukul Dev got a meaty role and he did justice to it. Though the lip sync was missing due to his Hindi rendition, Mukul utilised the opportunity rightly and scored.
Prabhu was brief but made his presence felt. Subhalekha Sudhakar was standard. Ashok Rao was apt. Ajay was good. Kota was effective. Ahuti Prasad was usual. The comedy track between Brahmi and M S Narayana was not required. Phanikanth who stands as Chaitu’s bodyguard was impressive with his looks. The others did their bit as required and added value.
Highlights
- Violence scenes
- Amala Paul
Drawbacks
- Screenplay
- Direction
- Second half
- Weak emotional graph
Analysis:
Since the theme of the film is goondaism in Vijayawada, it is natural that audiences expect the film to depict the contemporary political history of Vijayawada and the real-life instances that had happened in Vijayawada in the past. There is no mention of these incidents in the film.
A few scenes might give the impression that Naga Chaitanya brothers could be Devineni brothers; and it that were to be true, Abhimanyu Singh character must be that of Ranga. If that is what the director’s idea is, then he must have either no knowledge of the political history of Vijayawada or he might have deliberately distorted it.
In any case, it is better not to compare the theme of the film with the history of Vijayawada. Otherwise, the audiences are bound to get irritated.
Setting aside the background of the film, if one were to consider only the content part of the film, “Bezawada” is a third grade action film.
Except bloodshed and violence to attract the mass audience, there is absolutely no emotion in the film. The audiences do not react even if the lead roles in the film are killed. At times, one would get an impression that one was watching a street play. All the scenes that lead to the death of Prabhu are just artificial. Though the film attains a little seriousness later, the director clearly fumbled in maintaining the tempo. Had he taken the real-life incidents to build the screen play, he would have had a smooth show. But, the moment he thought of making a film based on a revenge drama according to his whims and fancies without any connection with the real life incidents, he had lost the grip over the screen play.
The audiences could not get involved anywhere in the film as they could easily predict what is going to come in the next scene.
When the rowdies proclaim that Bezawada belongs to them and declare that: “Beware, it is our Bezawada,” one wonders whether it is also a sentimental film: people may think there is something called Bezawada sentiment, too, just like sister sentiment and mother sentiment in the films. While the first half goes on without elevating the hero character, the director is totally confused in the second half as to how to elevate the hero as a hero.
There are several scenes that were forcibly incorporated and when there was no idea how to take the story forward, the director introduces song and dance sequences. For example, nobody knows why Naga Chaitanya walks out of the house and why he comes back. And he does not resort to any attacks or fights that cause harm to his family during this interregnum period. And when he fires at the shoulder of the villain, the film ends there. All that the hero does after the scene to scare the villain will only create boredom to the audience.
In any revenge drama, audiences should not disconnect themselves with the movie till the hero achieves what he wants. But if the hero continues to struggle with his character, the audiences simply walk out of the theatre without showing even minimum mercy towards the character. That itself shows that the director could not effectively convey to the audience what he wants.
Since Bezawada is a low-budget film, the producer may recover the expenditure incurred on it; but it is doubtful whether it would get any appreciation from the audience. May be a section of audiences who enjoy bloodshed and violence might enjoy watching it.
Bottomline: 'Bezawada' not rocks, but shakes the audience!
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
