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Saturday, April 20, 2024
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TELUGU BEJAWADA
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: * 1/2
After giving box office duds in Hindi, Ram Gopal Varma has returned to Telugu,
which had brought him into the limelight.
Unfortunately his over-hyped purposeless films made at shoestring budgets
without any seriousness meet with below average response at the box office. His
recent production venture Bejawada, directed by Vivek Krishna, is
another addition to the list of his senseless films.
A small percentage of Telugu audience had some hope from the film because of the
casting and pre-release hype.
In 1989, Varma brought a breath of fresh air in the Telugu film industry with
Shiva and Kshanam Kshanam. After that he shifted to
Bollywood and made successful films like Rangeela and Satya.
But after Sarkar, he has not delivered any successful Hindi movie.
He met with the same fate in the Telugu film industry after making insignificant
films like Dongala Muta.
Varma tried to create curiosity about Bejawada by using a
controversial title, but couldn`t succeed. In short Bejawada is
another bad film that has come out of Varma`s factory.
The title created controversy as Varma announced that he will focus on the
activities of the underworld in Vijayawada city (Bejawada) which saw many fights
and violent deaths. The rivalry between Vangaveeti Radha and his opponents
resulted in bloodshed.
But Varma`s film does not have any incidents related to either Radha or his
brother Ranga who became a torch bearer of his family`s underworld activities.
Bejawada story is not unique therefore can be linked to any other
city. The film is neither thought provoking nor realistic. It fails to connect
to the audience mainly because of the poor handling of the subject by the
director.
The story revolves around Siva Krishna, who is seeking revenge for his brother
Vijaya Krishna`s death. The film is so amateurishly made that you feel sorry for
Naga Chaithanya for accepting it. If his earlier film Dada was a
forgettable movie, Bejawada makes you wonder whether his father,
actor Nagarjuna, had heard the script before his son signed the film.
Amala Paul, a talented actress, has also been wasted. Prabhu and Mukul Dev have
done their best in the poorly written film. The veteran artists have tried to
make an impact, but their roles suffer because of bad characterisation.
As far as the music is concerned, too many cooks have spoiled the broth.
Vivek Krishna has written a poor script and inserted rehashed sequences of
Varma`s previous films. The narrative is so bad that you lose interest in the
beginning itself. Even an expert editor like Gautham Raju has failed to present
a neatly edited movie.
Bhupathi Raju`s camera work is also weak.
In short, Bejawada is a wasted effort.
