Varudu Review

Allu Arjun is known for energetic dances and action-packed movies. His films like Desamuduru and Arya proved his calibre. Almost all the films in his career were either hits or run with above average talk. He teamed up with Gunasekhar for Varudu which is produced by DVV Danaiah, who had produced a blockbuster like Desamuduru with Allu Arjun. The posters and trailers of Varudu evoked lots of expectations and hype. However, all the expectations were proved wrong with the director once again utterly failed in translating his ideas on the screen properly.

Sandeep Aka Sandy (Allu Arjun) is the son of a well-settled couple Ashish Vidyarthi and Suhasini. His parents fell in love and got married against the wishes of their parents. Though Sandy is well-educated and got a job with huge pay-packet in the US, he always thinks quite traditionally and at the same time respects the love and lovers. When his parents decide to convince him for marriage, Sandy simply says it is a good idea to fly to US with wife and tells them to search a bride for him. His parents search a girl called Deepti (Bhanushree Mehra) of their choice. But on the marriage day the bride is kidnapped. What happens next will form the interesting part of the movie.

PERFORMANCE:

Allu Arjun is the sole performer in the entire film. Once again, he toned up his body with six-pack, reminding the audiences of ‘Desamuduru’ days. He is quite handsome in the first song, while showed his power in action scenes. Though his performance in dances and action scenes is okay, he still needs to improve his dialogue modulation. He should shun the style of yelling at the villain and should show the power through dialogue delivery. If he works more on the voice modulation, he could reach bigger heights.

Heroine Bhanushree Mehra is just average, but not worth a mystery. Of course, she had a couple of big eyes which are very expressive and nothing more to say about her glamour. Even with regard to the performance, she is just average and there is nothing great to say anything about. The director and the producer kept her face and name hiding only for a publicity gimmick and nothing more than that.

Though it is surprising that the director chose to introduce Tamil hero Arya as villain to the Tollywood, he did his best in the film. Arya had a strong screen presence as villain with his attractive eyes but the director failed to establish and etch character properly and Gunasekhar literally failed to use him to the fullest potential. Perhaps for the first time on the Telugu screen, Ashish Vidhyarthi played a soft role and Suhasini played his wife in a neat role. Naresh and Vinaya Prasad played the heroine’s parents and they did justice to their roles. The director needs to be appreciated for gathering senior artistes like Ravi Kondala Rao and Radhakumari, besides bringing to the fore a senior director like Singeetham Srinivasa Rao in a dignified role. Other artistes like Nazar, Rao Ramesh are just okay.

TECHNICAL:

Dialogues by Thota Prasad are good in parts. However, the way he used the Telugu idioms (Sametalu) during the marriage scenes are humorous and tickled the funny bones of the audiences very well. After listening to the dialogues and watching the huge gathering of middle-aged and old couples, the present generation would definitely get a feel of getting married in a traditional style to enjoy the presence of such a huge gathering. The get-together of several families is worth watching and it is learnt that they were real life couples who were invited to the shooting.

The director’s taste in showing girls in half-sarees and dancing to the tunes is laudable. The first and last song were impressively choreographed and Allu Arjun once again proved his dancing skills in both these songs. The entire second half is a disaster, with the director taking the cinematic liberties to the fullest extent. Cinematography in the film is good and the Rajasekhar captured the beauty of marriage as well as the action scenes with equal ease. Graphics used in songs are good to watch.

ANALYSIS:

Probably, Gunasekhar might have created an opinion with the six-pack body of Allu Arjun and thought of bringing out a film with family traditions on one hand and action on the other. He was quite successful in making the film till the first half. However, his creativity went above the imagination and crossed boundaries which tested the patience of the audiences in the second half. The concept of performing marriage in a true traditional style is okay. But the entire concept was rounded off with just one song. Despite a lavish spending, the film failed to give anything worth to the audiences, nor it had a good message that traditional marriages are the need of the hour. The director tried to impress the audiences with a voice-over by Chiranjeevi at the beginning of the film on the concept of marriage.

Cast: Allu Arjun, Bhanushree Mehra, Arya, Asish Vidyarthi, Suhasini, Naresh, Vinaya, Nazar, Rao Ramesh Rao, Sayaji Shinde, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmanandam, Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, Ravi Kondala Rao, Anita Chowdary and others

Credits: Music – Mani Sharma, Cinematography – RD Rajasekhar, Dialogues – Thota Prasad, Editing – Anthony, Fights – Stun Siva, Producer – DVV Danayya, Story, screenplay, direction – Gunasekhar

Banner: Universal Media