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Sai Pallavi and Rana Daggubati’s enthralling acting and climax make Virata Parvam a decent film

Published

3 years ago

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Sai Pallavi and Rana Daggubati’s enthralling acting and climax make Virata Parvam a decent film

Sai Pallavi, Rana Daggubati, and others star in the film.

Venu Udugula is the director.

151 minutes of running time

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2.5 out of 5

The audience member witnessing ‘Virata Parvam’ is immediately bombarded with conventional wisdom and cliches. Vennela (Sai Pallavi) is taught by her father, “Only two days in life are meaningful: the day we were born and the day we discover why we were born.” In the early days of the Internet, the quote was a fantastic viral E-mail. Then there’s Ravanna’s (Rana Daggubati) revolutionary poetry, whose lines are brimming with explosive passion but have lost their energy due to the continuous usage of stolen lingo in both folk traditions and mainstream culture.

Director Venu Udugula saves the most important scenes for the final act. The touching climax has a sad tone to it. Even so, if Ravanna’s character hadn’t been so poorly developed, this stretch could have been even more heartbreaking. He needs to express himself verbally by yelling at the top of his lungs. We understand he’s a Maoist. But why make Maoism synonymous with flamboyant poetry, Laal Salaam-ing, and loud declarations/denunciations?

Vennela is the author of the narrative. As a result, ‘Virata Parvam’ is the most heroine-centric novel about Naxal combat and the state’s retaliation. After secretly reading Ravanna’s illegal work, Vennela falls in love with him. She begins to fantasise of a life with him in the war-torn forest.

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Ravanna is a mythic person in Vennela’s eyes, deserving of the reverence Mirabai lavished on Lord Krishna. She is a hopeless romantic who, in a predictable course of events, turns to romanticised Naxalism. If the conflict scenes between the Maoists and the police had been the ONLY unimaginative bits, ‘Virata Parvam’ would have been a forgivable film. Thankfully, even Vennela’s odd love for Ravanna isn’t staged with poetic fancy. The only thing that stops the love tale from becoming ridiculous and weak is Sai Pallavi’s magnificent performance.

Vennela’s surreal love affair with a man who is unaware of her existence has a frenetic quality to it. Even when he isn’t on screen, this man is expected to have a commanding presence. This idea needed a sprinkle of excellent writing because of its theatricality. Vennela’s transformation from a common girl to a rare lover girl should have been plausible. However, it comes across as straightforward and unsophisticated. Vennela’s willpower and capacity to battle in life-or-death situations aren’t credible either.

There are no visual highs in the battles between the radicals and the cardboard cops. Themes such as incarceration violence, police torture, and continual surveillance of suspects/villagers are brought up again and again. A top cop (played by Banerjee) introduces Mahabharata’s Virata Parvam to his boss in the middle of a meeting designed to devise an anti-Maoist strategy in an inadvertently amusing sequence. Try to figure out why he does it. To inform him of the need to hire a spy. Clearly, the boss never went to the police school.

The film has a habit of appearing pretentious when it comes to jargon related to or surrounding Maoists. ‘State phobia,’ for example, is thrown around with the glee of a kid learning about radicals for the first time. But these are small issues in comparison to how Ravanna is made to appear as if he needs life lessons from Vennela on one occasion. Isn’t it because he’s flawless that Vennela adores him?

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Nandita Das’ character contributes to the plot, but Zarina Wahab’s mother will be remembered for the overly emotional interaction she has with her son. Naveen Chandra and Priyamani are passable, but Sai Chand, among the supporting cast, steals the show. The cinematography in the picture is outstanding. The BGM is adequate.

 

 

 

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HT Rewind 2024: Teja Sajja says HanuMan kicking off the year in style is the moment he’d been ‘waiting for’ | Exclusive

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21 hours ago

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December 21, 2024

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HT Rewind 2024: Teja Sajja says HanuMan kicking off the year in style is the moment he’d been ‘waiting for’ | Exclusive

In conversation with Hindustan Times, Teja Sajja decodes the success of HanuMan and other Telugu films, talks about his upcoming projects, and more.
When Prasanth Varma’s superhero film HanuMan, starring Teja Sajja, was announced to be released alongside big films like Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaram, Venkatesh’s Saindhav and Nagarjuna’s Naa Saami Ranga in January this year, no one expected the underdog to emerge on top. And yet, the film, made on a budget of under ₹50 crore, managed to collect over ₹300 crore at the box office worldwide in 25 days, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films for the year. (Also Read: Ranveer Singh met HanuMan actor Teja Sajja, complimented him even after his Prasanth Varma film Rakshas got shelved)

Ask Teja about the moment he realised his film had not just fought against the tide but also risen to the top; he tells Hindustan Times in an exclusive conversation, “Since I returned to acting (as a lead actor after being a child artiste since 1998), this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. When everything from the HanuMan teaser to the songs was grabbing attention, we knew we had hit a gold mine. But I don’t think we imagined it would cross the ₹300 crore threshold. We were so satisfied with the opening numbers; everything else was a bonus.”

‘Success has given me fear of disappointing people’

Teja acted in Zombie Reddy, Ishq and Adbhutham before HanuMan, but they are what you would call ‘critical successes’, adding to his repertoire as an actor who can perform. But things have changed for him now, says Teja, who is being picky about the roles he says yes to. “Success either makes you overconfident or gives you the fear of disappointing people; I have the latter,” he explains.

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Teja admits he wants to chart out his career in Hrithik Roshan’s footsteps, but not in the way you think. “I have such a fondness for Hrithik due to Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish. No matter how well he performed after that, these left a lasting impression on me; I’m sure 90s kids will agree,” he says, adding, “Similarly, I’ve realised that I have an audience in children now. I want to be conscious of that when I pick roles. I want to make films families can enjoy together.”

But despite people in places like Mumbai or Delhi recognising him, Teja says he’s clear that he wants to cater to the Telugu audience first. “I am conscious that I am making films for my playground – the Telugu states. This is the sensibility I have grown up with, and I don’t know if I can cater to everyone else. Will I promote my films in other languages? Sure. But I also can’t be part of films that aren’t authentic to what I know or understand,” he explains.

‘Rootedness has put us on the world map’

And authenticity seems to be the need of the hour. Be it Baahubali and RRR or the recently released Pushpa 2: The Rule, Kalki 2898 AD and Devara: Part 1, certain kind of stories seem to be finding success. “Rootedness and going local is proving to be such a boon for us, be it in Devara or Pushpa or HanuMan. Kalki 2898 AD was our version of a Hollywood film (the sci-fi concept) with actors from across languages in predominant roles; it put us on the world map,” reflects Teja.

However, the actor admits Tollywood went through a phase of Bollywood-inspired rom-coms and family dramas that worked in their favour for a while. “That wasn’t easy to replicate either, but it’s just that these local stories are what the audience seems most interested in now. It can’t just be chalked up to religion, too. It’s about the morals these films are hinged on, the fighting for righteousness, and how an underdog can find their strength. Introducing Mahabharata or Ramayana to a new audience in a cool way is just a perk,” he says.

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And it’s this rootedness that Teja says his next films, Mirai and Jai Hanuman (the sequel to HanuMan), will also have ample of. “Mirai is also a superhero film that caters to kids, but it’s not an origin story like HanuMan. It has a pan-Asian and Buddhist touch because the story is based on King Ashoka’s ideologies. I hope that I will get to deliver something new to the audience again. I will only feel like I’ve arrived if Mirai is equally, if not more, successful,” says Teja.

Rishab Shetty will headline Jai Hanuman, but Teja also looks forward to shooting that. “I can’t wait to be on that set; it’ll be exciting. Now that we know India is ready to watch our films, I want to step it up. I want to shift gears and shoot for at least two films in 2025,” he says. As for what he will do next, Teja says he wants to up the ante. “When I got a SIIMA award for Zombie Reddy as a debutant, I remember telling Prasanth this would be the last award I get. But now that I won a Radio City Cine Award for Best Actor, I hope more awards will follow,” he signs off cheekily.

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