Akshay Sharma – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: We are once again into Hindi movies, aren’t we?

Vampire Bat: Well, we have the skills to find the best among them, don’t we?

Vampire Owl: The good ones are rarely noticed though.

Vampire Bat: They do not even travel that much to reach our theatres.

Vampire Owl: We will only have the movies with big names around here.

Vampire Bat: Well, human world would never be fair. They won’t transform.

Vampire Owl: I would question the existence of humanity among humans. Maybe it can be found in the atlas.

Vampire Bat: Humanity is not part of human nature – for them, it is just a word formation.

Vampire Owl: Maybe they should use vampire before the last three letters.

Vampire Bat: They are murdering their arts subjects and languages – soon, they will be left without any word to express their existences. There is no chance to rise like a phoenix either.

[Gets a savala vada and three cups of Yercaud tea].

What is the movie about? :: Vedaa Berwa (Sharvari Wagh) is a Dalit law student who hopes to make it big in studies as well as through sports. She lives with her family in Barmer, Rajasthan, and an IIT-educated Jitendar Pratap Singh (Abhishek Banerjee), a man who seems to be very progressive due to his care for the environment and use of green and renewable energy is the chief of one hundred and fifty villages there. She is always made fun of and verbally abused by the upper-caste people as part of the existing caste discrimination there, and even hesitates to drink water from the same tap which others use. As her siblings also face the same fate, she decides to train herself in boxing to protect her family. But she is forced to clean the floors due to her caste status and is not allowed to learn the sport. Her sister Gehna Berwa (Tanvi Malhara) feels that she should boxing and become the defender of the family in one way or the other.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Her brother Vinod Barwe (Anurag Thakur) has fallen in love with Aarti Meghwal (Urvashi Dubey) who is from a high caste, and due to the lawlessness there and with police being the goons of the higher caste people, there was never going to be an inter-caste marriage, even if both families agree to the same. The higher caste men would take the law into their caste and beat up both families, and if they complain to the police, it is them who would be locked up – there are many fake cases that could be charged, from inciting violence to human trafficking with a whole police station and goons working together. It is shown that the highly educated Jitendar Pratap Singh is the one who controls all of these, and maintains the order of castes in the name of divine origin of the practice. He would go to any extent to make sure that his world is maintained as he wishes.

And what more is to be added to this world awaiting chaos at all times? :: It is then that Abhimanyu Kanwar (John Abraham) makes an entrance. He was a major in the army who was court-martialed for disobeying orders to bring a terrorist named Ilyas Kashmiri (Gowhar Khan) back alive. The same terrorist was responsible for the brutal murder of Abhimanyu’s wife Raashi (Tamannah Bhatia). Abhimanyu joins as an assistant sports coach in Vedaa’s college. He sees her attempts, and also how she is humiliated repeatedly for her caste despite her academic skills and efforts at sports. One day, she is brutally beaten up by the higher caste boys, who also record the same on their mobile phone. Abhimanyu decides to train her, and she shows steady improvement, but the love story of her brother comes to the picture, and lands them all in trouble. As both of her siblings are killed, Abhimanyu decides to protect her. But how far can he succeed in the same while being hunted by people in power?

The defence of Vedaa :: As a movie with a realistic side and the elements that would appeal to the general audience, there is a lot of strength that can be seen around here. The movie starts really well, and also maintains an emotional side throughout its run. The action sequences are effective too, and never goes on with an overdose. This never lowers the level like those mass masala entertainers of superstars. John Abraham is perfectly suited for the role here, and he is one actor who brings lesser known, but classic works to the screen. Sharvari is also really good and blends in here with ease. She brings the emotional side to work while going through the helplessness of the character really well. Abhishek Banerjee makes a sinister villain to create an impact with more than one face and Ashish Vidyarthi also provides good support. Tanvi Malhara as the sister remains lovable. The message of the movie works well, and it elevates the movie at times, especially during the first half. Due the same, the movie gains further strength.

The claws of flaw :: The strong start of the movie is not maintained throughout its run, and there is no rising in level for the work. Some of the moments just deviate from its central idea. The movie could have also been better hyped to bring the interest of people, without which it seems to have struggled to make its presence felt. After all, there are other similar sounding movies, and without the big names at the top who does the usual dumb mass masala stuff, this was always going to go through some struggle. The ending does seem rather predictable, and some of the decisions taken by experienced adult characters seem to be strange too. There were also so many other things which could have been achieved with this particular movie which seems to feel the need to go with the ordinary, maybe to be on the safe side. If this was in another language far into the south, there would have been risks taken, and the movie improved. There is a lot that a flick can achieve with this premise for sure.

How it finishes :: Vedaa seems have suffered due to the lack of audience who would watch a movie without big superstars and staying close to reality – it has never been the thing with Bollywood for a long time as we think about it. The lack of interest of the Bollywood audience in movies like these is rather disappointing, as mass masala seems to be the only genre that could make an impact. It is to be noted that there were times when we actually preferred Hindi movies over others, but nowadays the only good ones stay for such less amount of time in the theatres even if they come. Let us celebrate movies like this at least now, and hope for more to come. The revival of Bollywood to focus on quality material in still awaited, as a few drops of quality come like this one. These days, it seems that John Abraham is one actor who can really be trusted, from the greatness of Madras Cafe and a following Rocky Handsome.

Release date: 15th August 2024
Running time: 151 minutes
Directed by: Nikkhil Advani
Starring: John Abraham, Sharvari Wagh, Abhishek Banerjee, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kumud Mishra, Rajendra Chawla, Tanvi Malhara, Anurag Thakur, Urvashi Dubey, Rajoshri Vidyarthi, Parag Sharma, Danish Husain, Kapil Nirmal, Ajeet Singh Palawat, Meena Shankar, Kshitij Chauhan, Akshay Sharma, Toshab Bagri, Abhishek Deswal, Paritosh Sand, Gowhar Khan, Nirmal Chaudhury, Manu Shekhar, Monisha Advani, Tamannah Bhatia (Cameo), Mouni Roy (Cameo)