Bejawada Review

It doesn't matter whether or not Bejawada will become a flop (which we predict its fate is going to be), but one thing is clear.  RGV and some kids from his school are living in a cocoon.   They badly underestimate the audience intelligence, nor they are open-minded enough to look around for inspiration.  The kids think that Varma knows everything and there is no world beyond him.  None in the world except themselves are enamoured any longer of Ram's films such as Sarkar.  Bejawada, Vivek Krishna's ridiculous offering, is a C-class interpretation of such films.

Bejawada has RGV's imprint on it.  It is this - the excruciatingly routine idiom inspired by RGV's style,  that renders Bejawada useless.  The director's creativity is not inspired, it is soiled.

Some inspirations are notoriously  bad.  They successfully bring infamy to the original.  Like Bejawada, which sullies Sarkar.  Exaggerated expressions, the demeanor that border on the imitation, immature dialogues, intrusive songs, and above all, same old characters for whom gore is the goal in life.  This is what Bejawada is all about.

Kali Prasad (Prabhu in an over-reactive role) is a good-hearted goonda who believes that he derives his strength from the fact that people think they need him - he shuns politics because, if he is in politics people would think he needs them.  Well said!  Vijay Krishna (Mukul Dev) is his trusted lieutenant.  Shankar (Abhimanyu Singh), Kali's brother, is miffed because Kali is promoting Vijay Krishna at the cost of himself.   (How many films have had this element?  Ab tak chappan?)

Kali, shining like a star in Bejawada, where, he says, murders are not committed without a reason (laugh out loud!), meets his nemesis when his own brother stages his assassination for obvious reasons.  The brother now grudges Vijay Krishna, the other enemy in his life.

Shiva Krishna (Naga Chaitanya in a reactionary role) is Vijay Krishna's brother.  A college student, he is constantly urged by his brother to stay away from the gang wars, et al.  But, how long is Shiva going to be away from this world of rowdyism and revenge?

You got it right.  The story must already be playing in your mind.  What follows after Abhimanyu Singh begins his aggression with a kolaveri di (murderous rage) is anybody's guess.

What works against the film is the fact that it seems repetitious.  While the stamp of RGV is all around the place, the director throws common sense to the winds.  If the clamour of sounds in the background is uninspiring, the superfluous emotions and amateurish action sequences lend a taste of secondrateness to Bejawada.

Performance-wise, Chai shows improvement especially in his diction.  However, with a good director he would surely have managed to pull off the role, which demands intensity, even better. While Prabhu overacts, Mukul Dev does justice to his role.  Abhimanyu Singh is at his menacing good.  Amala Paul, an award-winning talent is, surprisingly, a huge let down.

The film will be remembered for its childish dialogues though.  Chai takes a dig at six-pack abs saying they cannot win a war.  At one place, Ajay (his brother) tells him that danger has always been their family member.  Is this a parody or just unintentional drivel?

PS: RGV usually describes anything that fascinates him as better than sex.  What do we compare Bejawada to?  Here it goes - Bejawada is worse than Dhada.