Vana Veera, previously titled Vanara, is produced by Asian Cinemas, Silver Screen Cinemas LLP, and Shanthanu Pathi. In this section, we are going to review the latest box-office release.
Plot:
The story is set in a village named Vanapuram in Ayodhyapuram mandal, ostensibly somewhere in the caste-conscious Andhra. Raghu (Avinash Thiruveedhula) is a happy-go-lucky, unemployed youngster to whom a bike gifted by his uncle is a prized possession. Deva (Shree Nandu), a political leader from a dominant community, has to carry out a bike rally to show his strength ahead of elections. Deva's party activists snatch hundreds of bikes from villagers, including Raghu's pet. When they don't return his bike after the rally, Raghu infiltrates the party office and creates nuisance over several days. What are Raghu's intentions? Have Deva and his men shot themselves in the foot by messing with him?
Post-Mortem:
Actor-director Avinash Thiruveedhula situates his political action drama in a backward social milieu. It's rare for a male lead in Telugu cinema to come from a marginalized community. The antagonist's arrogance and meanness are steeped in his economic muscle and suffocating social advantage. The film tries to make a commentary on the dynamics between two caste groups that find themselves on two opposite ends of the socio-political spectrum at the time of a prestigious election. A lost bike is the hook for this dramatic face-off.
The strength of the premise, unfortunately, goes astray. Never has an oppressed-oppressor story been dumbed down to the extent this film does. Never has a high-stakes electoral battle been turned into a bigger cartoon. Never has any movie infantalized its serious subtext this badly. The election strategist PK (we are supposed to believe that Chammak Chandra's character is a Prashanth Kishore parody) is a total joke. Comedian Satya is a joker-cop whose place is reserved for the pre-climax, of all sequences.
Shree Nandu's Deva may be the son of a political heavyweight, he may own a factory, but he can't get something fundamental for his election victory arranged in time. He uses sensitive language in public, because he loves political hara-kiri more than the male lead loves his win. Then there is a political heavyweight (played by Kona Venkat) who is close to the high command and spends his limited screen time in giving nuggets of information ("We have been out of power for ten years straight") to the audience. Political functionaries and activists around Deva have this one job of antagonizing the lower castes ahead of elections. Nobody has a strategy, because the one at the top has no head.
In a shocking display of wretched hypocrisy, the film tries to elicit laughter from the audience by insulting the job of a cobbler. This makes you wonder if the film's politics is sincere. Is this just hypocrisy or something more - like low IQ that can't lie low?
Prudhviraj plays a ruling party MLA with just one scene that matters. Sivaji Raja and Devi Prasad play fathers who compete with each other to squeeze the audience dry. Simran Chaudhary plays the mandatory 'maradalu pilla' who is afforded a customary song amid green fields. Sai Madhav Burra, who has written dialogues for biggies like RRR, doesn't come up with a single memorable line on social inequities. Vivek Sagar's music is average.
Closing Remarks:
Despite a strong hook involving a lost bike and social friction, the narrative is undermined by weak characterizations and weaker writing.
