Writer-director Vi Anand largely banks upon his grand idea to do the magic and doesn’t bother being inventive; Sundeep Kishan, Varsha Bollamma salvage things but only barely
In Ooru Peru Bhairavakona, writer-director Vi Anand sets up the perfect fictional world for a convoluted tale comprising elements of mystique, action and horror to find its roots. But, ultimately, it’s the love story that takes centre stage in the film and salvages a meandering narrative that is, at most times, at a loss for both clarity and intent.
Sundeep Kishan plays Basavalingam or Basava, an Indiana Jones-like character who operates as a stuntman in the Telugu Film Industry. Vi Anand extracts good use of the vocation of his protagonist as he goes about dropping him in situations of grave danger, which require Basava to dispense some larger-than-life action.
Bhairavakona: A forsaken town steeped in gloom and death
One of the early portions of the film introduces the guy as a daredevil burglar whose latest loot includes gold ornaments worth several lakhs. A non-linear screenplay then gradually sheds light on the fact that Basava is chasing a mightier motive and that his intentions aren’t as trivial as a large sum of money. It is here, during a hot pursuit sequence involving cops, that he accidentally encounters Bhairavakona, a forsaken town entrenched in gloom and death.
Anand renders the physical terrain of Bhairavakona similar to any other concealed town, with a tall, stony arch at the entrance, a dilapidated ‘haunted’ bungalow, a small dash of forest land and whatnot. Occult, strange practices greet our protagonist and his tiny entourage and the plethora of vibrant characters they run into only reinforces that something’s amiss here. The opening moments of the film have already confirmed that anyone who enters Bhairavakona doesn’t have the option of leaving and that bit of caveat promises a juicy conceit, wherein the hero must now find a way to find a way out of this simmering hell-hole.
Except the director chooses to stick to a bland treatment throughout and never really delves deep into the apparent history of the place. One gathers that recent hits like Karthikeya 2, Virupaksha and others worked despite their shortcomings only because of the novelty with which their worlds are constructed. Ooru Peru Bhairavakona, though, vehemently restricts itself to broad strokes and never really lures us into its mystique. The most it does is casually bring up references to the Garuda Purana and the Vijayanagara Empire, expecting us to build the intrigue from thereon.
The old-school approach
Instead, the director makes consistent yet half-hearted attempts to simply imbue his tale with humour. While a few jokes land, thanks to the reliability of cast members Viva Harsha, Vennela Kishore and others, and the fusion of comedy with horror does mildly entertain, the film remains clueless throughout about what it wishes to be. Anand’s old-school approach has its moments of glory, but it also means that his film eats up a good chunk of runtime before really taking off.
Ooru Peru Bhairavakona vehemently restricts itself to broad strokes and never really lures us into its mystique
Veteran Tamil actress Vadivukkarasi has an intriguing presence as ‘Peddamma’ in the film. As the necromantic equivalent of Master Oogway (if you will), her role proves to be of great essence to the subject but aside from obligatory scenes that nudge the story forward, her character is hardly explored. The same could be said about P. Ravishankar’s role in the film, which is left unattended and utilized sparingly for a comical scene or two. Kavya Thapar, the other principal actor in the film, has very little substance to her character’s name.
The pre-interval sequence somehow manages to put things in perspective, setting up an exciting second half that raises stakes multifold. Sundeep Kishan’s Basava is conceived and written with very little inventiveness and consequently the viewer finds the character hard to relate to. However, to its credit, the film manages to somewhat gradually bring everything together post-interval.
The emotional crux
The second half is also where Ooru Peru Bhairavakona finds its emotional crux and for a while, it runs with it. Sundeep Kishan is impressive during the ‘romance’ portions and he is perfectly complemented by Varsha Bollamma. Despite a stunted role, Varsha holds her own as the feisty Bhumi, who strives hard to save her tribal village from being conquered by a few bad men. Again, Vi Anand’s exploration of this aspect of the story remains wishy-washy and we never get to fully gather the essence of the said strife. To put it differently, it’s a run-of-the-mill conflict that has absolutely no bearing on our overall experience.
The main undoing of the film, though, is the filmmaker grossly undermining his own material and never realising its grand potential. One pulls up his lacklustre writing primarily as the culprit and there is no doubt that the sophisticated idea that is Ooru Peru Bhairavakona required a lot more finesse. Could the film have benefitted from a different narrative structure altogether? Most likely yes because the formulaic route taken offers little scope to engage with the viewer, let alone make them feel as part of a unique world altogether.
And could it be the case of the film overwhelming itself by taking on too much? Well, be that as it may, the core concern lies in the filmmaker at the helm not being bold enough to create something of his own with a solid idea. Instead, he wishes for the near-obsolete treatment of action, romance and comedy to do the job — the problem though is that audiences today, evidently, seek much more from a film.
