Vedaa Movie Review: John Abraham walks the ‘beat-ten’ path of Bollywood with Sharvari in tow!
Vedaa
John Abraham, in an attempt to ‘produce’ something different, lands up (s)mashing up everything one has seen before umpteen times!
To start with, Vedaa is definitely a mixed bag of emotions. In a recent media interaction, John Abraham was ‘very vocal’ about the fact that he has attempted something different in this film and that one should not comment anything about the film without seeing it. True to his word, John’s film walks on the topic, which he has never attempted before. It's about casteism! The buck stops there itself. Beyond that, there is nothing that John has not ‘been there, done that’ in the past!
In a nutshell, Vedaa is about Major Abhimanyu Kanwar (John Abraham) an extremely razor-sharp military officer who gets court-martialed for breaking the law. After having surrendered his prized possession of his army uniform (in totality), he comes to the village of Barmer (Rajasthan) to meet his father-in-law ‘as committed’. The audiences are then introduced to John's past about his wife Rashi (Tamannaah Bhatia, in a cameo), who gets brutally killed by the enemy forces.
Upon coming to Barmer, Abhimanyu takes up the job of a boxing coach. Eventually, he realises that Barmer is a male-dominated village which is governed and ruled by Kaka (Ashish Vidyarthi) and Jitendar Pratap Singh (Abhishek Banerjee). Amongst the students who enrol for the boxing classes, also happens to be the super-enthusiastic Vedaa (Sharvari). Within a couple of days, Abhimanyu realises that there is no place for Vedaa in the boxing training, because she belongs to a backward class.
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Around the same time, Vedaa’s brother commits the biggest ‘mistake of his lifetime’ by not just falling in love with an upper caste girl, but also eloping with her. And since Vedaa’s brother ‘committed an unforgivable crime’ (in the words of Kaka and Jitendar Pratap Singh), they both get killed.
Seizing an opportunity, Vedaa runs away from the clutches of Kaka and Jitendar Pratap Singh and reaches Abhimanyu’s house. Vedaa gets a shock of her life when she realises that, rather than helping her escape, Abhimanyu takes her back to the haveli of Kaka and Jitendar Pratap Singh.
What was the reason for Abhimanyu to take Vedaa to the haveli, is Abhimanyu’s character more than what meets the eye and what ultimately happens to Vedaa and him in the end is what forms the rest of the story.
The only thing that works in the film’s favour, beisdes John flexing his chiselled body is the topic on which the film is based. Besides that, there is nothing that one has not seen - either in John’s films or in other films of Bollywood!
There are many aspects in the film which land up challenging the sense and sensibilities of the audiences. The film’s narrative is extremely half baked. Seems like the film’s director (Nikkhil Advani) must have assumed that, showing John as a armed forces man who could effortlessly flex his muscles and also someone who could take a bullet (quite literally!) for the righteous, will prove reasons enough for the audiences to see the film. The sad part is that, it is these very qualities which land up backfiring in the film. In other words, Vedaa brings absolutely no novelty in any aspect, despite the director’s intentions being right.
Also Read: Vedaa trailer: John Abraham delivers raw action in this gripping tale of injustice | Watch
The issue of casteism could have just acted as the film’s USP. But sadly, it’s the treatment that has been meted to the film, acts as a dampener! The excessive violence in the film eventually overshadows the issue of casteism in the film. Nothing much can be said about the other technical aspects. Be it the film’s narrative or the cinematography or even the editing... Nothing really stands out in the film.
Even though it's an out and out John Abraham film, he tries his best to ensure that he does not allow his character to overshadow Sharvari’s character, as she plays the title role! Even though this film cannot be defined as one of John’s career-defining films, at the same time, he does justice to his role and what has been expected of that role.
Sharvari, on the other hand, surprises everyone with her earnest act as a Dalit lady, who will not take no for an answer. While he respects her elderly, she also will not spare anyone who is involved in any kind of wrong doings. It's really nice and endearing to see this young lady experimenting with a variety of roles. Abhishek Banerjee surprises everyone with his dark character. Even though the veteran actor Ashish Vidyarthi has nothing substantial to do, he simply helps in carrying the film forward along with Rajendra Chawla and Kshitij Chauhan.
All in all, with the relaese of Khel Khel Mein and Stree 2, it will be a tough and challenging path for Vedaa at the box office.