Movie: Venkatapuram
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Baahubamanya Arts and Good Cinema Group
Cast: Rahul, Mahima, Ajay, Ajay Ghosh, Kasi Vishwanath and others
Music: Achu
Cinematography: Saiprakash U
Editor: Madhu
Producers: Tumu Phani Kumar - Shreyas Srinivas
Story, screenplay and directed by: Venu Madikanti
Release date: May 12 2017
Story revolves around a police station called Venkatapuram near Vizag. A rowdy gang regularly attacks lovers who come to the beach and rape girls.
A college student Chaitra (Mahima) and her two friends regularly smoke on terrace of their college. One day, their principal locks the door of the terrace. So, the three head to the beach to enjoy smoking. The rowdy gang attacks them. Of the three girls, Chaitra escapes and narrates the incident to her boyfriend Anand (Rahul).
When Rahul heads to beach to attack the rowdy gang, he gets a rude shock. Who is waiting for him at beach? How is their story linked with the police station?
Artistes’ Performances:
Rahul who did films like "Happy Days" and "Rainbow" has shed his boyish looks for this intense role. He has transformed to get ruthless look but he has not given enough meat in the story. Actually there is no "heroism" in the story. His voice is dubbed by other artiste and it doesn't suit his body frame.
Mahima doesn't have the look of a heroine. Her acting skills are okay. Ajay in a brief role and Ajay Ghosh as ruthless police officer are impressive.
Technical Excellence:
The movie is shot with low budget. Yet, the cinematography is good. Songs don't gel with the movie and they don’t get registered but the background score is impressive. Dialogues are pretty bad. Direction lacks assured grip.
Highlights:
Storyline
Climax portion
Some twists
Drawback:
First Half
Amateur romantic thread
Lack of logic
Heroine
No heroism
Analysis:
"Venkatapuram" deals a topic that generally we get to see in Tamil movies. Kollywood has attempted these dark themes in films like Karthi starrer "Naa Peru Shiva". Although "Venkatapuram" is based on a real incident that happened in Andhra Pradesh, the lawless atmosphere around Vishakapatnam/Bhimli lacks believability.
This concept based revenge crime thriller begins fairly well. Beginning the movie with a girl's corpse and introducing hero being booked for an attempted murder, the take off is perfect. Though the director employs all the tricks of a suspense movie in the beginning, the flashback episode spoils the mood.
Barring first 15 minutes of the movie, the entire first half lacks depth and finesse. The hero's introduction, heroine getting introduced to hero, heroine's college life…. all are shot like a TV serial.
As we get irritated with the dull proceedings, thankfully interval bang comes. The interval bang comes with a twist that makes us wait for the second half.
The latter part of the movie is fairly decent as it tells us about the reason why the hero is dragged into the police station, how heroine lands in bigger problem, on whom hero takes vengeance. Though final sequence is more of a revenge drama, the movie's core point is reserved here. So this makes the film interesting watch.
But from the beginning to end, there is no logic in the movie. Many glaring mistakes have been committed by the director.
The police officers, the rowdy gangs, the college girls…. are shown in stereotype of old movies. It is silly that girls' smoking is made into a major twist of the story. There are many other illogical portions but by pointing out here, it leads to spoilers of the movie's suspense element.
The way heroine's father behaves and how that character ends is enough proof of the director's amateurish handling of key sequences.
Although the film has below two hours of runtime, it looks lengthy due to not so interesting middle-part. The best parts come in the beginning and towards the end. Except Ajay as the police officer, no actor is impressive as far as performance is concerned. Heroine is much like a TV artiste and her friends are completely novices to the camera.
"Venkatapuram" makes a better watch for TV than on silver screen despite having some good suspense moments. Illogical plot, lack of believable factor, and inconsistent narration outweigh the good parts of the movie.
All in all, although the attempt is okay, the handling of the subject isn't okay.
Bottom-line: Crime Patrol!
