'Veeranjaneyulu Vihara Yatra' OTT Review

Cast: Naresh, Sri Lakshmi, Rag Mayur, Priya Vadlamani, Harshavardhan, Brahmanandam and others.

Music: RH Vikram

Cinematographer: Ankur C

Editor: Naresh Adupa, Hari Shankar TN

Producer: Bapineedu & B Sudheer Edara

Writer - Director: Anurag Palutla

OTT Platform: ETV Win

‘Veeranjaneyulu Vihara Yatra’ is one film that created a very good buzz with its teasers and trailers. The film promises heartfelt emotions and wholesome entertainment. Featuring versatile actor Naresh, Rag Mayur, Priya Vadlamani and Sri Lakshmi in the main roles, the movie is streaming on ETV Win. Let us dive into the review to find out how the movie turned out.

Story:

Nageswara Rao (Naresh) who worked as a teacher for the past 30 years loses his job due to his lack of English speaking skills. His daughter’s marriage gets fixed and he needs a lot of money as the groom’s side demands a grand wedding. On the other hand, his son tries to start his own business by using all the savings he had but it struggles to take off. Nageswar Rao’s mother wants her husband Veeranjaneyulu’s (Brahmanandam) ashes drowned in holy rivers. With all their problems and inner conflicts, the entire family decides to take a trip to Goa. What happens during this journey forms the rest of the story.

Analysis:

OTT platforms have given the filmmakers a chance to take a laid-back approach towards storytelling. They don’t need to make the screenplay fast-paced so that the audience doesn’t get bored. They can dwell deeper into the characters, their conflicts and relations with other characters. But ‘Veeranjaneyulu Vihara Yatra’ ends up taking the laid-back approach whilst not focusing on the main characters and their issues. It partly succeeds in generating heartfelt emotions but becomes way too predictable and slow in many places.

The middle class backdrop picked for the film makes the story instantly relatable. We see the situations that people face in real life on the screen and the fun generated from those moments works out wonderfully. The relationship between the family members is very well established. Everyone has their share of secrets which they don’t reveal but act like they are all together. Despite the love towards each other, none of the family members have open conversations which makes space for great drama. But the director fails to exploit it fully but ends up taking a long time stretching out scenes which makes the film very slow.

Apart from a few argument scenes, the conflicts between the main characters don’t get addressed. But it is the performances of the actors that lift the movie in a lot of scenes. Actors like Naresh, Sri Lakshmi, Rag Mayur and others successfully bring out the emotions. Also, the writing of Priya Vadlamani’s love track is quite poor and it lacks the necessary depth that makes you root for her or her marriage. After spending a lot of time on showcasing the issues, the manner in which everything ends happily is way too convenient. Despite all the flaws, ‘Veeranjaneyulu Vihara Yatra’ delivers a sweet message and provides good entertainment along with emotions.

Performances:

Naresh is one of the best actors around in Tollywood and he has delivered once again. His strong performance is what holds the film together. The manner in which he portrays emotions during the sentiment scenes will touch your heart. He switches from comedy to emotional and vice versa very smoothly. Sri Lakshmi does a very good job as the grandmother. She provides a lot of fun in many places.

Rag Mayur did well too but his character should have been written more convincingly. Priya Vadlamani is decent but her character leaves a lot to be desired. They both were convincing as siblings. Harshavardhan generates a lot of fun in the limited screen time. Brahmanandam’s guest appearance and voiceover benefit the film heavily. The rest of the cast are fine.

Technicians:

The visuals are delightful. The beautiful locations throughout the journey are well captured. The cinematographer did a very good job. The music goes with the flow of the film. Though a few songs could have been shortened, most of them are used for narration and enhancing the emotions. The production values are adequate. The production design is amazing but it is the editing that falls short. The movie is painfully slow in the latter parts and the film could have been tighter.

Anurag Palutla came up with a family drama mixed with emotions and entertainment. The relatable conflicts and characters worked out quite well but the movie is highly predictable. Though the movie delivers on the emotional front, the director stretches it too far. The movie is suitable for OTT viewing where you can hit pause whenever you want. People who connect to emotional dramas with a touch of fun can watch it this weekend.

Verdict: Veeranjaneyulu Vihara Yatra - Relatable Yet Predictable!

Rating: 2/5