Ooru Peru Bhairavakona has several ambitious ideas strung together poorly in a wayward narrative, writes Srivathsan Nadadhur
Story:
Basava and John are small-time stuntmen who miraculously escape from a marriage after a burglary. They mysteriously bump into Agrahaaram Geetha, a con woman. A series of events leads the trio to a strange village replete with mythical references – Bhairavakona. What connects Basava and Bhairavakona to his lady love Bhoomi?
Review:
‘Familiar story, unfamiliar storytelling’ has always been Vi Anand’s mantra as a director – Tiger, Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada, Disco Raja and Okka Kshanam serve as a testimony to his inventive camouflaging. His latest release Ooru Peru Bhairavakona, much like earlier films, dabbles with supernatural spirits and mystical elements driven by two primal emotions – love and death.
Bhairavakona, the backdrop against which the film unfolds, has a dark past. The region has a strange link to a sacred text – garuda puranam – and comes alive only in the nights, inhabited by people who hold grudges and are consumed by bitterness, anger. An elderly woman constantly pleads its insiders to look at life optimistically. One can only enter the village by choice, there’s no exit route.
While Bhairavakona is an embodiment of death, it’s Basava’s quest to undo his mistake that brings him to the village. ‘Even if you mean well, isn’t the path equally important?’ a character asks him. The best part of Ooru Peru Bhairavakona, however, lies in Vi Anand’s head. All through the film, you witness flashes of brilliance and it unfortunately never comes together as a whole.
The film lacks a strong emotional basis to keep a viewer hooked and is a stranded child on most occasions. Going back and forth across timelines, involving multiple characters, backstories of villages, distracting you with its humour, Ooru Peru Bhairavakona struggles to make progress with the story. The narrative is devoid of purpose and frustrates the viewer by beating around the bush.
An unusual twist about Bhairavakona turns the film on its head and you expect the screenplay to gain steam at least in the second hour, but all your hopes of a recovery are criminally dashed. Vi Anand builds the story around a doomed romance and he takes too long to establish Basava’s motive. The only silver lining isn’t the emotion but the comedy thread featuring Vennela Kishore, Viva Harsha.
Ooru Peru Bhairavakona isn’t an intolerable film but could have been salvaged to some extent with better editing and better spoonfeeding about the director’s intent. The transition between sequences is all over the place, the film makes a mess of characters’ emotional graphs and the flashbacks are timed poorly, creating little or no impact.
It’s tiring to parrot the ‘earnest performance in a poor film’ line every time with Sundeep Kishan, film after film. For an actor of his mettle and script sense, it’s high time he treads his path in the industry with more caution. A capable Varsha Bollamma gets a crucial role but the proceedings barely treats her with the empathy she deserves.
Kavya Thapar, in her second release in as many weeks, yet again chooses to be a mere eye candy of a heroine in a film, donning fancy clothes and providing unintentional comic relief. Her absence in the climax sequence is rather jarring. The mystical thriller is salvaged to some extent with fine performances by the supporting cast – Viva Harsha, Vadivakkarasu, Vennela Kishore, Brahmaji and Ravi Shankar.
Shekar Chandra, the composer, is probably the only man committed to making some sense of the film and rejuvenates the viewer with his ambient music score and foot-tapping numbers. The production design too deserves praise, adding more authenticity to the mystical backdrop. The film is delectably shot and the lighting in the night sequences is truly a sight for sore eyes.
Going by Vi Anand’s strengths in his recent films, it would be interesting to see him tackle a full-fledged comedy and take a break from his fantasy obsessions.
Verdict:
Ooru Peru Bhairavakona is a bunch of interesting fantasy ideas struggling to come together in a directionless film. The director gets too distracted in his attempt to build a mythical world and loses control of the narrative. If at all something works in favour of the thriller, it’s the humour.
Rating: 2/5
