Yevadu Review

Behind the Movie Yevadu: Mega Power Star Ramcharan, producer Dil Raju and director Vamsy Paidipally are waiting since a year or more to see release of this film. Finally, it is arriving in theaters today. We had the chance of watching the film prior to release through a special premiere show and here is the review.

In the Movie Yevadu: Story begins with love birds Sathya (Allu Arjun) and Deepthi (Kajal Agarwal) chased by villain group of Dheeru Bhai (Rahul Bose). As they board a bus from Vizag to Hyderabad, goons attack to keep the bus on fire. While Deepthi is dead, Sathya is admitted in hospital in a critical condition with half of the face burnt. Fast forward by 10 months, doctor (Jayasudha) offers Sathya a new life and new face (Ramcharan) performing necessary surgeries. Escaped from hospital, Sathya is set on a mission to wipe out Dheeru Bhai and his batch executing the plan to perfection. Just before interval when Sathya thinks everybody behind Deepthi’s death is finished, suddenly a new clutch of goons headed by Dharma (Sai Kumar) begin to chase Sathya (Ramcharan). Who are they? 

Here comes the flashback behind Sathya’s new face which actually belonged to Charan (Ramcharan), son of the same doctor (Jayasudha). There is as usual a college love story of Charan with Manju (Shruti Hasan) and his friends group (Sashank, Vennela Kishore etc). In tackling an illegal land encroachment, a fierce battle is induced between Dharma and Charan. As story proceeds on, Charan boards the same Vizag to Hyderabad bus which was boarded by Sathya (Allu Arjun). While Dharma’s men eliminate Charan, on the other side Dheeru Bhai’s batch fails to kill Sathya. To see her (Jayasudha) son come back to life, she transplants the dead Charan’s face to severely burnt Sathya’s face. What happened later on? Did Sathya complete the revenge of Charan on Dharma? What happened to Manju is rest.

Values of the Movie Yevadu: In one line, ‘Yevadu’ is a commercial mass masala entertainer where two movies are amalgamated into one. Vamsy Paidipally’s screenplay provided a couple of surprising goose bumps. Especially, five minutes before interval and fifteen minutes post interval stand out. Technically, Vamsy is an efficient director who also worked hard on maintaining strong emotional quotient even in second half action scenes between Charan and Sai Kumar. While Abburi Ravi’s usual dialogues and over violence with high bloodshed of Peter Heins are disadvantages, music from DSP and Ramprasad cinematography has done the trick. Marthand K Venkatesh could have edited few portions of first half on Amy Jackson. Then, the production values of Dil Raju and SVC are top notch. 

Performance wise Ramcharan was simply energetic. He did well with deadly stunts and athletic dance moves (Freedom song was superbly shot). On the lee side, emotional interpretation which never worked on Ramcharan’s unexpressive face is repeated even for ‘Yevadu.’ Romance with Amy Jackson was utterly a dud. Shruti Hasan is for songs sake. Allu Arjun’s cameo is good and Kajal is a stunning beauty. If Amy Jackson was vexatious, Jayasudha played key character with absolute perfection. Sai Kumar was ear splittingly loud with less intense dialogues and Kota was good as opportunist. Rahul Dev, Ajay, Supreet etc supported the villainy. Sashank got a meaty role while Vennela Kishore, Brahmanandam disappeared quickly. LB Sriram was sympathetic.  

Out of the Movie Yevadu: For all Mega fans and formula movie lovers, this film is worth a one time watch. Dil Raju and Vamsy Paidipally made ‘Yevadu’ as just a simple commercial potboiler with two revenge drama stories weaved into one with neat screenplay of inter-linkings in pre-interval and post-interval blocks. Absolutely, there is no confusion in narration because two stories run on separate blocks with no common element. 

All the episodes of Ramcharan using Amy Jackson to kill villains in first half were poorly conceived. Nearly 20 to 25 minutes on this track was boring until Vamsy’s clever screenplay inter-changes Ramcharan’s target numbers. Just before interval, pace picks up and interesting twists unveil. Early into second half, Jayasudha divulging the flashback with ‘Freedom’ song sets the narration on high pitch. Once Sai Kumar and Ramcharan enmity starts to showcase, rest is completely formulaic. Unlike earlier films, Vamsy Paidipally unconditionally missed in providing the relief with comedy. Both Brahmi and Vennela Kishore are wasted here. Lot of scenes in second half remind us of Prabhas and ‘Chatrpathi’ backdrop. No logic and no magic, this is just a typical Telugu movie.

With weak reviews and negative talk on ‘1 Nenokkadine,’ definitely there are high chances for ‘Yevadu’ to take driver’s seat for Pongal collections. There is no scope for any form of experimentation. ‘Yevadu’ is entirely a commercial package designed exclusively for Mega Fans. For a stale out product, if Dil Raju promotes on right pitch, definitely there is a safe product on-hand.  

Verdict of the Movie Yevadu: Mega Fans Can Enjoy The Pongal Feast.

                                             Cinejosh Rating: 3/5 

                                                                                     Reviewed by Srivaas