Not unlike the increasing number of rural action dramas we see today, Akhil Akkineni and Bhagyashri Borse’s Lenin, too, unfolds in the middle of a temple festival. Set in a fictional village in Andhra Pradesh that celebrates Draupadi, Lenin begins with sermons on the Mahabharata, lessons on morality and a harbinger of the town’s own incoming conflict or the Kurukshetra. The film, steeped in literal and allegorical references, isn’t just paying lip service to the ancient epic. Yet the revenge-driven Kurukshetra war that forms its central conflict feels far less considered.
Lenin begins with an interesting differentiator. The village functions and thrives on an unspoken rule: there should be no bloodshed. For even a drop of blood can induce a dry spell in the drought-prone village. Lenin (Akhil Akkineni), who comes to town as a hungry young orphan, unwittingly becomes the first bearer of rain in the village, finding his people (Easwari Rao plays Jayanthi, his foster mother) and eventually his place in the world. A local party rogue and a few other thugs, including a ‘Shakuni’ placeholder, watch from the aisles, waiting for blood to spill and Lenin to flip. The film doesn't keep them waiting for long.
Meanwhile, an adult Lenin falls in love with Bharathi (Bhagyashri Borse), who makes up one of the better-written characters in the film. She courts her man, refuses to take no for an answer, bullies him into professing his love, and curtly discusses consent when brides are treated like replaceable commodities. It might be a stretch to call Bharathi a feminist antithesis of the “loosu ponnu” trope, but Borse’s tacit grasp on the role renders the statement almost true. Akkineni and Borse make these familiar scenes somewhat memorable. Until, of course, the blood overtakes matters of the heart.
Some characters shine with something of a gilded promise when we first meet them. A widow who refuses to wipe off her vermillion to stay in power, a dog mirroring the canine companion of Yudhishthir, who refuses to leave his master’s side, a new bride who takes on the form of a catalyst that Draupadi did in the Mahabharata. But a lot of these remain just ideas on paper, stopping miles short of becoming fully formed people of this world.
While the parallels drawn between Lenin's conflict and the Kurukshetra yield a few well-written action set pieces, the barrage of twists gradually thins out the plot and our threadbare patience. Loyalties keep switching every few scenes, rendering most of the people unreliable in this film. Without any emotional groundwork, a lot of these decisions come off as knee-jerk in nature, with the sole intent of eliciting an emotional response.
Thaman and DOP Leon Britto work overtime to give the film the padding it requires, bringing alive the festival and the theme of revenge and retribution. Akkineni is sincere in the soft-boy-gone-rogue transformation that Lenin goes through, even if we hardly know anything beyond his love for Bharathi and fealty to Jayanthi. Definitely not enough to look past the film's follies.