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'Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi' Movie Review: Kalyan Ram’s Unsparingly Violent Film Offers Little to No Reprieve
Pradeep Chilukuri’s film, starring Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, is an assault on the senses.
Director: Pradeep Chilukuri
Writer: Pradeep Chilukuri
Cast: Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Vijayashanthi, Srikanth, Sohail Khan, Saiee Manjrekar, Babloo Prithiveeraj, BS Avinash, Anand
Language: Telugu
Walking out of the movie hall and feeling placid after watching Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi triggered an interesting response in me: I am so desensitised to extreme graphic violence in cinema at this point that even the most relentless onslaught didn’t leave me all that perturbed.
Pradeep Chilukuri’s new film grabs you by the scruff of your neck and forces you into an "experience" in which every device — including human emotions — becomes a tool for destruction, and every moment reeks of gore. Bullets pierce through bodies, knives and machetes tear across flesh, and acid is sometimes poured down throats in the name of drama and raw atmosphere. It can be guaranteed that every character in the film will be subjected to this whirlwind of aggression. Yet, I felt immune to it myself because Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi isn’t the first film that confuses savagery for intensity, and it certainly won't be the last.
Arjun Vishwanath (Nandamuri Kalyan Ram) is born into a family of uprightness and valour. If his mother, Vyjayanthi (Vijayashanthi), the police commissioner of Vizag, has taught him the power and responsibilities of the khaki uniform, his naval officer father, Vishwanath (Anand), has shown him that he must do whatever it takes to fight for what's right. A special connection binds the mother and the son, with the former envisioning his career as a top cop. And Arjun lives up to it with aplomb, until he doesn’t, and a fateful encounter with a mafia don leads him astray onto a path of crime and retribution.
To his credit, Chilukuri awards a few scenes to illustrate the bond between Arjun and Vyjayanthi, including the son always surprising the mother with cake on her birthday, no matter where she is on duty (a majority of them happen to be dangerous crime scenes). For her, seeing her son become an anarchist is unacceptable, and for him, disappointing his mother is soul-crushing. Yet, Arjun must stand up as the voice of the poor who are being grossly exploited by gangsters, drug lords, and other cops themselves.
At the outset, Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi promises to be a largely fresh look at the mother-son dynamic. The mother is neither the usual, pious kind nor is she adorably gullible. Rather, she has led by example all her life. Their separation isn't usual either: it is laced with miscommunication and a world filled with dread that homecoming is possible only through brutality.
It is interesting, but the problem arises when the film takes violence so seriously that it not only gets distracted but grows fanatically obsessed with it. The essence we sought from that delicate relationship is soon engulfed by an inconceivable barrage of action sequences, and all you can do is simply resign and let it run out of steam on its own.
However, it takes excruciatingly long before that energy is exhausted. Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi stages bloodshed with manic vitality and never second-guesses the repercussions it might have on itself and the viewer who is lured into its muck. Slow-motion scenes are found in spades as B. Ajaneesh Loknath’s background score channels its inner Animal (similar to the throbbing electronica from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film) and pushes the narrative over the edge, never allowing us the chance to pause and reflect on all the proceedings.
In a rather comical and unintentional juxtaposition, Arjun’s love life (including Saiee Manjrekar’s appallingly written character) crops up from time to time to break the virile tension and make things ‘tender’ and ‘romantic’. These sequences go by in a flash, and we are back into the carnage.
The concern, though, isn’t violence as much as the film taking the approach of 'being violent' for granted. The John Wicks, The Equalizers and The Raids are all ruthless in their respective ways, but those films endeavour to construct worlds that are imaginative, structured, and clear-cut. The rules and stakes of these worlds matter to help the action shine because they allow for the audience’s emotional investment, whereas Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi expects us to take the plunge without any such effort.
Sohail Khan plays Mohammad Giyazuddin Pathan, a Mumbai-based gangster, BS Avinash of K.G.F fame essays the role of a local drug lord named Mahankali and Srikanth plays a police commissioner, and together they form a nexus that is almost impossible to breach. We never get to see this setting being explored with a hint of authenticity, and everything unfolds at the most surface level.
Chilukuri and team could have made the film work had they reined it in during the climax block and closed the show at the right time. Instead, they remain on overdrive and squander the small opportunities that arise because of the central performances and the resonating emotional thread. Technically well-executed, but the film doesn't spare you with its one-dimensional method, and that's never a good sign.