Bejawada Film Review

When Tollywood decides to do a Godfather it ends up being a ‘RGV inspired’ story. Told in a narration drenched in blood; punctuated in nicotine (mocked with statutory warnings) the film proceeds on an assumption that the audience is wholly insensitive and without any artistic expectations. It looks that filmmakers here are blissfully unaware that cinema is evolving, moving, has evolved to more subtle formats of expression When the dialogues are an echo of what has been said so long ago and often thereafter that they echo through the archives, when the songs are a brazen lift from something as close as Bodyguard, when the actors throw up expressions stationed in the past, when novelty is an item song (as fresh as Mehbooba, Mehbooba) you suffocate.
The story line is based in Vijayawada where violence rules the road. Kaali Prasad (Prabhu) is the iron fist with a golden heart. Brewing in his little army is an ego battle between his sibling Shanker (Abhimanyu Singh) and his follower Vijay Krishna (Mukul Dev). That the film maker respects no subtleties is obvious in the crude manner Kali Prasad snaps at every error of his brother and is in awe of Vijay Krishna. Vijay himself has two brothers Jai Krishna (Ajay) and Shiva Krishna (Naga Chaitanya). Fortunately we are saved of that mandatory script stage where he falls in love with Gitanjali (Amala Paul).
After the death of Kaali Prasad Shankar takes on the reins. There is also Ramana (Kota) who comes in as a fixer politician to ensure his space in Bejawada. The script is completely dedicated to one or the other killing the other. Death rides on an automobile on the roads of Bejawada. Blood flows. Men die. The audience is expected to audit death and exit points of actors. Here mayhem starts as a script, moves to a cult and then a near creed. The film is rightly certified for adult viewing though the text is juvenile. Relief is expected in the comedy track where you have Brahmanandam as Sketch Gopi and M S Narayana as Veera Venkata Durga Prasad. Unfortunately they have miniscule appearances at most irrelevant times in the script. Director Vivek Krishna is obviously in awe of RGV and toes the line with the devotion of Mary’s Little Lamb. If this is cinema, it is time we defined our premise of entertainment.
The performances are either clichéd or worse. Even veteran actors like Ahuti Prasad fail to survive the monotony. With a producer like RGV, the director shops outside Tollywood territory. For variety you have Prabhu occupying script space in abundance in the early part of the movie. Abhimanyu Singh is a non starter. He looks stoned. Not all the guns in the RGV Factory can force him to act. Naga Chaitanya is hopelessly miscast. Assuming there are roles he can perform this is not one. Not all the dramatic (routine stylized intros etc.), not all the paid whistles in the theatre help. Cinematic space can be genetically handed over, talent will have to be acquired or gained. In the dramatic scenes he is uninspiring and in the romantic scenes he has poor inspirations from Amala Paul. Dressed in multi coloured outfits invariably Amala Paul is the preseason advertisement for a Christmas tree. It is Mukul Dev who turns out with a restrained yet power performance. The only other noteworthy performance comes from Ajay. The lady characters in the film have as much importance as door knobs would.
Bejawada is a gone wrong film. It screams: Stay Away.