2.5/5
2 Hr 35 Mins | Action | 30-05-2025
Cast - Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas, Nara Rohith, Manchu Manoj, Aditi Shankar, Aanandi, Divya Pillai, JayaSudha, Vennela Kishore and others
Director - Vijay Kanakamedala
Producer - KK Radhamohan
Banner - Sri Sathya Sai Arts
Music - Sricharan Pakala
Bellamkonda Sreenivas, Manchu Manoj, and Nara Rohith, three heroes we haven’t seen on screen for the last 2–3 years teamed up for a remake of the Tamil film Garudan. Vijay Kanakamedala, known for films like Ugram and Naandhi, directed this film with his own set of changes to the screenplay. Let’s check if this is the much-needed comeback on the big screen for all of them.
Setup:
Gajapathi Varma (Manchu Manoj) and Varadha (Nara Rohith) are best friends, just like their fathers, who carried forward their friendship. Sreenu (Bellamkonda Sreenivas) is an orphan who was taken in by Gajapathi’s grandmother and has been their confidant since childhood. Gajapathi’s grandmother (Jayasudha) is the Dharmakartha of the village temple, which worships the deity Varahi. They take care of the temple and are responsible for protecting the temple jewellery and properties. Minister Vedurupalli sets his eyes on a land worth ₹1000 crore, owned by the temple, and wants to seize its documents. He takes the help of Nagaraju a.k.a. Theatre (Ajay), a local in the village. What follows, will this become a tale of betrayal forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Bellamkonda Sreenivas plays a subtle and innocent role until the interval. From there on, he gets a proper arc with action scenes and a more aggressive side. He was decent enough and excelled particularly in the possession (poonakam) episodes. His unique dialogue delivery style without breaks worked well in a few scenes. This is a better performance compared to his previous movies.
Manchu Manoj gets a loud and aggressive role from the start. Though sometimes over-the-top, he looked good with his vibrant and energetic screen presence. However, the lack of a proper emotional arc in his character makes his performance a good act rather than an impactful one.
Nara Rohith plays a subtle yet intense character, turning aggressive when needed, which he carried off well. His grey-haired look and portrayal as a father of two worked effectively.
The female leads had mostly supporting roles. Aditi Shankar is limited to a small romantic track and two songs. Her dubbing sounded very artificial. Divya Pillai fit the wife character with a few emotional scenes. Anandi appears only in a few scenes and was okay. Vennela Kishore’s comedy track felt unnecessary. Other actors like Jayasudha, Sarath (as the minister), Sampath (as the police officer), Ajay, and Sandeep Raj were all decent and fit into the proceedings.
Technical Aspects:
Hari K. Vedantam’s cinematography is good. The rustic rural setup and action sequences, especially the night shots, were captured well. The movie maintained a steady tone in terms of color grading. Slow-motion/high-speed shots were also used effectively. Chota K. Prasad’s editing is uneven. He should have followed the original movie’s editing pattern, a few roadblocks here and there could have been avoided. Production design is good, with the village, temple, and brickyard setups looking authentic. Sricharan Pakala delivered three commercial songs, with two gaining traction on social media, thanks to Aditi and Sreenivas. The themes composed for each actor were also fitting. His background score is a major asset for the movie. Though loud at times, it gave the film the needed impact. Vijay Kanakamedala took the original Garudan script and made very few changes, mostly extending the romantic track, songs, and adding some comedy. He should have stuck to the original, as these additions became speed-breakers, affecting the emotional impact. He should’ve focused more on building the characters. That said, he did conceive all the action blocks well.
Positives:
All 3 lead actors’ performances
Base story
Action episodes
Background score
Negatives:
No emotional depth to characters
Uneven editing & narration
Unnecessary song and comedy episode
Analysis:
In today’s era, remakes often don’t resonate with audiences, as they are already exposed to a wide variety of cinema. If a movie is good, many would have already seen it. Here, the makers chose Garudan, which was a decent film, nothing groundbreaking. When remaking a mediocre film, care must be taken to develop a tighter and more emotion-driven narrative. But the director mostly stuck to the original and delivered a technically better film, but not emotionally compelling. He succeeded in utilizing the lead cast well in action sequences, but not in the drama. There’s a lot of scope in stories revolving around friendship and betrayal, but only a portion of it was used properly. Had the director invested more in developing the characters and showcasing their bonds, this could’ve been a much better film.
Overall, Bhairavam is an okay watch for its action, but it falls flat in other aspects.
Bottomline: High on action!
Rating: 2.5/5
Tags Bhairavam Bhairavam Review