Vrusshabha Review

Mohanlal is inarguably the biggest star in Malayalam cinema. At the age of 65, this year, he delivered two big blockbusters, L2: Empuraan and Thudarum. After releasing five films (i.e., L2: Empuraan, Thudarum, an extended cameo in Kannappa, Hridayapoorvam, and an extended cameo in Bha Bha Ba in the year so far, he came up with Vrusshabha, an action fantasy drama film. Nanda Kishore, Kannada film director, directed and Sam C. S., provided the music for the film. After being in the making for quite some time, the film was finally released in theatres today on the occasion of Christmas. Did, Mohanlal, end an eventful year with a blockbuster? Did the director, Nanda Kishore, utilise the opportunity and come up with an engaging film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

The film talks about reincarnation and past life residue. It is the story of a king in a past life, Vijayendra Vrusshabha(Mohanlal) and a businessman in present life, Aadi Deva Varma(Mohanlal) and how his actions impacted him, his wife and his son. The film
Deals with the question – Do humans have to face the consequences of their actions in their past life, in their current life?

Performances:

When the actor of Mohanlal’s calibre looked clueless, unexcited and uninterested, there’s not much we can talk about the other actors in the film. The film had multiple notable actors from the Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada film industries and, almost all of them delivered below-par and forgettable performances. Even the short cameo by Bollywood’s yesteryear hero, Jeetendra, looked completely out of place.

Technicalities:

The music director, Sam C. S., the cinematographer, Antony Samson, and the editor, K. M. Prakash – All of these three people are talented technicians but they ended up delivering subpar output to the film. It is safe to blame the director’s lack of imagination instead of blaming the technicians. The background score is annoying. The editing is very bad. The runtime of the film is just about two hours’ but the viewing experience worsens with each passing minute. And, the cinematography along with the AI-generated visuals is laughworthy. It is a film where the involved technician delivered a terrible output. It was shocking to see three production houses, okayed and funded a mess of a film.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Nothing

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Terrible Direction
2.⁠ ⁠Terrible Execution
3.⁠ ⁠Terrible Performances
4.⁠ ⁠Terrible Visuals
5.⁠ ⁠Terrible Music
6.⁠ ⁠Et al

Analysis:

As an audience, people always have a chance to walk out of the theatre when they don’t like a movie. But, the review writers will not have an option to walk out. Irrespective of how terrible the movie is, the reviewer will have to sit through the movie for the sake of writing a detailed analysis. The chances of watching a terrible movie are always a Friday away for the reviewers.

—Apart from knowing that Mohanlal is the hero and that it is an action fantasy drama, I did not have much idea about the movie. As soon as I stepped into the theatre, I was shocked to see only one other person present for the evening prime time show on the first day of release. Within the first five minutes, I realized the kind of experience I was going to face for the next two hours. The only other person in the theatre walked out within twenty minutes of the film starting. But I did not have that option. I had to sit through the entire film and write the review.—

In simple words, Vrusshabha, has a very good chance to be in the ‘Top Three Worst Films of The Year’, across film industries in India.

Vrusshabha, strictly by going with the people associated with it, is a literal PAN India film. It was directed by a Kannada film director with a Malayalam star hero in the lead role along with multiple actors from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi film industries. And, the producers of the film are three corporate companies based out of Mumbai & Dubai. When you have Mohanlal as a hero and so many notable names in the crew, the bare minimum the audience expects is a bearable movie. But, what we get to see is a mess of a film in the name of ‘past life residue’, AI-generated laughable visuals and terrible and uninterested performances from almost every actor. It was shocking to see such an unexciting and uninterested performance from ‘The Complete Actor’ Mohanlal and that too in a film where the adjective used in the title card is ‘God of Acting’.

The basic storyline the writer and director, Nanda Kishore, selected may have sounded exciting on paper but the interesting idea on paper ended up becoming a disastrous experience for the audience, when it was translated into the movie. The lack of ideas, the lack of originality and the lack of imagination of the director were to be seen in almost every sequence in the film. There’s a sequence in the film where the actress, Ragini Dwivedi, has to wear a face mask and participate in a sword fight with a warrior. It is perfectly fine to use a body double if the actress is unable to perform in an action sequence for whatever reason. But, the bare minimum thing which the audience expects to see is a female body double, isn’t it? But, the director and team, selected a male body double to perform in the action sequence. Only a director who has the audacity to undermine the audience, can do such silly things in a film. ‘Terrible’, is an understatement to describe the first part of the film. When compared to the first half, the second half of the film is marginally bearable but, there was not even a single sequence throughout that film that is executed engagingly.

Overall, Vrusshabha, at just about two hours runtime, tests patience and bores you like there is no tomorrow. Do yourself a favour by staying away from this film, not just in theatres but on any OTT platform as well. It is a shocker of a film from Mohanlal and team and it does not deserve the valuable time and money of the audience.

Final Verdict – Stay Away

Rating – 1/5