Movie Review: Ooru Peru Bhairavakona

Sundeep Kishan’s much anticipated ‘Ooru Peru Bhairavakona‘ is finally here. The movie releases on 16th February while paid previews were made available on 14th itself.

Let’s dive into the detailed analysis and review of this fantasy movie directed by Vi Anand.

Story:

Sundeep Kishan’s character Basava is a small-time thug who turns into a movie stuntman. Viva Harsha’s John is his sidekick cum friend. The movie begins with both of them pulling off a robbery from a marriage, where they rob a bagful of the bride’s precious jewellery. Here a flashback begins where Basava meets the heroine of the film Bhoomi played by Varsha Bollamma. In this, the hero helps Bhoomi recover her handbag from a pickpocket and falls in love with her. In their next meeting, she explains to Basava that the bag had the only proof left to prove the existence of their tribal village, in the court, which is now occupied by a businessman. By fate, he becomes Bhoomi’s kidnapper, due to some commitments. What happens between them is revealed towards the end of the movie.

Coming back to the gold jewellery robbery storyline, Basava and John, on their escape route, meet with Kavya Thapar’s Geetha. Not knowing she is a thief too, they try to help her as she tricks them by acting like an unconscious accident victim. In their attempt to find a hideout to avoid the police, they enter a hidden jungle village called Bharavakona, where weird rituals and ominous-looking people are everywhere.

In Bhairavakona, they are sent to Vennela Kishore’s character Dr Narappa who practices ‘Natural Medicine’. After a series of hilarious scenes here, local thugs steal their car from Geetha who tries to escape with the gold. The hero and John go looking for it and are sent to Peddamma played by actress Vadivukkarasi. Peddamma discourages their pursuit. They find Geetha and head to the place where they suspect the car is. The horror begins here, and P Ravi Shankar’s horrific Reddappa is introduced here. Reddappa and all his compatriots are revealed to be ghosts. Reddappa tells the hero that the golden jewellery belongs to his daughter and he had bought them for her when he was alive. They all show their ghostly avatars to the trio and scare them away. It is revealed that all the villagers are ghosts and that Bhairavakona is a hidden place from Garuda Purana where souls that crave revenge end up after death. With this, the first half is ended and even Dr Narappa is shown to be a ghost.

The three come back the next day with a plan where Kavya Thapar acts as the daughter of Reddappa and asks for the jewellery. Reddappa catches their deceit and the gang of ghosts tries to kill them all.

What is Bhoomi doing in Bhairavakona? What happened between her and Basava? What will Reddappa do? What happens to Bhoomi’s village? These questions make up the rest of the story.

Screenplay and Analysis:

The second half of the movie falls flat after a promising set-up and a great interval bang. It feels like the director stopped the story halfway and decided to conclude the movie in a hurry. All the fantastic world-building, VFX, BGM and horror-comedy in the first half are wasted and shown no scope in the second half. Only the threads of the love story with the heroine and the gold jewellery story with Ravi Shankar’s character Reddappa are touched and concluded in the second half. The film falls well short of what it set out to achieve.

In fact, the audience is left bewildered as the rolling titles start towards the end as no one would imagine that the ending would come so soon and so abruptly.

Technical Departments:

• The cinematography of Raj Thota was top-notch. The visual takes you into a new fantasy world and the level of immersion is commendable.
• The editing by Chota K Prasad was adequate.
• The music by Shekar Chandra is fantastic and helps in creating the thrills and suspense in the film very well. It is known that the songs are already chartbusters.
• The art department deserves additional credit for setting up the world so believably and with such detail.
• The VFX does not seem out of place and is of very high quality considering the budget of this film.
• The direction by Vi Anand takes a weird turn towards the end and disappoints the audience.

Plus Points:

• Sundeep Kishan, Kavya Thapar, Varsha Bollamma and other actors’ performance
• Vennela Kishore and Viva Harsha’s comedy in 1st half
• Horror and suspenseful moments in the 1st half
• Look and feel of the film with great VFX and world-building

Minus Points:

• The story is not developed completely
• The love story feels forced even though it is the central point
• Very weak 2nd half
• Movie ends abruptly

Punchline: Average! Movie ends abruptly with a Flat 2nd Half.