After having a gap of more than a year, Nandamuri Kalyan Ram is coming back with his Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi, with veteran actress Vijayashanti in a supporting role. The trailer hinted at a regular commercial movie, which is in contrast with Kalyan Ram’s most recent releases, Amigos and Devil. Pradeep Chilukuri, who directed Raja Cheyyi Veste in 201,6 is coming back with Kalyan Ram’s Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi now. The movie was released today in theaters. Here is the detailed review from one of the US Premiere shows.

What Is It About?

Arjun Vishwanath (Kalyan Ram) is an aspiring IPS officer and is the son of the most efficient and sincere police officer, Vyjayanthi (Vijaya Shanti). Irrespective of cracking the IPS with the best scores, Arjun takes up a violent path to become a ‘good’ gangster in the city. Upset with his choices, Vyjayanthi keeps him at a distance. What circumstances made Arjun become what he is, and how does the mother-son duo reunite? Who is Pathan (Sohail Khan) and what does he seek vengeance against Vyjayanthi for? Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi is all about that.

Performances

Kalyan Ram fits the bill as a violent man whose tolerance is zero for illegal activities and injustice in the city. He performed well in the action and emotional scenes. He could have delivered it even better had the mother-son bonding episodes been written well. Vijayashanti did well in the role of a sincere cop who never hesitates to go beyond the call of duty to put criminals away.

Technicalities

Saiee Manjrekar appeared in a passive role with little importance. She is just alright. Prudhvi got a meaty role, and he did fine in it. Srikanth appears in a crucial yet routine role for these kinds of predictable stories. Sohail Khan is seen as a ruthless baddie, of course, yet another Bollywood villain with a deep voice dubbing. He will appear powerful at the beginning of the movie and won’t be seen until the climax. There is nothing special about his role.

With a pretty straightforward storytelling, Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi offers nothing really new. The background score elevated the action part, and the masses will be enthralled by the action sequences. Songs are so mediocre that they don’t need a mention at all. A few frames are good and interesting. The screenplay is flat.

Thumbs Up

Kalyan Ram
Climax Twist
BGM in parts

Thumbs Down

Vintage plot
Flat narrative
Weak songs

Analysis:

A protagonist with exceptional talent forced to pick the wrong path for society and being hated by his own family is a story that we have seen and gotten bored with a ton of times so far. Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi comes up with the same line, and that too without any tweak or twist to the template story.

The first half goes on with the pattern of establishment, elevations, a song, and a couple of fights, introducing the villain’s cruelty. Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi also used the most common concept of ‘drugs supplied to youth’ in the city, and the hero hunting the bad guys behind it. There are a few action episodes, and the background music shines now and then.

The second too has no surprises until the climax. Like many other stories, the saint-hero becomes an unstoppable force that rains punches against the goons to save a ‘basti’ of people, and the story after is also not new. A backstabber in a decent guy’s disguise, a powerful villain coming for an act of revenge, and many more from the movie follow the standard plot book.

The climax twist is unpredictable and certainly pulls the story up from the standard narrative for a while. However, the age-old plot and the conventional storytelling leave Arjun S/o Vijayanthi a routine commercial drama, irrespective of the touching twist in the end. It would have been an asset if the mother-son bonding episodes and dialogues were well established.

Overall, Arjun S/o Vyjayanthi is a passable action template drama that offers nothing new.

Bottomline: Routine Commercial Drama