Vedam (2010)

If there's one thing I can't stop thinking about after finishing this film, it's that Allu Arjun is a brilliant actor. And that I am probably gay for Anushka Shetty. And that Manoj Bajpayee rules in every language. Okay, so those are three things, not one, but in my defence, this movie gave me a lot to think about. Especially the thought that I should probably watch more Anushka movies, but I will restrict this "review" to mah feelz about this movie.

Vedam is that rare Indian movie with mainstream actors that doesn't completely screw up the Muslim, the working class, and the sex worker protagonists. For that alone, it has stayed relevant even after 10 years, and deserves high praise. However, where they lost me was the whole "rock star" storyline- a friend's friend commented that it seems as if the director had just recently learned the definition of an "anthology", and honestly, it shows. The impulse to include the rebellious middle-class kid was evidently too strong, especially in the context of the larger theme of heroism that the story tries to explore. But the thing is, it just doesn't work, at least for me (and for my friend, so we win). The whole thing was dispensable.

This movie reaaaallly drags one through emotional hell, but I think it’s very honest? Like I don’t think they did all that just to get tears out of audience. That’s what the writers and director thought was justifiable in the context of the movie’s universe, and well, it was. So I don’t think I’m gonna hold that against this movie, even though I was so not prepared for half the things that happened and was texting my friend "I'm gonna die" constantly. Coming back to my favs, both Allu and Anushka rightly received awards and acclaim for their performances in this movie- they were the perfect balance of comedy and serious, and I can't imagine anyone else doing full justice to their roles like these two did. Manoj Bajpayee was intense max from first scene to the last, but never overbearingly so, and that's why we stan. 

Now, for the one thing that made me supremely uncomfortable about this movie- the terrorism angle, and the accompanying good Muslim-bad Muslim binary (as previously stated, I am very bad in maths, and hence these counting errors). Again, I must emphasise that I was relieved when they did not screw up Manoj's character, Rahimuddin Qureshi. It was the terrorism angle that felt off to me. My friend articulated it better when she said- "Most terrorism experts know that there isn't much 'religiousness' in the motives - not even like a bad reading but just a front for political reasons (not like in a less dangerous way). And in this movie especially, it assumes a symmetry between 'Hindu' terrorism and 'Muslim' terrorism in India and that both are bad, we are all humans kinda universalism." Glad I know a coherent queen who can actually spell out the nuances of convoluted topics like the intersection of politics and religion in such a sensible way. Also, the terrorism sequence was directly inspired from the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, so there's that angle too. Major hmmmm about the entire thing, in a nutshell.

In conclusion, I am glad this movie was made in 2010, and not later- can't imagine a film portraying Hindutva mobs as villains being allowed to exist, let alone survive, in this day and age. And to that, I only have one thing to say as I write this one day before the day bhakts have been waiting for all their lives (I don't even want to write it ugh)- shivoham, shivoham.