Review: ‘Bhaje Vaayu Vegam,’ starring Kartikeya Gummakonda, Tanikella Bharani, Ravi Shankar, Rahul Tyson and Iswarya Menon

June 5, 2024

by Carla Hay

Kartikeya Gummakonda and Rahul Tyson in “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” (Photo courtesy of UV Creations)

“Bhaje Vaayu Vegam”

Directed by Prashanth Reddy

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the action film “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two young adult brothers move to Hyderabad, where they have conflicts with two brothers from an older generation who are corrupt leaders.  

Culture Audience: “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching bloated action movies that are weak imitations of other action films with the same themes.

Sharath Lohitashwa in “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” (Photo courtesy of UV Creations)

“Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” is just another long-winded and bombastic action film with the same over-used story themes of family revenge and violent murders. It’s a mostly forgettable tale of two pairs of brothers who are on a collision course of conflicts. This 136-minute bloated fiasco of a movie gets especially sloppy in the last third of the film, when it tries to cram in too many plot twists, most of which never look believable.

Written and directed by Prashanth Reddy, “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” is Reddy’s feature-film directorial debut. “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” could have been much better, but it just relies too heavily on storylines cobbled from many other similar actions films. The beginning of the movie, which takes place in India, shows a compassionate man named Rajaram (played by Tanikella Bharani) bringing home an orphan named Venkat, whose parents have been killed. Venkat is about 10 or 11 years old and one or two years younger than Raju, the biological son Rajaram and his wife Yashoda, who live in an unnamed village

Rajaram and Yashoda raise Venkat and Raju as brothers. Rajaram is fairly affluent and pays off the the debts that Venkat’s parents owed. At an early age, Venkat had a personality of beng rebellious and a bit of a troublemaker, while Raju was usually the responsible and obedient brother.

When Venkat (played by Kartikeya Gummakonda) and Raju (playe by Rahul Tyson) are adults, they move from their small village to Hyderabad to fulfill their dreams, thngs don’t go quite in the way that they expect. Venkat wants to become a professional cricket player, but he can’t afford the bribes needed to pay officials to be get n the fast track to be on India’s national cricket team. Venkat also has a gambling addiction. Raju gets fired from his computer technology job after assaulting a co-worker who accused Raju of lying about Raju’s qualifications.

Raju and Venkat both have a secret that they’ve been hiding from their father Rajaram: They sold the land they inherited from him, in order to pay off their debts. Raju and Venkat both plan to buy back the land when they can afford it.

Meanwhile, a story is told about another pair of brothers who also traveled from a small village to Hyderbad to make their dreams come true. George (played by Sharath Lohitashwa) and David (played by Ravi Shankar) both worked in a steel mill and were treated like outside. The two brothers got caught up in union politics at the steel mill.

George killed a union leader and ended up in prison, but he got out of prison by a corrupt politician who didn’t like the union leader. This corrupt politician became George’s mentor and eventually helped George become the mayor of Hyderabad. David has been living in George’s shadow and has become jealous and resentful.

The rest of “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” is a messy story about how Venkat, Raju, George and Davd cross paths and get into conflicts wth each other. There are the expected shootouts, chase scenes and bloody battles. There’s also a race against time when Rajaram needs an operation for pulmonary hypertension disease, and Venkat and Raju desperately scramble to get the money for the operation.

The acting performances range from mediocre to terrible. Iswarya Menon has a “token female” role as Venkat’s love interest in a relationship that goes nowhere. “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” has a story that’s ultimately time-wasting for people who’ve seen many of these types of movies already.

UV Creations released “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on May 31, 2024.

Review: ‘Spy’ (2023), starring Nikhil Siddharth, Iswarya Menon, Aryan Rajesh, Abhinav Gomatam, Sanya Thakur and Nitin Mehta

July 12, 2023

by Carla Hay

Nikhil Siddharth in “Spy” (Photo courtesy of Red Cinemas)

“Spy” (2023)

Directed by Garry BH

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of Asia, the action film “Spy” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A spy tries to find out who killed his brother while he hunts down a terrorist.

Culture Audience: “Spy” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching incoherent and silly action movies.

Nitin Mehta in “Spy” (Photo courtesy of Red Cinemas)

“Spy” is a jumbled mess with sloppy editing, a moronic plot, and mindless violence. There’s no originality in this time-wasting film about a spy hunting down a terrorist. There are too many other movies that have the same plot but are much more interesting to watch than “Spy,” whose title is also very unoriginal.

Directed by Garry BH and written by Anirudh Krishna Murthy, “Spy” is supposed to look like a globe-trotting adventure. The movie’s story takes place in Jordan, Israel, India, and Pakistan. All of these different location don’t add anythng substantial to the story. They just serve as backdrops to the generic chase scenes and shootouts in this dreadful action flick.

In “Spy,” most of the main characters are from India. Vijay “Jai” Vardhan (played by Nikhil Siddharth) is an obnoxious Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) agent who is tasked with finding an elusive terrorist named Khadir Khan (played by Nitin Mehta), who is also an arms dealer. There’s also some nonsense about Vijay trying to find a connection betwen Khadir and secrets of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist who rose to prominence in the 1940s.

“Spy” is nothing but a checklist of stereotypes. Does the dashing “hero” have a less-dashng sidekick? Check. Vijay’s sidekick is co-worker/best friend Kamal (played by Abhinav Gomatam), who doesn’t do much that’s substantial.

Does the “hero” have a personal tragedy and is seeking revenge for it? Check. Vijay’s brother Subhash Vardhan (played by Aryan Rajesh) was also a R&AW agent, and he was killed in the line of duty while trying to apprehend Khadir. There’s a muddled part of the movie that mentions Subhash was credited with capturing Khadir, but Khadir really escaped.

Does the “hero” have a pretty love interest? Double check. He’s got two: Vijay meets Ashiwaraya (played by Iswarya Menon) in a bar. He breaks a bottle over the head of another guy who tries to talk to her. It’s obvious that something is off about Ashiwaraya because she thinks this type of bullying violence is flattering.

Vijay’s other love interest is Saraswati (played by Sanya Thakur), who is one of his colleagues. “Spy” has old-fashioned stereotypes of women. Ashiwaraya is supposed to be the seductive, “bad girl” type. Saraswati is supposed to be the dependable “good girl” type.

Vijay promises his father (played by Tanikella Bharani) that he will find the murderer of Subhash. The movie goes from fight scene to fight scene with no style or charisma. The same can be said of the bland acting performances from the cast. “Spy” will be quickly forgotten by viewers because there’s not much about the movie that’s worth remembering.

Red Cinemas released “Spy” in select U.S. cinemas on June 28, 2023, and in India on June 29, 2023.

Copyright 2017-2025 Culture Mix
CULTURE MIX