V movie review: Nani, Indraganti Mohana Krishna reunite for a colossal mess of an action-thriller

V
Director: Indraganti Mohana Krishna
Cast: Nani, Sudheer Babu, Nivetha Thomas and Aditi Rao Hydari

V is undoubtedly Indraganti Mohana Krishna’s most ambitious film. Ever since the project was announced, there was a lot riding on it, especially because it was the third collaboration between Indraganti and Nani, a pair that had clicked in the past with two entertaining films, Ashta Chamma and Gentleman. Unfortunately, things don’t go as smoothly for the pair this time around.

Watch V trailer:

Their latest collaboration is a colossal mess with barely anything working in their favour. Both Nani and Indraganti seem to have stepped out of their comfort zones with V, which indeed deserves kudos, but struggle to make an impact.

V opens with a riot and we are introduced to ACP Adithya (Sudheer Babu). He quickly springs into action to control the situation. What we get is a scene that’s straight out of a Salman Khan film. We see Adithya going shirtless and flaunting his ripped body. As this scene ends, the credits roll and we get to know more about what kind of man Adithya is. He is just the kind of cop you don’t want to mess with. But that only makes things exciting for Vishnu (Nani). Vishnu, a psycho killer with a dark past, goes on a killing spree, leaving clues that challenge Adithya to try and stop him. Soon, we are sucked into a cop versus serial killer thriller which is all style but no substance.

V needed better writing. Even the twists are so predictable that you wish they came with at least some element of surprise. Instead, a lot of focus has gone into making the film look needlessly stylish. We get it’s a big budget film and could very well be Indraganti’s most expensive film but the need to make it look grand just for the sake of it, doesn’t make sense. For instance, the killings are made to look gruesome because this is a story about a serial killer but the rest of it falls flat and it doesn’t justify the violence.

V happens to be Nani’s 25th film and as much as you want to praise him for not playing safe and taking up something so unconventional, you wish he had stuck to his strengths and did something light-hearted. Nani desperately tries to make his character look dark but he can’t sell it. His introduction scene is a ruthless murder of a police officer. But a couple of scenes later, we see him trying to be funny with a fellow passenger on a bus. Nani is earnest but you feel that he’s not comfortable playing someone so sinister with dark humour. Sudheer Babu barely makes any impact in a role that had more scenes than Nani. Both Nivetha Thomas and Aditi Rao Hydari, two promising talents who have been used effectively in the past by Indraganti, are wasted in roles with no purpose.

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V is a major misfire from Indraganti, whose intent to go big fails gloriously. For Nani, who had bet a lot on this film, it will go down as a big disappointment. If only Nani took some inspiration in storytelling from his last production venture HIT, a gripping investigative thriller, V could have been a far better film.

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