Karan Abhavaram in ‘Vanaru Bhagyamu Vishnu Katha’ Photo credit: Special Arrangements
On the conceptual stage of Telugu film Venaru Bhagyamu Vishnu KathaDirected by Murali Kishore Iboru and starring Kiran Abavaram, the makers probably thought they had some incredible ideas and some twists and turns that add to the plot. Watch a scene or two in isolation and the viewer’s curiosity may be piqued because they didn’t see it coming. However, the story ends up being a series of ideas that were meant to be innovative but turn out to be absurd.
The childhood story of the protagonist Vishnu (Karan Abhavaram) is important for his character development. He and his grandfather (Sablikha Sidhakar) are aware of the ill fortune of the boy’s parents who have earned the ire of the village. Dada tells the boy that life is about being warm and helpful to those around us. Help thy neighbor, he says, and his consideration of the neighbor is not limited to the next door. It extends to the field next to them, the neighboring village, city, country… you get the flow.
Venaru Bhagyamu Vishnu Katha (Telugu)
Cast: Kiran Abavaram, Murali Sharma, Kashmira Pardeshi.
Direction: Murali Kishore Abro
Music: Chetan Bhardwaj
Vishnu grows up to be a good Samaritan who behaves like a global problem solver. He will magically find a lost dog, offer unsolicited advice to anyone nearby, and even deliver a parcel to his ‘number neighbour’. The movie introduces the concept of the number neighbor — someone who has a phone number with the last digit being one more or one less than yours. What one would think of as an invasion of privacy or spam, takes on a different meaning in this story.
The idea of Number Neighbors came not from the Good Samaritan hero, but from the leading lady, Darshana (Kashmira Pradeshi), a YouTuber who thought it would be fun to find her numbered neighbors and make a video! Just as Vishnu’s grandfather never advised caution while being helpful to the world around him, Darshana’s parents never warned him about trusting strangers or safety issues.
His neighbors are Vishnu and Sharma (Murali Sharma). The latter is a mysterious character made to do silly things under the guise of providing comedic moments. There are hints to indicate that there is more to his character. However, the otherwise reliable actor is wasted in this film.
Just when you think that an overabundance of the hero’s helpful actions coupled with preachy dialogues and YouTuber’s dumb video ideas make the film a painful watch, the narrative takes twists and turns. Early on we also see NIA officials trying to track down a terrorist group.
By the time several twists and revelations are made, criminals are nailed and a character’s true identity is revealed, I was just thankful the movie was over. still not. It ended with a prelude to further plot development. trembling
Karan Abhavaram’s expressions and dialogue delivery remain pretty much the same throughout the film. The music and technical aspects also don’t add much to the narrative.
In this dirty story, a Muslim character says that people like him have to prove their patriotism every day. I wish all of this was presented in a better written and narrated story.
