Zee Studios, Emmay Entertainment and JA Entertainment’s Vedaa (UA) is an action film set against the backdrop of the caste system.
Vedaa (Sharvari) is a young, fiesty woman who revolts against the caste system which doesn’t allow her and her family to lead their lives with dignity. She belongs to a lower caste and is not allowed to do what her heart desires. Her pent-up emotions find a voice when her brother (Anurag Thakur) is murdered for daring to love a girl from an upper caste. An armyman, Abhimanyu Kanwar (John Abraham), not only trains her to become physically strong but also assists her all through her battle against the perpetrators of injustice.
Aseem Arora has written a story about the caste system still prevalent in some parts of India. This one is based in Rajasthan. The story may not be novel but the audience still doesn’t mind that because the atrocities perpetrated on Vedaa and her family shake the viewers. Aseem Arora’s screenplay is long-winding and moves at an easy pace. Since the caste system and its ills are all too well-known, the slow pace of the drama does get boring for the masses among the audience, who prefer watching fast-paced action thrillers. Besides, since the drama moves on a single track, it has tension written all over it, to the complete exclusion of light moments and, unfortunately, emotions too. Had the emotional quotient been high, the impact may have been more pronounced. But the plight of Vedaa doesn’t make the viewers shed tears for her. Aseem Arora’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Mahadev Singh Lakhawat, are good but not clapworthy.
John Abraham does a very fine job as the silent Abhimanyu Kanwar but his style and expressions are now becoming repetitive. He must guard against that. Sharvari is fantastic as the oppressed Vedaa who finally revolts and takes on the mighty, helped by her saviour, Abhimanyu. Abhishek Banerjee is menacing in the role of Jitendar Pratap Singh. Kshitij Chauhan plays to the gallery as Suyog Pratap Singh and impresses. Ashish Vidyarthi leaves a fine mark as Kaka. Tamannaah Bhatia is okay in a special appearance as Raashi. Mouni Roy adds oomph in a song-dance. Kumud Mishra is wasted in a tiny role as Vedaa’s mausaji. Tanvi Malhara makes her presence felt as Vedaa’s sister, Gehna. Rajendra Chawla is lovely as Vedaa’s helpless father. Anurag Thakur has his moments as Vedaa’s brother, Vinod. Danish Husain is okay as Mountbatten. Paritosh Sand is natural as the headmaster. Kapil Nirmal (as API Bhimsen Purohit), Mahadev Singh Lakhawat (as Meghwal Junior), Rajoshri Vidyarthi (as Vedaa’s mother), Nirmal Chaudhury (as Meghwal), Ajeet Singh Palawat (as ASI Raghu Meena), Urvashi Dubey (as Vinod’s girlfriend, Aarti), and the others lend reasonable support.
Nikhil Advani’s direction is very nice and his special directorial touches are plenty but having said that, it must be added that his narrative style is more class-appealing than mass-appealing. In a way, therefore, he has tried to marry a mass-oriented drama with a class-oriented narrative style. Music (Amaal Malik, Manan Bhardwaj, Yuva and Raghav-Arjun) is quite nice but the songs are not very popular. The folk Holi song is excellent. Lyrics (Kunaal Verma, Manan Bhardwaj, Arushi Kaushal and Raghav-Arjun) are appropriate. Song picturisations (Kruti Mahesh and Adil Shaikh) are quite nice. Kartik Shah’s background music is excellent. Malay Prakash’s cinematography is wonderful. Amin Khatib’s action and stunt scenes are very thrilling. Priya Suhas’ production designing, and Vijay Ghodke’s art direction are of a fine standard. Maahir Zaveri’s editing is reasonably sharp as the easy pace is not the editor’s fault.
On the whole, Vedaa is a fair fare but it is an odd marriage of mass and class cinema. It will definitely score in single-screen cinemas and mass centres. Business in multiplexes will be limited. The holiday weekend and the lack of new releases in the forthcoming weeks will help its business.
Released on 15-8-’24 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity: good. Opening: weak (in spite of the Independence Day holiday; adversely affected because of the huge opposition of Stree 2). …….Also released all over. Opening was below average at most of the places.
