Bhairavam is the last Summer release of the year 2025. An official remake, the film is directed by Naandhi fame Vijay Kanakamedala. The three-hero movie is a village-based action drama.
Plot:
Gajapathi Varma (Manchu Manoj) and Varadha (Nara Rohith) have been all-weather friends despite occasional protests from people close to them. Sreenu (Bellamkonda Sreenivas) was orphaned as a child and is a staunch Gajapathi loyalist. At the same time, he endears himself to Varadha and his dutiful wife (Divya Pillai). When Endowments Minister Vedurupalli wants to grab the village land belonging to the local Varahi Goddess Temple, greed, friction and bloodshed rear their ugly heads.
Performances:
In terms of screen time, Bellamkonda Sreenivas is not the main lead of the movie. He is a protagonist, both passive and active, in his own right. Films like Alludu Adhurs and the Hindi remake of Chatrapathi were bloated for his stamina. Bhairavam proves to be a welcome contrast. Manchu Manoj had the opportunity to rediscover his dialogue style and portrayal of pain. He makes use of the opportunity to a limited extent. Nara Rohit has come a long way since he played regular commercial roles. Divya Pillai and Aanandhi are not pushovers; they have proper scenes. Aditi Shankar might want to play a city-bred girl in a Telugu movie.
Sharath Lohitashwa is a good talent whose potential has been underutilized by a lot of Telugu movies. Ajay, seen in a stellar role in last year's Pottel, is so-so. Jayasudha's cameo is good. Vennela Kishore's Telugu-heavy notes as a constable are a little funny. Sampath Raj plays a cop who turns into a narrator.
Technical aspects:
Sricharan Pakala's music is not ear-splitting. At the same time, he doesn't mimic the style popularized by Kantara fame Ajaneesh Loknath; it's commendable that he retains his musical voice. Hari K Vedantham's cinematography is able. The editing is largely good.
Sri Sathya Sai Arts should have mounted the climax fight on a bigger scale. The creativity of the action choreographer did deserve a grander execution.
Post-Mortem:
The story presented enough potential to conceive out-of-the-ordinary introductions. However, treading a conventional path, the film plunges into the commercial actioner mode right from the word go. Ganapathi Varma makes a smashing entry when a young woman is about to be molested. At the precise right time. For that matter, a similar precision involving other characters is a recurring element in Bhairavam. Varadha breaks the bones of cow smugglers. Both the characters get dedicated bit intro songs of their own. Sreenu saves a girl child, whose father is eerily relaxed just minutes after his daughter's close shave with death!
The first act may be found wanting, but the film does turn interesting as the first half progresses. The aura of the Varahi Temple can be felt. That said, the villains should have been shown to be intimidated by the challenge at hand.
Films set in our villages tend to have too many dark characters. Since most filmmakers come from rural and semi-urban social backgrounds, probably, they are the best judges of reality. In Bhairavam, when a character says that he had to commit an offence to conduct the final rites of his grandmother in an exorbitant fashion, a virtuous guy doesn't bat an eyelid. Characters keep committing moral transgressions, happily alluding to the Mahabharatha. They have all the agency in the world but they use it to serve their false pride and a warped sense of honour. For one or two characters, deception if acceptable but physical harm to a dear one is where they draw the line. This level of ambiguity exists in a space where values don't count. The characters get violent (slapping hard) for the smallest reasons. Egoes get the better of them.
A well-written scene is where a key character feels humiliated for having to enter the premises of a police station. The power dynamics and the grey zone inhabited by him becomes vivid in the scene.
In a key action sequence, the villagers just watch on as a clash ensues between two opposing sides. This gives rise to the impression that they have no stakes in the temple and the fates of the individuals they look up to.
Closing Remarks:
Bhairavam is a mixed bag, offering a decent story after a conventional and sometimes clunky opening. While director Vijay Kanakamedala attempts a grounded village action drama with a focus on morally complex characters, the execution is inconsistent.
