Vedaa is a 2024 Hindi language action drama film written by Aseem Arora and directed by Nikkhil Advani. The film is dubbed into Telugu & Tamil with the same title. The film has John Abraham & Sharvari playing the lead roles while Abhishek Banerjee, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kumud Mishra, Danish Husain, Kapil Nirmal, Toshab Bagri, Kshitij Chauhan, Rajendra Chawla & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Amaal Mallik, Manan Bhardwaj, Yuva, Raghav–Arjun & Kartik Shah while the film is produced by Umesh KR Bansal, Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani & John Abraham under Zee Studios, Emmay Entertainment & JA Entertainment banners.
Story:
Vedaa (Sharvari) is a Dalit girl studying law in her village and aspires to become a boxer. Since she is from a lower caste, she faces significant challenges due to the deep-rooted social issues in her village. When her family becomes a target of these injustices, Vedaa is compelled to fight against the oppressive system. She finds an unexpected ally in Abhimanyu (John Abraham), a court-martialed Army Officer who becomes her weapon in her crusade. How do they both take on the injustice? Needs to be seen in the film.
What about on-screen performances?
John Abraham does a good job with his performance. These types of action-oriented roles with less dialogue are a cakewalk for him and he eases it out with his well-built body. The film caters to his strengths and his portrayal of Abhimanyu is solid and believable, adding a sense of strength and guidance to Vedaa’s journey.
Sharvari delivers a standout performance as Vedaa, capturing the character’s vulnerability and resilience with great skill. The way she showcased her helplessness in the first half and then showed her resilience in the later half shows how good an actor she is.
Abhishek Banerjee looked menacing and is equally impressive as the villainous local sarpanch. Also his expressions are on point.
Tamannaah Bhatia appeared in a small cameo and she is fine in her role.
Ashish Vidyarthi, Kumud Mishra, Danish Husain, Kapil Nirmal, Toshab Bagri, Kshitij Chauhan, Rajendra Chawla & others are adequate in their respective limited roles.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Aseem Arora is pretty decent. It speaks out loud against caste-based injustices and crimes that are prevalent in the interior parts of the country while using a social message to propel the high-octane action.
The screenplay by Aseem Arora is dead slow and highly predictable. The narrative moves on a snail-paced manner and never manages to grasp our attention, especially in the second half of the film. Also, the scenes remind us of Hindi movies of the ’90s that follow the formulaic route and which are high on drama and raw action.
Director Nikkhil Advani does a below-par job with his craft. His slow-paced narrative never helps the film and he should have added a few more interesting elements and twists to make things more interesting.
The film’s gritty texture and tension are well-etched out, especially in the first half of the film. He took his own time to establish the characters and all the caste discrimination scenes are showcased engagingly but the payoffs to these conflicts are not convincing enough.
Also, the second half is a big disappointment as it completely turns into the action mode. The fights get repetitive and never keep us glued to the screens. The climax is predictable and very routine.
The dialogues are just about okay and could’ve been better.
The cinematography by Malay Prakash is first class and the edit by Maahir Zaveri is less effective as almost about 20-25 minutes of the film could have been easily chopped off.
The songs by Amaal Mallik, Manan Bhardwaj, Yuva & Raghav–Arjun fail to leave a mark while the background score by Kartik Shah is just average.
The production values by Zee Studios, Emmay Entertainment & JA Entertainment banners are grand.
What’s Hot?
* Sharvari’s Performance
* John Abraham’s Performance
* Caste Discrimination Scenes
* Decent First Half
* Good Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Predictable Writing
* Dead Slow Paced Narrative
* Forgettable Songs
* Dragged Out & Boring Second Half
* Repetitive Scenes
Verdict: On the whole, Vedaa is a routine action drama that is dragged to the core, especially in the second half. Despite a decent first half, the film completely goes off track in the latter half and gives the audience a tedious experience in the theatres.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.5/5