Viswam is a 2024 Telugu language action comedy drama film directed by Sreenu Vaitla. The film has Gopichand & Kavya Thapar playing the lead roles while Jisshu Sengupta, Naresh, Sunil, Pragathi, Kick Shyam, Anisha Ambrose, Priya Vadlamani, VTV Ganesh, Vennela Kishore, Srikanth Iyengar, Suman, Rahul Ramakrishna, Pruthvi, Mukesh Rishi, Bharat, Ajay Ghosh, Banerjee, Giri, Shakalaka Shankar, Chammak Chandra, Praveen, Srinivas Reddy, Shafi, Raghu Babu, Raghu Karumanchi, Baby Iyal & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Chaitan Bharadwaj while the film is produced by TG Vishwa Prasad & Venu Donepudi under People Media Factory & Chitralayam Studios banners.
Story:
Gopi (Gopichand) flies from Italy to Hyderabad to be with his love, Sameera (Kavya Thapar). As a few events unfold, it’s revealed that Gopi’s real name is Viswam, and he must save a little girl named Darshana (Baby Iyal) from terrorists. Why is the dangerous terrorist group after a little girl? What secret does she have, and why do they want to kill her? How is Viswam connected to her, and what part of his past makes him want to save her? These questions are central to the story.
What about on-screen performances?
Gopichand does his part with ease. This is a ‘been there, done that’ kind of a role for him as we have seen him doing these kinds of parts in his previous films as well. Even though the role doesn’t allow him to showcase anything new from him, he performs effortlessly in the lead role as Viswam/Gopi. He looks fit and strong, which makes the fight scenes more exciting.
Kavya Thapar plays the regular cliched commercial movie heroine who is there for a few comedy scenes and songs. She fits the bill and looks glamorous in the songs. Her lip sync was out of place in a few scenes.
Out of all the bunch of comedians, it is 30 years Pruthvi who leaves a mark with his comedy. All his scenes work well in the theatre. Apart from him, Vennela Kishore and Naresh also provide a few laughs here and there in the train sequence.
Jisshu Sengupta is just about okay in his weakly written villain role. His character graph is very poorly developed and his role doesn’t seem like a threat at all in the film.
Kick Shyam, Anisha Ambrose, and Priya Vadlamani are fine in their small supporting parts.
All the rest of the actors and comedians including Sunil, Pragathi, VTV Ganesh, Srikanth Iyengar, Suman, Rahul Ramakrishna, Pruthvi, Mukesh Rishi, Ajay Ghosh, Bharat, Banerjee, Giri, Shakalaka Shankar, Chammak Chandra, Praveen, Srinivas Reddy, Shafi, Raghu Babu, Raghu Karumanchi, Baby Iyal & others are wasted in impactless roles.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Sreenu Vaitla is completely outdated and routine. There is not even a single scene that looks fresh on screen or on paper.
The screenplay by too is poorly written and is highly predictable. All the comedy episodes look forced into the script which is a big blunder and even the whole terrorism angle never works in the narrative coz of the weak writing.
The whole first half is boring with only the fun scenes of Pruthvi working to some extent. All the foreign episodes fail big time and it looks like director Sreenu Vaitla just wanted to travel the world and has shot the film in expensive locations like these in the film which weren’t even required in a script like this. The second half also bogs down big time. Even in the much hyped-about train sequence, there is nothing much to laugh about apart from Vennela Kishore’s comedy. The climax portions are a snooze fest with the hero’s flashback sequences and a routine ending.
Director Sreenu Vaitla does a pretty disappointing job with the film. His presentation is good but his narrative is completely outdated. There isn’t a single scene where tries to impress with his craft. He surely needs to re-check his choice of scripts and his choice of comedy as the audience has changed a lot after the pandemic.
The dialogues too never leave a mark. Apart from a few funny one-liners here and there, most of the others are weakly written.
The songs by Chaitan Bharadwaj are not up to the mark. Except for ‘Moroccan Maguva’ which looked trendy, all other songs fail coz of the poor placements. Even the mass song ‘Gunguru Gunguru’ by Bheems Ceciroleo doesn’t excite. The background score by Chaitan Bharadwaj is pretty decent in places.
The camera work by KV.Guhan is neat while the edit by Amar Reddy Kudumula needed to be more crisper.
The production values by People Media Factory & Chitralayam Studios are grand.
What’s Hot?
* Gopichand’s Performance
* 30 Years Pruthvi Comedy Scenes
* Vennela Kishore & Naresh’s Fun Scenes
* Moroccan Maguva Song
* Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Outdated Plot & Predictable Screenplay
* Flat & Forced Comedy Portions
* Unwanted Songs & Their Poor Placement
* Weak Villain Characterization
* Utterly Boring Second Half
* Routine Flashback Portions Of Hero
* Underwhelming Direction
Verdict: On the whole, Viswam is yet another outdated action entertainer with forced comedy scenes and routine action parts. The film struggles in being a Sreenu Vaitla entertainer and a Gopichand’s actioner as the blend of both is not done properly. With an utterly predictable plot and weak writing, the film ends up being a snooze fest in the theatres.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5