Amartya Smaran
Debut filmmaker Karthik Varma Dandu’s Virupaksha is a mystical thriller. It stars Sai Dharam Tej, Samyuktha, Rajeev Kanakala, Ravi Krishna, Soniya Singh, Sai Chand, Sunil, and Abhinav Gomatam in important characters.
It is 1979. The story is set in a village named Rudravanam. The camera’s focus is on this isolated house located at the dead end of the village. It cuts to a scene where a man can be seen performing black magic. Nothing can distract him from performing his task. His wife sitting opposite him seems possessed while a child lays unconscious in the centre.
For a brief moment, our focus shifts to the outdoors. The entire village runs towards the house. One of the villagers yells , “How dare he perform black magic on our kids!”. They break open the door. Beat up the warlock, grab the woman by her hair, tie them up to the tree and set them ablaze. The woman’s son begs and pleads. The young boy can’t stomach what he sees. Harishchandra Prasad(Rajeev Kanakala), the village Sarpanch, stands dumbfounded. A tight close up of the woman’s face with her eyes wide open; skin melting from the heat. She looks helpless, but the rage in her persists. The lady shouts in pain— “12 years from now, the village will see destruction.”
We’re in 1991. The year has arrived. We find something sketchy. An old man falls prey to the evil force. Meanwhile, Surya(Sai Dharam Tej(SDT)) and his mother arrive at the village. Surya’s mother hasn’t visited the village for 15 long years. Parvathi(Shyamala), a relative receives them with great enthusiasm.
In a recent press meeting, SDT remarked that he had to dig deeper into how people from the 80s and 90s behaved . He said men and women would maintain certain boundaries. Well! Here, in the very first meeting, you’ll find Surya and Nandhini (Samyuktha) blurring those boundaries (haha). He falls for this beautiful girl. All of a sudden, what was supposed to be a two week stay, extends a little longer and messier.
Nandhini is the Sarpanch’s daughter. She’s got that sense of pride. You can see that in her face. It’s hard to get to her, but Surya manages to woo her. She has her own ideas. Strong ones, in fact. At a later stage, she walks up to Surya and tells him she can’t love him in the same way and gives him her mother’s locket. She says, “So long as this is with you, it means I’m with you!”. Well, Nandhini says she can’t love, but she sure can help a young couple (Soniya Singh and RaviKrishna) with their issues. Watch out for this couple(wink). Wonderful performances by them and Ravi Krishna(Big Boss 3 fame) is going to get busy after his topnotch performance in the film.
In the beginning, the love track might not make much sense, but as the film progresses, we understand its importance. Samyuktha shines in this meaty role. A nuanced performance indeed. She’s neither too loud nor subtle in her performance. She fits into the shoes of the character.
The entire village is excited to celebrate festivities, but the death of the old man inside the goddesses temple stirs havoc. The priest(Sai Chand) calls for an 8-day-lockdown (Astadigbandanam). No one should move out, nor anybody should enter the village. Sai Chand’s dialogue delivery and performance is out of the world. Sheer brilliance!
Virupaksha translates to a formless eye. An eye that sees what a regular set of eyes can’t. Surya is our messiah! With each passing day, the evil energy looms large over the village. Mysterious deaths occur and bodies pile up. Surya makes up his mind to find out the root cause of these mysterious deaths. And a dolly zoom(cinematography by Shamdat Sainudeen) establishes the rising conflict and what is to come.
The screenplay written by Sukumar isn’t jarring at all. In the second half of the film, there are a few dull moments, but seem necessary for the film to take shape. For instance, in the climax, going back to the flashback , and explaining cuts the flow. We’re not saying it doesn’t make sense, but we’re suggesting something a lot creative could’ve been done now that Sukumar is capable of blowing our minds.
Shamdat Sainudeen’s cinematography looks polished, yet feels raw. The hues don’t lie. He manages to capture the romance, the occult practices of the warlocks and the landscape of the village with ease. The hero, however, is music director B. Ajaneesh Loknath. We don’t have to tell you what he did with Kantara. His work in Virupaksha is a searing example of how effective he could be. The background score makes you go through a series of emotions.
Filmmaker Karthik Dandu does a good job in blending many themes here— Blind faith in authority, superstitions, and our deep rooted belief in occult practices. He tells his story, makes his characters question and doesn’t belittle the establishments. The good and evil get equal respect.
In one scene, when an Aghora(Ajay) offers help and almost steps into the village, the priest yells, “Don’t! That’s against the rules.” Although it seems like the priest is concerned about the village, it also implicitly implies that perhaps the priest finds it unruly for an Aghora to offer help. The protagonist questions beliefs and goes the extra mile. It takes an outsider to courageously question and sometimes, save the sinking ship.
Sai Dharam Tej plays Surya with conviction. He shines in the emotional bits, but for some reason, his aggression seems out of the place. It doesn’t seem natural at all. That apart, he manages to pull it off with conviction.
Virupaksha is all about courage over fear; love is the way forward. Evilest of the evil forces must bow down to love. This movie is not about a bunch of jump scares. It has substance. The mystery keeps you hooked and the climax doesn’t disappoint.
