Ahimsa Review – Himsa For Audience

BOTTOM LINE
Himsa For Audience

OUR RATING
1.75/5

CENSOR

U/A, 2h 42m

What Is the Film About?
Raghu (Daggubati Abhiram) is a kind-hearted and ordinary guy whose love of life is Ahalya. She is fierce and advocates violence, whereas Raghu is the exact opposite.

What happens when Raghu faces is pushed to the extreme by the system after a tragic incident shatters his life is the movie’s plot. Did it change his basic nature is the undercurrent theme.

Performances
Abhiram Daggubati makes his acting debut with Ahimsa. He is moulded as a typical Teja hero in the movie. The character, too, deals with similar emotions. From a soft-spoken guy to a fierce personality, the change forms the arc given to him.

Abhiram has surface-level looks to fit the ‘typical’ director Teja hero personality. There is a fear plastered on his face, and it is exploited to the maximum by Teja. Abhiram is seen mostly with the expression, and then there are additional fear and aggression when necessary. The problem is that other expressions are dominated by the pertinent one. For a debutant, he is okay, but Teja has managed to extract better in the past with his heroes, debut or otherwise.

Geethika, the heroine, tries hard but fails. Her tole is more expressive than the hero, and she goes way overboard with it. The characterisation, particularly the dialogues and actions, don’t help her cause. In the emotional scenes, she is fine, but again they are overdone. In the end, it turns out to be a forgettable fare.

Analysis
Teja, the veteran director of blockbusters like Nuvvu Nenu and Jayam, directs Ahimsa. At a basic characterisation level, Ahimsa is similar to his past flicks, but here the core theme is related to violence and non-violence, and it is dealt with through the backdrop of a relatable topic and victimhood.

The movie opens with intrigue, but it soon digresses into mundaneness with the romantic track. It wouldn’t be a problem normally, but the over-the-top execution, the acting and the dialogues make one cringe in discomfort. It instantly takes us back to the Nijam days from Teja. Who can forget the ‘Eenadu’ and ‘Andhra Jyothi’ comedy track? Well, we have a companion here.

It would still have been fine if the cringe and over-the-topness were restricted to comedy or romance, but that is not the case here. Every new character that arrives behaves in the same way with loud and over-dramatised action.

Amidst all the verbal mayhem torturing the senses, there is a core courtroom drama surrounding an issue. The content is contemporary, and we have seen it getting execution in a far gripping way in grounded settings and performances. Here everything is overblown and excessively done. The direction also screams outdatedness. Still, Ahimsa manages to hold the attention briefly.

By the time the courtroom drama ends, the engaging part of the movie also ends. The next direction the narrative takes is where Ahimsa loses the whole plot.

For starters, the time taken to reach the interval portions itself is overstretched. By the time the interval arrives, one gets a feeling of watching an entire movie. But the real ‘himsa’ is only beginning at the time.

The second half offers nothing novel. It is all about the hero and heroine escaping from three different sets of gangs who are after their lives. The ‘Lomdi’ gang among the three are the definition of excess in a script that leads to assault on the senses.

Just when one thinks the movie might end, there is another half an hour with a song in the mix. The final stretch towards the completion is sheer drivel with so much unnecessary violence. Even until the last minute, the director doesn’t waste time in inducing the pain.

Overall, Ahimsa has two key issues which would have made for an outdated but engaging narrative. However, the outdated and over-the-top execution and mind-numbing second half kill any chances. If you are a fan of the director, skip the movie and save yourself from the pain.

Performances by Others Actors
The movie is filled with actors. Everyone goes overboard in their performance, starting from Sadha. She is still fine, considering the impact of the role in the narrative. But, others like Rajat Bedi are highly irritating. Manoj Tiger playing the scheming, devious lawyer is fun, but in a bad way. The rest of the actors, like Ravi Kale, Devi Prasad, Kamal Kamaraju etc., fail to register.

Music and Other Departments?
RP Patnaik works as music director for Teja after a long gap. However, the combo fails to deliver any worthwhile song, although a couple does sound nice on the ear. The background score is effective, even though loud. Sameer Reddy’s cinematography is okay, capturing the rustic and raw settings of the village and forest. The editing is okay. The writing comes with a generous mix of double entendre. A couple of lines register, but overall it’s nothing more than ordinary.

Highlights?
Basic Theme (Violence Vs Non-Violence)

Brief courtroom Drama Stretch

BGM

Drawbacks?
Weak Story

Second Half

Outdated OTT Execution

Did I Enjoy It?
No

Will You Recommend It?
No

Ahimsa Movie Review by Mirchi9