Nani's V, directed by Mohana Krishna Indraganti and now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is about a man on a killing spree who challenges a police officer to catch him. That much was apparent in the film's promos. We also knew that Nani was playing this chilling killer. The only intrigue left in the film was the whys and hows of the crime. What's the killer's motive and his pattern?
V opens with a riot and dashing DCP Adithya (Sudheer Babu) coming in to control it. The sequence is built to amplify Adithya's heroism every bit, from the actor ripping his shirt off to sending men to space with his punches. As the credits roll, the newspaper clippings about Adithya reveal what sort of a man he is. He not only believes in human rights, he also walks the ramp. He not only busts drug rackets, he's also voted to be the sexiest man around. He's not, in other words, the typical movie cop who nurses a paunch and accepts bribes under the table.
It doesn't take long for the first murder to take place after Indraganti sets up the stage for Adithya. But though the screenplay goes through all the motions of an investigation, you are never sucked into the proceedings. For instance, when Adithya walks into a brutal crime scene where the victim is a fellow police officer, no less, he hardly flinches. The emphasis is more on his flamboyance and heroism than what would be a natural response to the crime. His subordinates (Vennela Kishore plays Mansoor, Adithya's sidekick) and superiors too seem totally unbothered that there's a body lying in front of them, using the opportunity to crack some clever jokes. Even the most jaded cop on the job is likely to have some emotion to what they're witnessing but not these guys. And since they don't seem to take the crime seriously, neither do we.
Sudheer Babu's interpretation of Adithya is a semi-sneer plastered on his face for a good part, which doesn't allow us to warm up to the character. The romance between him and Apoorva (Nivetha Thomas), an aspiring crime writer, would have been more suited to a college romcom than a dark thriller. Nivetha is charming onscreen but is stuck with looking chirpy and providing comic relief that only serves to distract. She wants to write a crime novel, so when Adithya opens a drawer in her room, he finds papers with words like 'KILL' written on them. Sigh.
Nani definitely makes a difference when he steps in. He's effortlessly funny, spooking people around him with his dark humour (but you also wonder why he behaved that way after we know all the answers in the end). The reference to K Raghavendra Rao's films is especially hilarious. Playing the antagonist in a film is a brave choice for a lead actor. However, without giving too much away, one can say that V does not push him enough in that direction.
Aditi Rao Hydari as Saheeba looks beautiful but the actor has been typecast in the earnest Madonna role one too many times. Her expressions in V are the same as what we saw her do in Sufiyum Sujatayum, her last release.
Indraganti makes some interesting writing choices, like that scene when Apoorva's parents (Thalaivasal Vijay and Rohini) casually confess that they had premarital sex or the army man who puts his wife above the nation. But they're lost in a film where the larger premise is wholly predictable. The motive for the crime is as obvious and unimaginative as it can get, with film after film falling back on the same reason for a revenge saga.
The problem with V is that it is neither a solid police procedural nor a full-fledged action film. Though the police are supposedly investigating a serial killer, there is barely any discussion on profiling or even forensics. The clues are embarrassingly old world, bits of paper with convoluted riddles. The only 'psychiatric' inputs come from Apoorva, in the middle of some flirting and cutesy meet-the-family sequences.
The cat and mouse game between Adithya and the killer gets repetitive, though everything looks stylish and classy. But lighting, background score and camera angles can only add to the suspense, they cannot create it from scratch. That is the job of the script. V falters heavily in this department.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.