Krish Jagarlamudi is known for his way of storytelling. He is one of the finest that Tollywood has, and he makes us proud with his every movie. Vedam is an anthology movie with 5 different stories. The movie was released in 2010 and is somewhat ahead of time. It is because, the 2010s were all about family entertainers of action movies, that had similar content and same music directors. People were looking for something new and Vedam came in like rain. The movie was liked by many, critics liked it for its message and the audience liked it for the music and roles of the actors. The movie begins with introducing the 5 main characters of their stories- Vivek Chakravarthy by Manchu Manoj, Cable Raju by Allu Arjun, Rahimuddin Qureshi by Manoj Bajpayee, Padma by Sharanya Ponvannan, and Saroja by Anushka Shetty. The story ends with these characters meeting in one place. The characters were tailored in such a way that they neither believe in God nor humans, they believe in money, their own emotions and their hard work and they feel that’s what drives every person alive. Each character is depicted by each element, Vivek as Fire, because he is always angry, Raju as Sky, because he wants to raise in his life, out of poverty, Rahim as Water, as he wants to fly across the waters to Sharja and live a peaceful life, Saroja as Air, because she wants to fly away as a free bird from the brothel she works in and Padma as Earth as she wants only the good for her son and a way out from the landlord, who tortures them for more money. The movie goes in slow pace up to intermission, revealing each character and the conflict around them with feel-good music by MM Keeravani and songs filled with meaningful lyrics. The cinematography was by Gnanasekhar which was brilliant enough for any person to hold on to the story. That’s the best part about this movie, nowhere deviates from the main plot and tries to fill the gaps with the songs. The thought process of each character is another element that the director highlighted from frame to frame. His idea was clear and he could bring out the best from the actors. Allu Arjun’s acting is amazing as the guy who dreams to be huge in life. It is always hard to transit from being in the original character to the one they are portraying to some other character and Allu Arjun nailed it. Anushka’s role is the next best performance with her dance moves and her beauty. Her role as a prostitute was an objection for many but the final message dissolved every other objection from them. Sharanya is the oldest actress than everyone and she was so simple and to the point, we just can’t imagine any other actress. Manoj Bajpayee like always was amazing, his role could have been more elaborate and longer compared to others. Nagayya as the old man was good. He was apt and he blended well with his story. Krish brought him with this movie and later he appeared in many other movies. Brahmanandam and Posani Krishna Murali are seen in a couple of sequences that lighten the fast pace story. Though they were a little unnecessary, they were short and nice to just lighten the mood. The dialogues were muted in different places as the characters speak about different things happening in reality (you know right!).
The songs “Pada pada”, “Rupai”, “Egiripothey”, are the hit songs and they still listen to it from time to time. The end message of the movie was humanity is what exists no matter what. While all of them run behind money and fame, at the time, a human comes to the rescue of the other, irrespective of caste, creed, rich or poor. The whole idea of the movie is that human is the one God one should believe in and work towards. Maybe, humans are cruel but not all of them. We all have different stories, because of our upbringing and the approach we seek in life, but the end goal is all same, to seek peace and live and let live.
