Virupaksha Movie Review

Sai Dharam Tej is coming back to big screen after almost a gap of two years. His last film was Republic. Sai Dharam Tej is coming with a spooky genre with Virupaksha in the direction of a debutant Karthik Varma Dandu. The trailer of Virupaksha is impressive and raised expectations all over. The movie released today in theaters. Let us see if the movie is upto the expectations. Here is the review.

What Is It About?

The Rudravaram villagers accuse Venkata Chalapathy (Kamal Kamaraju) of the deaths in the village and burn his family alive. The wife gives a curse to the village before she dies. Twelve years after that the deaths begin again. Surya (Sai Dharam Tej) comes to the village and falls in love with Nandini (Samyuktha Menon). He gets struck in the village due to Nandini and starts digging into serial deaths. Will he find the truth? Who is doing all this? Virupaksha is all about the Surya solving the mystery.

Performances

Sai Dharam Tej attempted the thriller genre for the first time with Virupaksha. It is quite a good comeback for the actor. He performed apt for the role. Samyukta Menon gets a meaty role and she did fine in it. Rajeev Kanakala got a routine role. Ajay enthralls us as Aghora and it is good to see him performing in a different role from a grumpy policeman. Sai Chand, Abhinav Gomatam, Soniya Singh, and Ravikrishna did well in the roles given. Sunil appears as a crucial character in the beginning but loses importance as the story goes ahead. Kamal Kamaraju is seen on the big screen after a long time.

Technicalities

Virupaksha is a neat thriller with all the right elements working precisely. Sukumar’s excellent screenplay is the backbone of Virupaksha. The racy thriller gets its gripping ability with the screenplay. The technical work is laudable. The cinematography is very good. The visuals are captivating for all the thrilling moments. The background score by Ajneesh Loknath is perfect and it enhanced many scenes. The director did well for his debut ofcourse the screenplay by Sukumar remains the key.

Thumbs Up

Sai Dharam Tej & Samyuktha Menon
Screenplay & BGM
Unpredictability & Twists

Thumbs Down

Slow Pace In the First Half
A Few Loose Ends

Analysis

Virupaksha is a well-made supernatural thriller with a known plot, but the intriguing make keeps the audience engaged throughout the film. This thriller has the template of most other successful movies in the genre. An heir from a punished family in a village coming for an act of vengeance is all about Virupaksha.

The director of Virupaksha maintains the pace and intensity so well that it keeps us connected to the plot. His detailing needs an accolade. The director also maintains the suspense though we get a vague idea of what’s really going on. There are many intriguing elements and a good number of scenes that are sure to give goosebumps.

The first half takes a little time to establish the setup and the love track is the slow part of it. Once the plot takes off, Virupaksha keeps its pace and thrill for the most part. The series of gruesome deaths and the events that followed them build the right stage for the second half. The screenplay is the show stealer. The deaths were shown frightful.

The second half starts great towards the solving of the conspiracy There are many spine-chilling moments and interesting twists that made the second half also very engaging. The suspense factors towards the pre-climax and the one in the climax worked good.

Apart from the positives, there are a few loose ends like what could have happened if Nandini’s attempt to jump into the well went successful? Will the curse stop there?

Overall, Virupaksha is definitely a good watch for genre lovers. The unpredictability, fresh twists, and horror elements make it a worth-watching thriller. Virupaksha enjoyed a solo release and the run could be strong until next week.

Bottomline: A Thrill Pill

Rating: 3/5