Ooru Peru Bhairavakona Movie Review

Sundeep Kishan has joined hands with his ‘Tiger’ director VI Anand who is known for coming up with a variety of thriller concepts in his films. Ooru Peru Bhairavakona is touted to be a fantasy thriller-comedy. The movie also has the actors Varsha Bollamma, Kavya Thapar, and Vennela Kishore. The movie was released today in theaters. Let us see if Ooru Peru Bhiaravakona is thrilling enough. Here is the review from the US premieres.

What Is It About?

Basavalingam (Sundeep Kishan) is a thief turned stunt double. He falls in love with Bhumi (Varsha Bollamma). While escaping after a robbery, Basava and his friend John (Viva Harsha) along with Agraharam Geetha (Kavya Thapar) had to enter a village called Bhairavakona due to an unexpected series of incidents. He goes through other twists and turns and realizes the reason he had to be there. What is the real story of Bhumi? What happened to the Bhairavakona? Ooru Peru Bhairavakona answers these questions.

Performances

Sundeep Kishan is fine in the role of a thief. He has done similar roles earlier and Basavalingam is not a challenging one for him. Varsha Bollamma has a very limited role. Though she is the main female lead, her role appeared artificial giving a less scope to perform. Kavya Thapar has a lengthy role and she too appeared like a screen filling character. Viva Harsha appears as a sidekick and he could not impress. Vennela Kishore’s role is routine and this time most of his rhyming dialogues did not work out. Vadivukkarasi, Ravishankar, and others did what was necessary.

Technicalities

Ooru Peru Bhiaravakona has a normal story that was narrated in a crisp run time. The concept by the director is unique, but it falters in narration. There are slowdowns in many parts and the idea to maintain the comedy throughout the film appears to have impacted the serious scenes. The background music is good. The visual effects are decent. Nijamene Chebutunna song is good in Sid Sriram vocals. The cinematography is good.

Thumbs Up

Plot concept
Background Music

Thumbs Down

Sluggish Narration
Weak first half
Forced Comedy scenes

Analysis

Many films in the thriller-comedy genre managed to entertain the audiences earlier. Ending up at a weird place and realizing the haunting background is what happens in many horror movies. Ooru Peru Bhairavakona has the same line, but it has a very simple center plot. Ooru Peru Bhairavakona has more flaws and less advantages.

The first half manages to create intrigue with mystery elements here and there. The prolonged story of jewelry and the girl drama in Bhairavakona slows down the flow. The mystic concepts and visuals in the village appear routine with many of the recent films having the same. Vennela Kishore’s comedy worked only in parts. It could be understood that the hints and foreshadowing are something that will be revealed in the second half.

The pre-interval concept is good but is lost in execution. The visual effects were done decent during the interval block, but could not give the exciting and high moments. Some of the jump scares and scary visuals worked. The story proceeds to the second half and loses momentum until it gets back to Bhairavakona. Though there are a few scenes that raise curiosity, the plot gets predictable slowly, including the comedy. The revelation in the climax has a decent twist.

The director tried to execute a simple Bethala-Vikramarka kind of story with a touch of comedy. It worked in a few parts, but the story does not hold the curiosity during the serious episodes due to the inclusion of comedy there. Putting the logic aside, the main plot of Bhumi and her village story lacks depth and conviction.

Ooru Peru Bhairavakona has its thrills and chills, but the flat narrative in many of the scenes pushes them all the way down. Overall, Ooru Peru Bhairavakona is a time-pass horror comedy, where both horror and comedy work only in parts.

Bottomline: Not Gripping, Only Tripping

Rating: 2.5/5