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Star Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sunil Grover, Maniesh Paul, Shweta Tiwari, Anup Soni
Director: Deepak Kumar Mishra
What’s Good: The absolute sincerity with which Indian folklore, regional rituals, and spiritual devotion are handled.
What’s Bad: A slight dip in the narrative of the first half, and the comic relief!
Loo Break: Strictly in the interval
Watch or Not? Yes, because you rarely get to see mythology and folklore done right.
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 2 hours and 17 minutes
User Rating:
There is a moment in The Vvaan where Tamannaah Bhatia, a metropolitan woman, is trying to explain faith to her young niece! “Jug Sahastra Yojan Par Bhanu, Leelyo Taahi Madhur Phal Jaanu,” and she explains how the distance between the Sun and the Earth was exact as written in Hanunman Chalisa – a devotional hymn chanted by Hindus to offer prayers to Lord Hanuman! Tamannaah Bhatia’s Mamta further explains how science and faith always go hand in hand! This sets the tone of The Vvaan then and there – a film that will find the roots of faith without challenging science or development!
Bollywood has been trying to mix folklore and fantasy and has been trying to decode the formula for a perfect film. Right from Brahmastra to Maa, some worked, some did not. But this time, Chhathi Maiya seems to have been blessed with the formula right as we get the correct mix of folklore and fantasy in Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia’s film, directed by Deepak Mishra and produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and TVF.
Is The Vvaan a film that is a flawless attempt at the folklore genre? Not Yet! But does it satiate you with the folklore and the fantasy with the proper blend? Absolutely yes! It’s the rare big canvas of mythology that trusts its own belief system enough to let it be the focal point, not just the backdrop. And that is where the film gives you hope! While it is a commercially entertaining 2+ hour piece, it has a vast target audience – the family group. It has something for all, making it a good piece!
The Vvaan Movie Review: Script Analysis
The story of the film gets established slowly throughout the first half! Rishi (Sidharth Malhotra) is an architect settled in Mumbai with his wife, Mamta (Tamannaah Bhatia), who wants to visit their ancestral village after six years, during the Chhath Pooja to offer her prayers to Chhathi Maiya! Rishi is reluctant, but life has other plans since his brother from the village calls him to make a decision about their ancestral land!
As Rishi lands in Devanchal, a fictional village, we are fed with the folklore of the Vvaan Devi and a forbidden forest, which is getting in the way of the development of the village! Rishi is the kind who dismisses his own bloodline’s superstitions until the forbidden forest at the edge of the village proves him spectacularly wrong. What starts as village gossip about an age-old curse turns fast into something ancient and divine.
Is Rishi, the chosen one, standing between his people and a dark lord that only he can fight with the blessings of The Vvaan Devi? The story slowly unfolds, diving deep into traditions, faith, mythology, fantasy, and folklore, all blended into an impressive story!
The Vvaan Movie Review: Star Performance
Sidharth Malhotra plays the arc of devotion-to-disbelief-to-devotion with more conviction than you’d expect. He rises to meet the mythological showdowns rather than getting swallowed by them. The parts with the backstory could have been better for sure and that is where he looks a little off! Tamannaah Bhatia, in her first outing opposite Sidharth, is the film’s genuine anchor – despite not leading from the front, she holds the film together through her faith and devotion!
Sunil Grover as the antagonist does not surprise! Not because he is not good! But because the audience by now knows that there is absolutely no theatrics in the world, this man cannot pull it off!
The supporting cast – Shweta Tiwari, Maniesh Paul, and Anup Soni- hold the main plot and the backstories very brilliantly! Sulbha Arya’s comic relief is something that could have been avoided, and she could have been used for a stronger role! Milind Gunaji’s presence as the Pandit of the village does not have much impact.
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The Vvaan Movie Review: Direction, Music
Deepak Mishra builds The Vvaan in a territory that is familiar to everyone, a skeptic-to-believer turnaround story – but the film earns its points as a strong devotional cinema! The forest mythology is layered in with genuine details rather than dumped in superstitions. And by the time the goddess reveal arrives, you’re invested rather than just waiting for the VFX to justify itself! Deepak Mishra, along with Arunabh Kumar, clearly did the homework on devotional cinema and the folklore genre well! The aesthetic of the film slowly builds a proper Panchtantra meets Amar Chitra Katha vibe, and the film, after a slightly shaky first half, starts delivering strongly in the second half! Meanwhile, Anandeshwar Dwivedi’s dialogues do not let the film be preachy even for a scene, and he needs to be applauded for the same! The backstories rooted in mythologies are explained well and all credit goes to his writing here!
The temple location looks very real, believable, and powerful due to its raw and rustic vibe! The grandeur here is not built in sets; it is built with the chants, the shlokas, the divine moments, treating the folklore with utmost sincerity and conviction! and the folklore is treated with a sincerity that never tips into camp. Where the film could have easily gone, the villain and the dark energies too glorified and caricaturish, it keeps a check on them! The restraint on how much to narrate and how much should be left for the audience to feel and believe pays off.
The comic relief personally does not work for me, but it might bring relief for the kids watching the film, making the canvas for the target audience broader! Deepak Mishra knows his film inside out, and he is aware of when to pull back and let a scene breathe.
Tanishk Bagchi, Vishal Mishra, Sandeep Shirodkar, Amit Trivedi, and Sam CD do a brilliant job with the music! The devotional pieces land so brilliantly in the background! Be it Aigiri Nandini, or Shiva Tandav Strota. Even the musical score around the Shiva Strota, with a bull coming to save the hero as he seeks help from Lord Nandi, lands beautifully, since it gets elevated with the background score!
The Vvaan Movie Review: The Last Word
The Vvaan is Bollywood’s most confident attempt yet at the folklore-fantasy genre – respectful of belief, visually ambitious in its storytelling, sincere and loyal towards its story, and anchored by a lead pair with real chemistry. It stumbles occasionally when comedy kicks in, or the antagonist track does not land that strongly, but it never loses sight of what it’s trying to say about faith, home, and the stories we dismiss until they save us. A Proper Panchtantra and Amar Chitra Katha feel delivered with heart – rooted in traditions, and morals! Chhathi Maiya’s blessings are present in spirit. At some points, it felt like this entire team believes in what is being narrated, but I wish the film could have taken a little more effort towards its craft, and this could have been brilliant!
3.5 stars!
The Vvaan Trailer
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