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MUMBAI: John Abraham has become synonymous with action, but as an artiste, you always run the risk of becoming too synonymous with something to the extent of teaching a saturation point. Let's face it, barring Pathaan, where he was a villain, and which had the backing of an all-star cast, including King Khan Shah Rukh Khan himself, his recent action offerings haven't hit the mark. This time he teams up with Nikkhil Advani, who had given John Abraham one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo-hero films of his career — Batla House — back in 2019. It's for this reason primarily that Vedaa, costarring Sharvari, doesn't look or isn't treated as most of the star's recent solo releases. It says a lot and makes a lot of points. Alas, it doesn't match the caliber of Batla House.
What sets Vedaa apart is how the first half seeps into the shameful caste politics and deeply rooted gender roles of Haryana, topped by honor killings, with John taking a backseat to other cast members, and even when he comes to the fore in the second half, Sharvari is neither relegated to the shadow nor made to play the whimpering damsel in distress. Plus, kudos to writer Aseem Arora and Director Nikkhil Advani for neither making Vedaa another run-of-the-mill action film nor turning it into a preachy, virtue signaller devoid of entertainment.
The trailer pretty much gave everything away (when will better trailers start being cut), so let's not get into the plot because beyond that only spoilers remain. If only Advani and Arora stuck to what they built in the first half and wrapped things neatly in the second half, this'd have been a movie with both rousing action and gritty treatment against the backdrop of a topical issue unfortunately still plaguing our nation in certain parts. As is it's a pretty good film sadly that gets dragged down by overstaying its welcome by no less than 30-40 minutes, culminating in an utterly ridiculous climax and denouement (not the over-the-top amusing kind; just the plain, inexplicable, scratch-your-head kind).
Now, that's a rank shame because the movie moved along very well till said climax, with Malay Prakash's camerawork brilliantly capturing the grime and brutality of rustic, rural India, backing the sharp dialogue and a pretty decent screenplay two thirds of the way, interested with two well executed action blocks post the midway mark. Even the performances hit the mark, with John tailormade to play the stoical knight in broken armor, perfectly complemented by Sharvari's village velle, yearning to break free from the shackles of her upbringing and society. What's more, Abhishek Banerjee makes for a terificlly layered villain, assisted in no small measure by the veteran, Ashish Vidyarthi and other side players.
If not for some atrocious editing by Maahir Zaveri, Kartik Shah's numbing background score, and some downright daft decision making in both the writing and direction departments towards the end, Vedaa had all the makings for a great time at the cinema hall. If you can still wade through that climax, the movie can nevertheless be enjoyed for a major part, especially by John Abraham fans.
3/5 stars
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