Vivaha Bhojanambu is a recently released Telugu movie on SonyLIV. It is directed by Ram Abbaraju and stars Sathya, Srikanth Iyengar, Sundeep Kishan, and Dayanand Reddy among other cast members. The total run time of the film just about hits the two-hour mark, although when you watch it, it will seem like it is much longer.
– Vivaha Bhojanambu review does not contain spoilers –
Vivaha Bhojanambu is a comedy set during the initial lockdowns and Janta Curfews implemented all over the country last year. When Anitha introduces her father to her boyfriend Mahesh, asking that they should be married, her family is confused. He neither looks good nor comes from money, whereas Anitha has both. Not to mention the fact that his only defining character trait is that he is extremely stingy. The wedding ceremony happens with just 30 people because of the spread of the pandemic, and when an ill-timed lockdown is announced, Anitha’s family is stranded at Mahesh’s typical middle-class house and Mahesh is left pinching his pockets wherever and whenever he can.
Vivaha Bhojanambu is a Golmaal-esque movie, just a lot less funny. A lot happens within the two hours you spend watching the movie, and so you can never truly focus on one plot detail in specificity. The beginning focuses on Mahesh and his miserly way of life, while somewhere towards the middle Vivaha Bhojanambu focuses on the whole marriage aspect of the movie. After around an hour, the main premise is finally introduced.
Once the lockdown and its consequences finally come into play, I expected the movie to finally pick up and assert its difference. But somehow, even with a more or less unexplored premise, the movie felt just as cliched as it did before.
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During the second half, Vivaha Bhojanambu becomes a typical comedy of errors, with the lead trying to navigate the lies he told during the first half, and always finding himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. Given, you don’t see the twists coming but they just move to further complicate a plot with too many elements already.
One of the things I really liked about the movie was the acting. Everyone on the cast was perfect in their roles, especially Sathya as Mahesh. Another thing worth mentioning was the way the filmmakers broke the fourth wall to support the comedic elements in the film. This made use of innovative CGI (pictured above), and characters looking into the camera directly to convey their emotions which elevated the use of comedic devices used throughout Vivaha Bhojanambu.
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In 2021, I expect an onslaught of movies that are set during the preliminary days of the pandemic, and although for Vivaha Bhojanambu, COVID-19 was more of a background element that only comes into play occasionally, the pandemic will be a driving force in many of the movies to come, and this was a decent enough precedent for that.
Final Verdict: Vivaha Bhojanambu
Overall, despite the cliches of the movie and with almost redundant punchlines, Vivaha Bhojanambu is entertaining enough to watch. It certainly isn’t worth critiquing, and won’t make you laugh as much as you would expect it to. But, do I regret spending 2 hours watching it? Not really.
Vivaha Bhojanambu is now streaming on SonyLIV.
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