Here is why Anand Deverakonda is Vijay Deverakonda’s opposite

Anand Deverakonda must be basking in the glory of ‘Middle Class Melodies’ walking away with positive reviews. Barring a few reviews, most of them have described the latest OTT release with colourful adjectives such as heartwarming, delicious, cute and rooted.

Had the movie released in theatres, it might or might not have become a hit. But the direct-to-streamer release seems to have decisively worked in its favour, with urbanites expected to watch it in large numbers in the comfort of their homes. Anand, whose first film ‘Dorasaani’ sank without a trace, couldn’t have asked for more. He badly needed a hit and debutant director Vinod Aantoju has just delivered it for him. 

Anand’s performance has come in for praise by most accounts. He has played a boy-next-door, who may not be a handsome hunk, but who definitely is someone we want to root for in ‘MCM’. This is where Anand’s image differs from his brother’s. Vijay Deverakonda played a boy-next-door in ‘Pelli Choopulu’ and ‘Geetha Govindam’. But, if you ignore these two films, he has since played mostly image-driven characters. ‘Arjun Reddy’ had him in the role of a mercurial Devadas with anger management issues. He has tried to play different shades of this flawed character in ‘Dear Comrade’ and ‘World Famous Lover’. ‘NOTA’ had him as a Chief Minister. 

In total contrast, Anand seems to be most suited to play true-to-life characters. It’s good not to be trapped by the image of his brother, who attained stardom in no time.