'V', starring Nani and Sudheer Babu, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.  Here is our review of the latest OTT release.

Story:

A mystery serial killer (Nani) challenges DCP Adithya (Sudheer Babu), a decorated cop, by murdering a police officer. Hiding in the shadows, the killer is working with a vengeance and threatens to kill four others. "Catch me if you can or accept your defeat," is his challenge to the DCP.

As one murder after another is accomplished, Adithya has a tough time understanding the motives of the killer and tracing him. Despite help from Apoorva (Nivetha Thomas), a crime novel writer, he fails to crack the case. But clues fall in place slowly. What is the killer's motive? Is he psychotic? Can Adithya stop him from committing the ultimate crime?  Answers to these questions are found in the second half.

Analysis:

Director Mohanakrishna Indraganti seemingly touted 'V' as a neo-noir mystery action thriller. Like most things associated with the movie, the description itself is pretentious.

My problems with 'V' started with one of the earliest scenes. There is a riot in Hyderabad and Sudheer Babu's team is controlling the situation. Vennela Kishore, one of the members of the team, looks completely out of place. By and by, I resigned myself to the fact that the movie is a casting calamity. There are no two ways about it. Nani's one-note dialogue-delivery tests your patience. It feels odd to say it but the otherwise fine actor (whose 'Jersey' act was impeccable) looks clueless, struggling to look grave.

Sudheer Babu meets Nivetha Thomas in an unusual encounter that reeks of suspicion. Their romantic track not only feels unreal but also bizarre. What were their conversations about? Like, seriously! In a film with two orphans, nobody would have complained had Nivetha's character, too, been an orphan. Rohini and Thalaivasal Vijay as her parents are irritating.  

The film shoves down ultra-familiar tropes down the audience's throat but seems to feel they are unique. The serial killer's clues in the form of puzzles hardly pique interest. If anything, they look too bookish.  

The investigation scenes (there are one-and-a-half of them) barely scratch the surface. One of the prime targets of Nani's character is the son of a bigshot but the task force on the job looks eerily relaxed. The action scenes are almost lazy, dragged down by amateurish execution.

Whenever there is a serial killer who has to be portrayed as a psychotic character, our filmmakers toy with a few formulaic beats. Like making him deliver evil laughter and all. But given Nani's past in the movie, the character traits associated with his killer avatar look comprehensively ridiculous and forced. If he has suffered a mental degeneration, the screenplay doesn't bring it out at all. And what is with those filmy references that he keeps making?    

It's difficult to see this as a Nani movie. It's Sudheer who occupies the mind space of the viewer for the most part. Aditi Rao Hydari's character waits to become a damsel in distress at the first opportunity. Raja Chembolu, Tanikella Bharani, Get-up Sreenu, Sreekanth Iyengar and others don't add much.

Thaman's background score seeks to lend a touch of horror movie tone to the scenes involving gruesome killings. Amit Trivedi's 'Vasthunna' is a memorable song, but the party song is mediocre. PG Vinda's cinematography is an asset.  

Verdict:

'V' comes a cropper right from the word go. Besides being a casting nightmare, it is also an under-developed thriller that fizzles out after the big reveal. At 139 minutes, it is a drag.

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