Sudeep’s statement soon after the release of ‘Vikrant Rona’ got me thinking about the Kannada superstar’s journey ahead as the pan-India wave continues to get stronger. “We have done a film which we enjoyed doing it and believed in. Now, I will do another film, with the same team, for my fans. It will be a commercial film from the word go,” the actor had told a reporter.
Did his words mean that ‘Vikrant Rona’ was a complete deviation from the kind of films he was doing? Does he mean to say his fans weren’t entirely satisfied with the Anup Bhandari-directorial?
To begin with, ‘Vikrant Rona’ is a film ardent followers of Sudeep can be proud of. Because, in recent times, Sudeep hasn’t performed beyond the regular expectations from a commercial cinema hero, be it in ‘The Villain’, ‘Pailwaan’ or ‘Kotigobba 3’. The scripts didn’t demand Sudeep to explore the performer in him in depth. And these films failed to stand out because of their uninventive ideas.
A re-watch of ‘Vikrant Rona’ made me realise that it’s an interesting suspense drama that fell prey to poor positioning decisions. It was positioned as a larger-than-life, superhero fantasy flick. Whereas in reality, ‘Vikrant Rona’ is a whodunit anchored by a solid lead in a setting that’s lifted several notches by terrific production values.
Also, the filmmakers’ decision to reveal post release that ‘Vikrant Rona’ was part of the ‘RangiTiranga’ universe was sort of a misfire. People who went in expecting a fresh world were surprised, confused and even let-down to see the familiar setting and ideas.
But Bhandari excelled in balancing the actor and the performer in Sudeep. Bhandari, like a true fan boy, concentrates on minute details, like Sudeep’s mannerisms (flip of the lighter, smoking the cigar, and walking style) and swag. As a loving father, it’s a delight to see Sudeep effortlessly develop a chemistry with a toddler.
He owns the frame without trying to overtly catch our attention. Yet, some felt his body-language and dialogue delivery as a cop resembled his hosting style in the reality show ‘Big Boss’.
Perhaps that’s a fair observation but it’s far from being a big deal as it’s rare to see stars engage us only through conversations and Sudeep does it with aplomb. He might pull out something new from his bag of tricks in a similar role in the future, who knows!
And in the last act, the emotional and vulnerable side of his acting ability comes to the fore. In the climax, the camera zooms in on Sudeep’s face that’s fully immersed in the character.
It looked like Sudeep submitted completely to the director and the script,” senior film critic Shyam Prasad tells DH. “You cannot discount a known star's presence while watching a movie, but it was 'Vikrant Rona' who was doing all those things in the movie. Great films happen when you see only the character and not the actor. The team definitely made a great effort in that direction even if ‘Vikrant Rona did not become one of the 'greatest of all time' kind of a movie,” he observes.
In an interview with DH recently, the superstar had confessed that he had moved away from content-oriented, character-based films to relish the taste of stardom. So, there was a cloud of doubt on his interest in travelling in the path that again.
“Vikrant Rona’ must be compared with some of the films Sudeep directed, particularly ‘Just Maath Maathalli’ and ‘No.73 Shanti Nivasa’. He was trying to reach out to a larger audience with films that weren't only about entertainment. These were films that were character-driven rather than hero-driven. So it wasn't really surprising that Sudeep was ready to experiment again with ‘Vikrant Rona’,” explains Shyam.
‘Vikrant Rona’ is a special addition to Sudeep’s body of work, feel fans who want their star to keep trying his hand at unique stories. “The film had very little room for Heroic acting. The dialogues weren’t written just to garner whistles. Being a huge star, he dared to be different and it was a bold move from him to prioritse content over commercial aspects,” feels Akash R Patil, a law student and an ardent Sudeep fan.
The actor is hugely popular in Telugu states and has done noteworthy works in Hindi cinema as well. The time is right for him to do commercial films that don’t dumb down the content, says Akash. “As a fan, I expect him to do films like ‘Kotigobba 2’, and ‘Vishnuvardhana’ but not like ‘Kotigobba 3’ or ‘The Villain’. He must strive to do commercial films that are sensible. And in between, for a perfect mix of all kinds of movies, he must show faith in projects like ‘Vikrant Rona’," he says.
It will be interesting to see how the gifted Bhandari amps up his imagination in ‘Billa Ranga Baashaa’, which seems like a time-consuming, ambitious project. Shyam argues that stars like Sudeep must be seen more often in action for the betterment of the industry.
“Every big star seems to be focused on pan-India films. These films demand not just big budgets but also a long gestation period to build up the hype. That could mean a star will be seen in only one film a year and that's not good for the industry. The Kannada film industry needs the big stars to do more than one film per year. Sudeep has the versatility and the temperament to do Kannada/Karnataka-specific films and pan-India films at the same time. If he can strike a balance between the two, it would be good for the industry,” opines Shyam.
That said, Sudeep is stepping into an interesting phase of his long career and it remains to be seen how he tackles various challenges to come up trumps.