Vanvaas review: If Baghban had a toxic ex with a Gadar meets Apne hangover

1.5/5

Vanvaas Review: Plot - An old man Deepak Tyagi (Nana Patekar) is fighting dementia and is in an advanced stage where he keeps getting attacks as his memory glitches. His children who plan to get rid of him, take him to Benaras and abandon him on the Ghats. Veeru (Utkarsh Sharma) is an orphan who finds Deepak. 2 songs and multiple dramatic scenes later, Veeru decides to find Deepak’s home. They set out on a quest, while his children have announced him dead and now want to steal his fortune. Will he reach home? Will he have one again?

Vanvaas Review: Analysis

In the trend of bringing back the old films to turn them into franchises has brought back Anil Sharma, who is relevant yet again. The filmmaker who gave the blockbuster film Gadar soon after became the biggest promoter of his own film and everything else that came from his mind was somewhere or the other a fragment of the Sunny Deol starrer. Soon followed Apne, and then it was all about how he mixes these two formulas into making a new film which feels novel. On this same nerve now stands Vanvaas, a story with a severe Baghban hangover and a haunting spirit of Gadar which doesn't let you forget everything this filmmaker has ever done because subtlety is not a virtue here and dramatising even a hair flip is the need of the hour.

Enters Vanvaas, written, directed and produced by Anil Sharma is a film that feels like a rant more than a story. We are introduced to a de-aged Nana Patekar as Deepak Tyagi romancing his now dead wife Vimla who promises to build their heaven on earth. Cut to a scene where his children are plotting a plan to get rid of Deepak, and they do it in the most hilarious way ever. You know those daily soaps where you know these people are reading from a giant white board that a man is holding behind the camera because no one has the time to learn the line by heart? Everyone from the first scene except for the legendary Patekar acts like that. The screenplay is so hell bent on proving that the millenials and the generations that follow them have gone to the dogs and that there is no way they can live happily.

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For example, “Social media par status lagana hota hai,” is a taunt. This is where you can see Anil Sharma smiling from behind the camera because his intent is to taunt the young generation and cater to that one man in his sixties in a corner seat of a press show say ‘Wah kya likha hai’. That reminds me this movie and its writing only deals in black or white. There is no grey because you can either be ‘Papa ki seva’ or ‘Papa ko mardo’ and nothing in between. One man who dares to be in between played by Paritosh Tripathi who plays Deepak’s young son, is reduced to a comic relief in no time. Every single thing is so one tone, the script so paper thin that you can sense every actor around Nana is waiting for the director to say cut because there is literally nothing more to contribute in the frame.

Because if you say a good actor like Snehil Dixit Mehra say dialogues like “Papaji ki utility nhi thi, who grocery bhi nhi laa sakte the,” sorry sir, it doesn't sound heartbreaking but very hilarious. There are so many pinching dialogues peppered all across that want to target the children like Baghban hasn't done enough damage to our living rooms already. Also in this pool of manufactured emotions why does the genre want to prove daughter in laws can never become daughters? It's 2024 and we are still juicing out the last of that plot device and there are three here but there is no scope for even one to be human.

Also, one research will tell that no medication can bring a severe dementia patient back to normal within seconds. It may slow them down, but not make them completely normal. Also, why does this world not see social media? The same thing Anil Sharma criticizes in the beginning, he takes refuge under when a character vlogs Deepak to find out his hometown. Nothing of that is spoken even again though. What is also forgotten midway is that this is Deepak’s story. The screenplay completely sidelines him half the frost half only to make Veeru to hero who is played by Utkarsh Sharma, who also happens to be Anil Sharma’s son. Who forgets his dialect more than Nana Patekar gets dementia attacks by the way.

What Vanvaas also establishes is that Anil Sharma lives in a conysnag Gadar meet Apne hangover. If not through storyline or characters, he keeps reminding you he made those two hit films through the background score. One song begins with a similar intro tune of Udjaa Kale Kawa, while another literally highlights the word Apne for its complete runtime. A Shreya Ghosal and Sonu Nigam number even feels like the scratch piece for Bajirao Mastani’s Deewani Mastani. Mithoon knows better and I would want to not remember him by this album.

Vanvaas wants to be Goodbye starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandannna but doesn't even attempt to understand the other side. It is like an orthodox person hell bent on proving his story is the story and nothing else really matters. All of this is amped up by adding insane amount of drama that feels so unreal that you even stop bothering about all the efforts Nana Patekar has put in to make this a good film.

Vanvaas Review: Final Verdict -

Think of Vanvaas as a toxic relative you hate teaching you about family values after having broken the same family with their taunts. The movie makes no point with its one tone writing that makes this world look like a film set and you are waiting for the director to say cut so you can run home.

Vanvaas releases in theatres on December 20, 2024. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more information on this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.

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