Movie Review
Story: Vijayanand is a biopic on prominent Kannada businessman Vijay Sankeshwar. The film begins with the early days of Vijay (Nihal Rajput), who works round the clock and develops his father's printing house. At one point Vijay, not satisfied with the family business, decides to start a trucking business on his own. What obstacles will Vijay face in expanding his transportation business? Then, how he uses his skills to emerge as one of the leading entrepreneurs is the deciding factor.
Performances: Nihal Rajput's makeup as Vijayanand is good. He literally lived in the lead role given and impresses with his acting. Given his role as the owner of VRL PVT Ltd, India's largest logistics company, Nihal came away with screen presence in several key parts in the second half.
Senior actor Anant Nag has perfectly suited the role of the father and his presence on screen is an advantage for the film. Prakash Belawadi is good as the Newspaper Head. Actor Ravichandran deserves limited screen time.
The other actors who played the lead roles are good in their roles but most of them are hardly recognizable to the Telugu audience.
Technical Features: The setting created for the film is good and the art department should be commended for it. The production design work is good as it recreates the days of yesteryear beautifully. The work done to showcase the old days is on display.
Gopi Sundar's music works in parts. Although his songs don't register, the background score elevates several important scenes in the second half.
Keerthan Poojary's photography work is good as he tried to capture the vintage texture in the film beautifully. Hemanth Kumar D's editing is a major let down as the film's close to fifteen minutes run time could have easily been cut to keep within the constraints.
The Telugu dubbing work is done on the right note and the artists who lent their voices to all the characters in the film should be appreciated.
Analysis: Rishika Sharma directs Vijayanand. Director Vijay has tried to present the life story of Sankeshwar in a decent way but he would have tried more to execute the film in a more compelling way.
Although the early parts of the film are shown beautifully, as the film progresses, the audience will get distracted due to the slow paced story. The lack of emotional connection is also a drawback for the film. To summarize, Vijayanand is a biographical drama based on the life story of Kannada business magnate Vijay Sankeshwar. Although Nihal Rajput gives a decent performance, the lack of proper scene order and long duration may not get a positive response from the Telugu audience.
Verdict: Boring biopic!