Vikrant Rona’s story: A fictional village set in an unknown era witnesses strange happenings while children disappear. Are the culprits the devil or a man? Is Vikrant Rona (Kiccha Sudeep) is the cigar-smoking super-sexy new cop from the town of ghosts, solve the mystery and track down the culprits when everyone is suspect?
Vikrant Rona review: Made with Kannada and transposed in Hindi, Anup Bhandari’s dark fantasy tale (in 3D) is a daring attempt. It’s quite atmospheric too. There aren’t many Indian films have attempted to explore this kind of genre before. The director is unable to find focus and a specific story. It begins as an old-fashioned fairy tale, and then transforms into a supernatural horror thriller, then a thriller and finally an western. It is attempting to be several things. The story isn’t able to establish a clear timeline, too. The opening half is unfocused and drags on for hours with no character or plot progress. The only thing we get is Kiccha Sudeep sporting a glowing hero-like look in slowmo, with an unsettling background score which never let fear take over. With a running time of minimum 2 hours and 30 minutes you’ll be exhausted and the story goes in a dead end. A random love story laced with random music eats into screen time and divert from the main plot.
It’s odd that no second half been more contradictory. The film begins the second part, and there is a hint of the story. The plot that develops somewhat late in the movie is a solid and thrilling. If it had been able to gather the momentum before, this movie had the potential to become an excellent thriller.
A long time in the making and even shot during Covid visually, this film is trying its best to live up the epic scale of the genre. A scene of fighting in the rain is especially intriguing and has a global look. If you can get past the poor initial portion, the second is very engaging and enjoyable to watch. Jacqueline Fernandez is a flawless dancer and her fiery track (Ra Ra Rakkamma) and charisma energize the narrative.
If you’re in the market for a good horror thriller that is told in a loud and dramatic way and with a particular emphasis on Kiccha Sudeep’s style and swag, you’ll love this one. Vikrant Rona has the potential to become a solid mystery series filled with more dark tales If the creators can eliminate the excessive clutter. With such potential, we’d like to see that this fable had been able to rise to the occasion earlier.