Gangs of Godavari Movie Review: After the last two movies 'Ghani' and 'Gandivadhari Arjuna' starring Varun Tej flopped, he came in front of the audience with another action movie 'Gangs of Godavari'. Shakti Pratap Singh is the new director for this. It is the first film made in Telugu with an air force story and is based on the story of the Fulwama attack-retaliatory attacks. On January 25, 'Fighter' came out in Hindi on the same story. With two films coming out with the same story, the question arises as to which one is better. Let's see what it is...
Gangs of Godavari Movie Story:
Wing Commander Arjun Dev (Varun Tej) and his wife Radar Ahana Gill (Manushi Chillar) undertake a test project named Operation Vajra. The idea of this project is that if the fighter jets fly at a low altitude of 20 meters, the pilots can save their lives without being caught by the enemy's radars. But after the death of friend (Kabir) Navdeep in this test, Ahana falls out with Arjun and stays away. While Arjun is in pain for being the cause of his friend's death, there is a terrorist attack on the soldiers in Fulwama and 40 soldiers die. This gives Arjun a chance to atone for his friend's death. In retaliation to the Fulwama attack, the Air Force is preparing to attack Pakistan's terrorist bases. How Arjun succeeded in this revenge attack is the rest of the story.
Analysis:
Before the 2019 Pulwama incident, a film titled 'Yuri - The Surgical Strike' was released based on the 2016 terrorist attack on an army base in Uri. Vicky Kaushal - Starring Yami Gautham. It was released on 11 January 2019. Soon after, the Fulwama attack took place on February 14. This movie got huge popularity. 44 crores budget got 342 crores box office. This movie has hooked the audience with a strong story and strong cinematography. In "How's the Josh?" – “Hi sir!” That dialogue went viral.
This was followed by the release of Hrithik Roshan's 'Fighter' on January 25, 2024, based on the Fulwama attack. It has strong storylines or average acting. Now again 'Operation Valentine' has come on Pulwama. It also demonstrated a lack of strong narratives. The reason is that the Operation Vajra test was conducted by the air force before the Pulwama story, The Operation Nehru attack was carried out by Pakistan in retaliation after the Pulwama story... Like this, a fictitious story was passed before Fulwama, then another fictional story and Pulwama's story was sacrificed in the middle. The audience is made up of meaningless material to understand what the story is about. The box office elements of emotions, drama, and conflict have disappeared as the full-length Fulwama lacks the story it should have. Watch this movie just for the action scenes.
The first-off operation goes on with the Vajra Test, Varun Tej-Manushi chiller flashbacks and lots of Air Force rushes. All this goes on until the interval without realizing what it is. Then the attack on Fulwama takes place in the original story. The first half ends with the Air Force planning a Balakot strike in retaliation for this attack.
In the second half, the operation ends with a successful attack on Balakot terrorist bases. This is the end of the story. But in retaliation for this, they again extended with a fictional story called Pak counter-attack. Again Air Force ended it sweetly.
As the story is in three parts, the important element of emotions that sustains the film is missing. As a result, it has become loose in terms of content, and characters and loud in terms of action. Thus both 'Operation Valentine' and 'Fighter' have become one and the same.
Performances:
After the war movie 'Kanche', Varun Tej looks perfect in the role of a war hero once again. Such roles seem to be a hit for him. Otherwise, strong characterization like in 'Kanche' is missing because of the three-piece story. Inkothem is that there is no chemistry, conflict, or feeling with the heroine Manushi Chillar. The pain of a friend's death is not strong. Varun Tej has made it a model for looks and action. He played a bit of a patriotic element in the climax.
Manushi Chiller Ditto. Apart from her, other actors also do not have proper portrayals. All the time spent in the first half could have been spent on establishing the characters. This was the attempt made in 'Fighter' - until the Fulwama attack happened before the interval. After that, where those characters went is another matter.
Mickey J Mayer's music is similar. In fact, a tragic event like Fulwama should have haunting music for the story. But as Fulwama is a piece in the middle of the story, the movie Santham has no scope for a haunting musical.
The camera work of Hari K Vedantam is excellent. Also, the visual effects of the aerial action scenes are budget-friendly. In this regard, the budget of 'Fighter' is very high. But the action choreography of the jet fighters in the air is thrilling. In this movie, the action scenes are the highlight rather than the stories and the portrayals.
Indian spirit is especially needed for such high-concept movies. In action movies like 'Sholay' and 'Gadar', the audience has been repulsed again and again due to the inclusion of the Indian spirit as a villain. Still essential in a war movie. JP Dutta's 'Border' is a big example. You will want a repeat audience if you watch and know such movies, like 'Operation Valentine'.
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