Story
Vishnu (Kiran Abbavaram) is a good samaritan who lives in Tirupathi. Based on lessons he learnt through his grandfather and his own experiences, Vishnu decides to help whoever asks him for help. He learns about the concept of the phone neighbor through Darshana (Kashmira Pardeshi). When he tries to call the other neighbor for his number, he comes across a mysterious person (Sharath Lohithaswa) who asks for his help in delivering a suitcase to another location. That mysterious person is a terrorist who is planning a big disruptive operation across India. Rest of the story is all about how Vishnu tells him his flashback and foils the operation.

Artists Performance

Kiran Abbavaram is good as the main lead. He is very spontaneous and his dialogue delivery needs to be worked on. Kashmira Pardeshi is fine as the female lead. Murali Sharma plays a vital role and also provides entertainment as a model for heroine’s reels/shorts. Subhalekha Sudhakar is perfect as a grandfather who shares wisdom to his grandson. Sharath Lohithaswa (who played an NIA officer in Akhanda) is very good as a man who tests the hero. Comedian Praveen has got a good role as the hero’s friend. He is very good.

Story - screenplay - direction: It’s a thriller story. We have a similar point in Yamapasam (Rajasekhar’s film) which was adapted from Malladi’s novel. The hero narrating the story reminds us a bit of a Hollywood film Usual Suspects (though this is entirely different). The director has mixed all ingredients like love, family emotions, action orientation etc. The first half of the film runs with all these elements and the interval adds a bit of mystique. By looking at the interval, we expect something big and complicated. However, the post-interval explanation turns out to be a very simple thing. The conflict between the heroine's father and Murali Sharma's character is resolved very simply and has nothing to do with the main story of the film. The latter part of the second half gets interesting and there is a screenplay twist in the climax. Screenplay in the film is interesting. The reason for the interval twist should have been more stronger/convincing. The climax part is well-written. It’s a decent debut for the director.

Other departments: Songs scored by Chaitan Bharadwaj are good. However, not so many songs are needed for a thriller formatted film. Background music is decent. Cinematography by Viswas Daniel is good. Dialogues deserve appreciation. Art direction by Ram Kumar is good. Action sequences are well composed. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is fine. Production values by GA2 are of good standard.

Analysis: Movie starts off in thriller mode where a muslim character in the guise of Hindu priest in Thirupati orchestrates a big terrorist activity across the country. The plan by the key man is to use the hero (a good Samaritan) as the transporter. This film has a nice screenplay and entertaining elements. But, likability of the film depends on how audiences are convinced with the reasoning behind interval twist. On the whole, VBVK is a multi-genre film with an interesting premise.