The Vvaan took me to the stories that are told during poojas*. Only that it doesn't do any more than I would have imagined. And therefore, I spent most of the time watching the movie in wondering about why they chose the spelling vvaan when they meant it to be van with a short-a meaning forest. Of course, obviously, they didn't want it to be pronounced like the vehicle, van. But then why not go for vann like is often done with mann. Maybe there was some astrology involved because the tagline has forest spelt with 2 Rs as in forrest. The point being that the film's title engaged me more than what was going on, on screen. That, and asking the person in the audience who was watching videos/reels out loud during the movie. Yeah. Problematic.

It is difficult to take a film seriously when it doesn't want to do so itself.

But, so is the film. It has problems and is problematic at many levels. For starters, it finds a lot of its humour in either body-shaming and punching down or cheap, non-sensical comic relief. There is some character revelation through sarcasm and satire, but that doesn't last too long. It pretty much follows the "tell, don't show" rule of story-telling. It believes humans protect their Gods. And then tops it off with a Goddess needing protection from a man.

The background music does nothing to elaborate the fear one should feel when the villains are on screen. The only powerful rhythm used is the well-established "mahishaasura mardini", which thankfully is used liberally. But, then you also have the commercial needs of using an item number. I guess, we are only to be grateful that it is not used as an end-credit number and is used only as a gratuitous song and dance number.

And no, we cannot even tell if any of the actors could have taken the material above what it was. They do what they have been doing in all their previous outings—from Sidharth Malhotra to Tamannaah Bhatia to Sulabha Arya to Maniesh Paul.

It is difficult to take a film seriously when it doesn't want to do so itself. You cannot make me fear for the protagonist's or his family's or his village's life when barely any of the characters have redeemable qualities. It doesn't help that what might have been discovered by our ancestors through intelligence, wisdom and logic is passed on as 'tradition'.

Well, that is what you get when the movie's priorities are clear. The makers ignore the glaring chance to have mythology support the "Save our forests from 'development'." That says a lot, doesn't it? If that agenda was intentionally set aside, the least we can have is a well-made film with a decently written story and characters. ~ ~ ~ ritualistic veneration performed at almost every Hindu festival it is one of my favourite hymn rhythms.

- meeta, a part of the audience