The latest Ram Charan Teja-starrer Vinaya Vidheya Rama is a deeply offensive film on several levels. It insults the audiences’ basic intelligence by taking the most outrageous liberties with time and space.
What is most troublesome is the way in which Biharis are in general shown as a bunch of scruffy, sleazy, murderous bandits and outlaws. The film’s main villain Raja Bhai, played by Vivek Oberoi, is shown to be a Bihari running his own army although the film’s history and geography are both skewed to an unrecognisable extent.
The film’s settings, replete with sandscapes, horses and outlaws who look ill at ease and nowhere in Bihar, are way out of whack. Raja bhai is shown bullying Bihar’s Chief Minister (Mahesh Manjrekar) and goes on to kidnap the Election Commissioner, only to make him dance in public wearing ghungroos (anklets) on his feet to humiliate him! Worse, the film suffers from a perverse definition of machismo and virility. The hero is shown literally beating up an army of Bihari goons as the soundtrack emblazons his heroics with sounds that suggest a siren call for absolute anarchy.
