The South Indian film industries are aware of how much the stars mean to their audience. Therefore, apart from making content-driven cinema, the makers also focus on creating cinema that is celebratory in nature. These films do not overtly try to deliver any message; rather, they make sure that when a viewer invests two and a half hours of their lives, they are at least provided with mind-blowing entertainment. The Telugu blockbuster “Waltair Veerayya” utilizes the massive star power of Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja. It is better if we abandon our brains and put aside our skepticism before entering the world of Waltair Veerayya (played by Chiranjeevi). This world is fabricated with faithful coincidences that, in the end, tie up all the loose ends of the narrative. Directed by Ravindra S., popularly known as Bobby Kolli, the film is a formulaic no-brainer; that is, as an audience, you would not have to anticipate a convoluted ending. The film, which begins on the misty highlands of the Eastern Ghats, takes you to the beaches and port of Visakhapatnam before washing you ashore in the hustle and bustle of Malaysia. But unlike other commercial films that are shot across various geographic locations and turn out to be promotional videos for increasing tourism in that particular city, this film does not focus on giving you a taste of its locale. In fact, it is very clear that the film wants all its meanings to be derived from the characters and their actions. The action comedy has the perfect appeal for a front-row single-screen audience. But if you like to indulge yourself once in a while in mindless fun, you are always welcome to give Waltair Veerayya a shot. The film was released in theaters on January 13, 2023, and was a box office success primarily because it is a film that has its heart in the right place.
At its core, the film is a sentimental melodrama about two brothers: Waltair Veerayya and his stepbrother Vikram Sagar (played by Ravi Teja). The film follows the motif from the Hindi cinema of the 1970s, where one brother grows up to be a criminal, and the other grows up to be a cop. Waltair is a fisherman, and under the garb of his profession, he smuggles high-end luxury products. Vikram Sagar, on the other hand, is an IPS officer who is revered and respected for his honesty and dedication to his duty. But the structure of the screenplay is very interesting, so much so that we are not introduced to the main plot of the narrative in the first half of the film. At one point, it seems like we are watching two different movies. The film begins with a plane crash—a small charter flight crashes into the lush greenery of the highlands of Andhra Pradesh. The aircraft was carrying a seasoned drug lord named Solomon Caesar (played by Bobby Simha), who was then under the custody of the Indian Secret Service agency, aka RAW. After the crash, the local police station was instructed by the higher authorities to shelter Solomon and the RAW agents for the night. Taking advantage of the low security at the police station, Solomon Caesar’s gang ambushes the on-duty policemen and causes a bloodbath. They end up rescuing Solomon and manage to run to Malaysia. The officer in charge of the police station had a personal crisis and was absent from the scene when Solomon’s men were committing bloodbath. Although the OIC was suspended for being absent on his duty, he still wants to take revenge for the untimely death of his colleagues. He keeps on pestering his senior for lending him a team that would catch Solomon and drag him back to India. When the department pays no heed to his request, he decides to hire the local don Waltair Veeraya to become his foreman in the revenge game. Waltair’s gang travels to Malaysia. Waltair’s men hardly look like they are criminals; in fact, Waltair, with his goofy charm, doesn’t even look dangerous. There is a brief stint of romantic song and dance with the grounds manager Athidhi (played by Shruti Haasan) at the Caesar Hotel (owned by Solomon). Here we get the backstory of Solomon and his brother Michael’s rise to power. Michael Caesar is played by none other than the original movie villain, Prakash Raj. Michael had won over the local Malaysian drug mafia, called Kaluppan, and cracked a deal that gave him the rights to export the drugs all over the world. With his brilliant mind, Waltair Veerayya strikes a note of friendship with Solomon when he saves him from a group of masked attackers. It is later revealed that those attackers were actually Athidhi and other hotel staff members who were undercover RAW agents employed to kill Solomon or arrest him to take him back to India. As the plans of Veerayya and the RAW agents coincide, Veerayya very cunningly manages to persuade Solomon to return to India with him. But Solomon’s brother Michael warns him about the trickery, and there is one final showdown between Solomon and Veerayya, and Solomon Caesar is killed.
This entire murderous episode takes place while Solomon is on a video call with his brother Michael. Veerayya finally reveals that his main target of revenge was never Solomon but Michael, who in his previous life in India was Veerayya’s right-hand man Kala and was responsible for the death of his brother, ACP Vikram Sagar. We are taken into an elaborate flashback in Jelaripata, a fishing locality in Vizag where Veerayya had an ice factory. Kala was in charge of his business. He took advantage of Veerayya’s trust in him and began to hide packets of cocaine with the slabs of ice. Veerayya’s lack of knowledge made Kala a sufficiently rich man. Veerayya and Vikram Sagar did not have a cordial relationship since their childhood because Veerayya had vertigo and could not save Vikram, who had slipped from a lower branch of a tree and fractured his legs. This led to an estrangement between the two brothers and also between their parents, forcing Veerayya to grow up without a mother and Vikram without a father. Vikram had locked up Veerayya for some petty crime, amidst which it was discovered that an ice slab that contained cocaine packets was sent to a local school. The cocaine had contaminated the refreshments of the students, and 25 little children died due to severe dehydration. Earlier, the police had done a crackdown on the local drug dealers, and they had Kala and Veerayya on their radar. The incident involving the children strengthened Veerayya’s involvement in selling drugs. But Kala managed to make his way out of the police’s surveillance. In turn, the officers from police headquarters decide to kill Veerayya in an encounter. But Sagar had already found out that his brother had nothing to do with the crime. He disguised himself as Veerayya and placed himself in front of the line of arrested suspects. As soon as they reach the location, the policemen and the suspects are ambushed by Kala’s goons. It turns out that Vikram’s boss, the Joint Commissioner of Police, joined hands with Kala and quite literally stabbed Vikram in the back. He even manages to prove Vikram as a rogue who was alone supporting his criminal brother. But Veerayya somehow, in a coincidental turn of events, is released from the prison and reaches to save his brother, who has by now received multiple stab wounds and obviously would not survive. In the meantime, the Joint CP is killed by Kala, who escapes to Malaysia. Vikram Sagar is deemed to be a criminal, and his wife and child are not granted any justice. Veerayya is arrested and imprisoned for his drug dealings for four years.
‘Waltair Veerayya’ Ending Explained: What Does Veerayya Do In The End? Why Does He Take Justice Into His Own Hand? Are His Actions Justified?
The ending of the film is very interesting. It has everything that you expect from a big action film. Lots of guns, a full-fledged gang war, and an intervening Veerayya who very easily manages to free Michael, aka Kala, from the field of open gunfire; in return for his life, Kala agrees to return to India with RAW, and Veerayya. Our protagonist had actually registered a case with the local court that would prove Kala to be the real perpetrator and responsible for the deaths of the children; this would, in turn, clear Vikram Sagar’s name from the police charge sheets and reinstall his honor. In the final scenes of the film, a High Court judge is seen apologizing to Veeraya for imprisoning him when he was innocent. Veerayya asks for permission to make his closing statement. After delivering some moving words in favor of his brother’s bravery, he moves onto how he trusted Kala when they were younger. When it was least expected, Veerayya did something unthinkable. He picks up a sharp axe and separates Kala’s head from the rest of his body in the middle of the court. He later explains that he does so to honor his brother’s last request of beheading Kala for murdering the children. Obviously, Veerayya is arrested and imprisoned, but ACP Vikram Sagar gets his glory back, and he is revered once again with a statue that was built to remember his sacrifice. He gains the status of a martyr. Veerayya, at the end of the film, manages to shed the status of a petty criminal and emerges as the savior, almost comparable to Bajirao Singham from Rohit Shetty’s hit film “Singham,” who went to extreme lengths to prove the honesty of a police officer who was deemed a criminal by his corrupt superiors. Waltair Veerayya is now streaming on Netflix.