I must admit that I am not a fan of genres that refuses to stick to the core subject, effectively applicable for films outside the commercial space. As far as commercial films are concerned, there are generally no rules to their universe anyway which basically means that their sole purpose remains to entertain. As a result, the sub-genres in such films doesn’t quite bother me. But in a film like Vanvaas that itself has such a powerful emotional core, I was shocked to see the writing resolve to the familiar tropes of a mass entertainer. The slide begins with the introduction of Utkarsh Sharma, a thug making a living at the Ghaats of Varanasi, who suddenly bumps into the character of the elderly statesman freshly abandoned by his children. The pitch of the drama is so loud that it overhauls the minute emotions that are in play given the central theme of the drama. I mean how ridiculous would the writing be to allow the emotional core of the drama to take a backseat, and instead focus on some mindless subplots including a brain-fade of a flashback.

The world of Vanvaas comprises of characters that come and go while spending most of their screen-space in mouthing dialogues that are seemingly unfunny and simply loud. The tone of the drama needed to be understated and sensitive to the bigger issue that was being addressed, which had had me arrested from its opening act, despite a heavily one-sided narrative. But clearly, there is no room for nuance even as the drama branches out into a mindless flashback involving Utkarsh’s love life and his run-in to his beloved’s mother, that has no relevance to the central plot. This phase includes a bunch of comic gags that simply fall flat even as the drama enters an atrocious territory of a medical racket being exposed, even as Utkarsh doubles up as a variant of Pushpa.

The inconsistent tone of the drama is further exploited in this drama that is far too binary with respect to the characters, all of whom have a single note to perform while being coated with a paint in broader strokes. The parallels to Baghban cannot be denied either – Nana Patekar is basically Amitabh Bachchan, his three children and their wives represent the ‘evil’ children from Baghban while Utkarsh Sharma plays Salman Khan minus the whispers. There is no real redeeming quality for the children who are shown to be after the fortune of their father while spreading the word on his death. This, while Utkarsh and his fellow sidekicks get together to carve a way to send the elderly man back to his home, while having to deal with his doses of dementia that automatically acts as obstacles.

There is a marginal improvement in the second hour even as the focus shifts back to its central plot, but the writing is so trivial that it never allows you to invest in any of the characters. This had also to do with the inconsistent tone that never wished to dwell in the emotional quotient of the drama whatsoever, in fact, the pitch remained on the higher side even as convenience took over in the writing department which was tasked with going from Point A to Point B, with the inclusion and exit of a handful of characters. This, while the characters of the children remained largely absent for most parts of the second hour and the concept of dementia was barely explored while conveniently changing the rules of the game. And after an avalanche mishap and a convenient rescue-op later, when the drama actually gets on track, there are some nice little emotions that suck you into the drama. The only problem is that it is too little too late, so much so that the emotionally heavy ending doesn’t quite leave a lasting impression. Overall, the screenplay is a bit of a mess while being tonally inconsistent with its writing.