Tevar Movie Review

The first release of the year has more often than not suffered from ill-fate in Bollywood. Therefore, it has been very courageous of Boney Kapoor to make their film Tevar the first big release of 2015. Tevar is the remake of the popular Telugu film ‘Okkadu’ but what has made it seem different is the setting. The trailers have created a bit of curiosity over the film and charting the box office numbers of Tevar could be an interesting proposition. But eventually all that matters is the quality and entertainment value of the film. Is it as entertaining as the original Telugu version? Is Arjun Kapoor able to establish himself as a mass hero?

Story: Pintu (Arjun) is the son of Agra’s SP Satyapal (Raj Babbar) and he is an avid kabbadi player. On the other hand, Radhika is the sister of a news anchor who does scathing news reports on an evil politician’s brother Gajender Singh (Manoj Bajpayee). Gajender falls in love with Radhika and forcefully tries to marry her. When Radhika refuses, Gajender kills her brother. Scared and unsurprisingly shaken, Radhika’s parents decide to send her abroad. Whilst trying to escape Mathura, Gajender’s henchman find her and there she is rescued by Pintu. A search operation begins and lots of twists and turns take place. Meanwhile, Pintu also has to get to his kabaddi match. Does all of it come through? Does the couple manage to escape? What happens to Gajender? To know more, watch the film!

Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha - Tevar

Tevar Movie Review

Amit Ravendernath Sharma, one of the most prolific ad directors in the industry, knows the technicalities of filmmaking. Therefore, it doesn’t come across as a surprise when Tevar is a technically accomplished film. But it lags behind in storytelling with the film feeling more like a star vehicle than a proper story being told through the medium of cinema. Tevar wasn’t expected to be a masterpiece either, so that can be excused. The film is entertaining for most parts, the action scenes have been stylishly shot and it also has a fantastic villain in Manoj Bajpayee.

As has been mentioned previously, Amit Sharma is adept at making Tevar look technically astute having directed so many ad films in the past. The cinematography of Tevar is one of the best things about it as the cinematographer has been able to capture the essence of Uttar Pradesh through his lens. The costumes are a little loud but they go with the genre of the film. The editing, however, could have been tighter.

The music of Tevar is decent with only two songs making a mark. The Superman soundtrack where Pintu proclaims his love for Salman Khan is highly energetic and memorable. Shruti Hassaan has sung a song called Joganiya which is soothing to the ears and has been shot aesthetically. The other songs don’t make a mark.

Acting: Make no mistake, Tevar is a star-driven vehicle that Boney Kapoor is hoping will make Arjun a superstar. The film has been put together to make him look larger than life. All the action, drama and scenes highlight just one man: Arjun Kapoor. And he is good at portraying the heroic character that he has been asked to play. His mannerisms are up to the mark at playing the hinterland desi hero. But his expressions still leave a lot to be desired. Sonakshi plays the same character that she plays in all of her films and it is now getting increasingly difficult to consider her a film actress because she now plays the same role in episode after episode (in her case, it has always been a male-driven film). Manoj Bajpayee steals the show with his mad lover turned villainous avenger role. Raj Babbar and Subrat Dutta are fine in their roles.

Tevar is a decent entertainer that, more or less, gives what it promises. It has been put together in a technically astute manner but is filled with the normal masala film clichés. If you are expecting a film that will entertain, and you happen to like masala films, then Tevar won’t disappoint you.

Positives

  • Arjun Kapoor does well
  • A fairly well-made masala entertainer
  • Cinematography
  • Action sequences

Negatives

  • Sonakshi Sinha, absolute waste of talent
  • Unimaginative, has nothing new to offer

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Go for it if you like masala movies

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41 Comments

  • I think Bollywood Producers often underrate villains in their movies. I’m happy to see great characters like Nawaz and Reitesh getting their share of mainstream success. But Manoj has played negative role for a really long time. Which makes the casting really boring.

    The story looks cliched. Dont think the WOM would be very good.

    My prediction is: 70 crores. Verdict: Semi-Hit

  • I think reviewer used by Indicine is the same who review HNY.
    Dont waste your money on such stupid films and a Hero who does not even have a face of hero. Had he not been son of a famous producer he would have been a clerk somewhere.

  • 3 stars, means one time watch for sure.
    Will try catching up this weekend.
    No offense to anyone, but this Sonakshi is a curse for bollywood. I don’t know what qualities Salman and Arbaaz saw in her and they gave her a break. Pathetic physique , irritating acting, cacophonous voice, nothing is positive in her, still she is getting multiple offers.
    And on top of that , @indicine said “Sonakshi Sinha, absolute waste of talent” …!!
    Lol, waste of talent would take place only when talent would be there. But in her case, its not applicable . Instead of that , it should be “Sonakshi Sinha, absolute waste of the movie” ;-)

  • I dont know why these newbies are so desperate to get “masala movies.”

    Srk, Salman, Akshay, Ajay all these superstars who are currently doing this genre are already established actors. They have done a variety of roles previously be it love-story, action-thriller, strong central characters and after all that they are now trying this genre. But when you begin your career with cliched roles like 2 states, Aurangzeb, Gunday and now Tevar you wont get a big fan-following and repeat audience.

    Arjun Kapoor’s movie choice is quite unimpressive, if you ask me.

  • @indicine how much exactly does tevar need to collect to become a hit?plz reply.I hd already predicted 2 weeks back that it will do 80-90cr and I will stick to it

  • Having watched the original versions of the movie the film has all the ingredients to entertain the audience.The biggest concern was whether Arjun would be able to pull off the protagonist’s role.But I guess he is being appreciated for his performance in many reviews.Hope the film does well at the BO.

  • Iam 100% sure @raj from gudam village is samudha in disguise. He started changing colours very quickly, sorry my friend Tevar has taken poor start all over india and is doomed.

  • @INDICINE, sorry for going off topic, but Some bollywood channels reported that Hirani initially selected Ranbir as PK.You have any news regarding this?

    One report is below.

    Aamir Khan gets what he wants. That’s the saying in the industry. Everyone who is close to the actor swears by how adamant he is when he sets his mind on everyone. So recently a crew member who worked on PK spilled some beans and told us that it wasn’t Aamir but Ranbir Kapoor who was the first choice for Rajkumar Hirani’s record breaking film! It seems that Hirani had already though of RK and approached him with the story as well. But as soon as Aamir got drift of this news he strongly used his connection and friendship with Vidhu Vinod Chopra to ask Hirani to consider him for the project.

    Aamir didn’t want to take NO for an answer and despite knowing that RK was already a front runner for the role, he decided to ‘bully’ Hirani in an amicable manner and get him into believing that the role required someone older with more ‘depth’. It seems that the 3 Idiots director who has worked with Aamir felt embarrassed and awkward knowing that he had already approached Ranbir. After doing some look tests and hours of discussion, Hirani finally agreed to go ahead with Aamir. However, because he had already spoken to RK, he decided to use him in the susprise cameo act in the last scene where he was seen in the alien look that was conceived before Aamir came on board!

    Buzz is that Hirani has now decided to make his next romantic comedy with Ranbir and is planning to make the announcement in a month’s time! We wonder if Aamir will want to be a part of this film as well!

  • Short review of tevar by me.

    Thump’s up:-

    1. Arjun kapoor performance( but feeling that he was not better than 2 states)
    2. Monoj bajpayee
    3. Action and entertainment level
    4. Direction

    Thump’s down:-

    1. Sonakshi is a good actor but she is wasting her talent by doing this type of heroic film.
    2. Same story nothing new.
    3. Songs (only one song joganiya is nice)

    2.75/5 ?

  • @Shaheer

    I saw that news. It was given by the idiotic “bollywoodlife”. i know you’re an Aamir hater but the fact is, this news is baseless. I have been following PK for a very long time right from 2012. Here is the reality:

    First it was Aamir who was given the script of PK in Jan 2012. Aamir had signed D3 and was working on his debut show SMJ season 1 and Talaash. Aamir wanted Hirani to wait for 1 year. Hirani wanted to shoot PK and release it before OMG Oh my God.. As Aamir was taking time, he then contacted Ranbir who was his second choice.

    Ranbir got excited about Pk and was ready to sign it but when Aamir got to know about this, he immediately signed PK. But because Aamir takes his own time to shoot a film PK got delayed. The shooting was over in 2013 but they pushed the release to 2014 to avoid comparisons with OMG.

    That’s the real story!

  • sonakshi ” ablsotue waste of talent ” :D hahahaha i wonder why she does same kinda movies….hvnt seen lootera yet…heard she was good in there.

  • Being a salamn fan i used to talk a lot about collection and records…i never was a big big fan of salaman till ETT..i liked all his movied when i was a kid …hello brother,pyar kiya toh darna kya..hddcs..etc…all sort of movies… but after seeing hatred for him by other fans made me a salmaniac…i used to make lot of comments here..my alias was ALEX ….
    but now i dont give a damn about collection…if a movie is good it will do good as per screen counts.
    …becasue at the end…the only thing matters is ” how good movie was ” .
    Glad to see salman has left that masala entertainer ..hope he starts working on no entry sequel soon.

  • Movie is ok … Arjun n manoj bajpai acting is very gud .. Sonakshi is irritating.. If u hav no other work to do dis weekend den u can catch up with tevar .. Actually movie is better is than what I expected .. But nothing great .. Once watchable.

  • I am fed up of seeing telugu remakes…one after other..add masala and spice up with some strong starcast…….that is why a different concept movie with strong starcast like PK earns 300+ and same routine stories like this will never cross 100 crores…

  • @sheheer 2:27pm

    You should have watched Komals interview with Hirani and Abhijat afew wks back- quite categorically they stated that first choice for them before even scripting was Aamir as PK… Even when Aamir initially said no to first draft they went back n made moderations as per Aamirs concerns/ suggestions…, RK was NEVER in their plans…

  • TEVAR is your boring Bollywood masala movie which lacks imagination. The film runs on a thin plot on an accidental rivalry between Mathura ka goonda and Agra ka launda. Mathura ka goonda is Vijender Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) whose brother is apparently the Home Minister. So he has a license to do what he wants. Agra ka launda is Pintoo (Arjun Kapoor) a Kabaddi player par excellence.
    Vijender pressurizes Radhika Mishra (Sonakshi Sinha) to marry her. He sees her at a function and decides he likes her. Harassed after her brother is killed, she tries to run away from Mathura to Delhi when Vijender stops her. Pintoo too is on his way home after attending a wedding in Mathura. When he sees Vijender dragging Radhika, he socks him not knowing who he is. All hell breaks loose.
    From then on, Pintoo vows to Radhika that he will see her safe off the country to the US where she plans to go.
    This is just about the plot. In between you have fight, lots of it, SINGHAM and WANTED style. A one man army, Pintoo goes about decimating his rivals with his bare fists.

    Until the time Vijender terrorizes the girl, the film looks bad; after that it spirals downward showcasing just fights, fights and more fights.
    The film is excruciatingly long apart from having some inane scenes. Like for example, why does Pintoo not take the help of his father who is a Superintendent of Police in Agra? Strange!
    Films like TEVAR did well in the 80s. I guess, the Kapoors tried to reinvent the magic of TEZAAB but went horribly wrong.
    Tevar Review Rating :
    1/5 stars

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