Vvan - Force of the Forrest Review: A Promising Folklore Thriller Undone by Uneven Writing

The Setup: A Director's Unexpected Detour

Deepak Kumar Mishra directed Panchayat. That show understood the smallest details of village life — its politics, its people, their everyday struggles. The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest is also set in a village. It also deals with land, faith, and community. But somewhere between the first frame and the last, Mishra seems to have forgotten everything that made Panchayat feel real [citation:3].

The film wants to be a folk-horror thriller rooted in Indian mythology. It wants to be about environmental exploitation, ancestral beliefs, and the conflict between development and preservation [citation:1]. It wants to be Tumbbad or Kantara [citation:1]. What it actually becomes is a moderately engaging supernatural adventure that never fulfills the potential of its premise [citation:1][citation:9].

The Plot: A Promise It Can't Keep

Rishi (Sidharth Malhotra) returns to his ancestral village in Bihar with his wife Mamta (Tamannaah Bhatia) to sell inherited land and celebrate Chhath Puja [citation:1]. He's a city-bred rationalist who lost his faith after a personal tragedy [citation:3]. The village has one golden rule: nobody enters the neighbouring forest after sunset. Legend says Van Devi, the forest goddess, sealed dangerous supernatural forces there long ago [citation:3].

Naturally, Rishi enters the forest. He returns unharmed. The villagers take this as proof he's the chosen descendant of an ancient bloodline [citation:3]. Rishi dismisses it as superstition. Meanwhile, Deepak (Sunil Grover), a local strongman, wants to build a road through the forest. When he murders his own father to seize a sacred anklet and enters the forbidden forest, he becomes possessed by a dark force [citation:3]. What follows is a battle between good and evil, with Rishi discovering his destiny as the village's protector [citation:1].

The first half builds genuine intrigue. The village feels lived-in. The mythology around Van Devi is established with enough detail to make you curious [citation:1]. The conflict between development and preservation gives the story a grounded, relatable core [citation:9].

And then the second half happens.

The mystery gets swallowed by a conventional good-versus-evil showdown. VFX-driven action takes over. The film stops trusting its own atmosphere and starts throwing spectacle at the screen [citation:1]. The land dispute that gave the story its emotional weight becomes an afterthought [citation:1]. The couple's grief — the loss of their unborn child — is reduced to a plot device in Rishi's hero's journey [citation:3].

The Acting: Sincerity Trapped in a Broken Script

Sidharth Malhotra does what he can. He carries the film's dramatic and physical weight with conviction [citation:1]. He looks the part of a reluctant hero. But the writing gives him little room to explore Rishi's internal conflict. He's more convincing throwing punches than grappling with a crisis of faith [citation:1].

Tamannaah Bhatia brings warmth and restraint to Mamta [citation:1]. The Chhath sequences give her character some of the film's more emotionally convincing moments [citation:9]. But her role is limited. Her grief deserved more sensitive treatment than the film provides [citation:3].

Sunil Grover is the film's most interesting presence. Cast against type as the principal antagonist, he brings an unpredictable quality to Deepak [citation:1]. But even he can't overcome a character who becomes increasingly easy to predict [citation:9].

Maniesh Paul as the comic relief friend is a problem. The humour falls flat, and some of it is genuinely uncomfortable [citation:11]. There's a repeated flatulence gag — three times, apparently — that one reviewer described as "gross, disgusting, and undermining the audience's intelligence" [citation:5].

The Technical Side: Ambitious But Uneven

The film looks better than it sounds. Cinematographer Manu Anand gives the forest an earthy, textured look, using dense foliage, shadows, and mist to create atmosphere [citation:1]. The Chhath Puja sequences are among the strongest examples of world-building, feeling integrated into the environment rather than decorative [citation:9].

But the VFX is a problem. The supernatural manifestations — mystical tigers, creatures, divine interventions — lack polish. Some effects blend well with live-action footage; others look like they belong in a lower-budget production [citation:1]. For a film of this scale, that's a disappointment [citation:9].

The background score works hard to create tension, but sometimes it signals fear before the visuals have earned it [citation:9]. The songs are forgettable, and the film relies on music to manufacture atmosphere it hasn't built itself [citation:5].

The Verdict: A Folk Thriller That Lost Its Way

The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest has the ingredients of something genuinely interesting. A forbidden forest. An ancient goddess. A man caught between reason and faith. A village torn between progress and preservation. These are the building blocks of a compelling film [citation:1].

But the screenplay never connects them organically. It expands when it should focus. It replaces mystery with spectacle. It treats its emotional core — a couple grieving a lost child — as an obstacle to get past rather than a wellspring of genuine drama [citation:3][citation:9].

The result is a film that feels like it's chasing too many ideas and landing none of them. It wants to be Tumbbad. It wants to be Kantara. It wants to be a mass entertainer. It ends up being none of these things.

One reviewer was blunter: "So mindless, it doesn't even qualify as brainrot" [citation:11].

I wouldn't go that far. There's effort here. There's ambition. But ambition without execution is just a wish. And The Vvaan never grants its own.

Score: 2.5/5

Verdict: Skip. Wait for streaming if you're curious. The folklore angle is interesting enough to deserve a better film than this one.

The writer of this review grew up hearing folk tales about forbidden forests. He still believes the forest deserves better than a CGI tiger.