A point of assurance is made to all in the beginning that this review is presented with scarce spoilers of the newly ventured thriller movie on the ETV Win ott platform. Debutant Bhanu Yerubandi directed “Wife Off”, a convincing revenge thriller movie starring Divyaa Sree, Abhinav Manikanta and Nikil Gajula in the lead roles. After an unanticipated overdue, the movie made its official release digitally on January 23, 2025. The movie revolves around the three main characters Avani, Ram and Abhi who were weaved into a triangular love story and presented in a non-linear narration. The story of “Wife Off” is pushed towards the extremity by the intriguing characteristics of the female lead Avani which progresses with her stringent journey for revenge. The movie “Wife Off” is wrapped with mixed emotions like love, sacrifice, gour, pain, betrayal and more which succeeds to glue the audiences in their couch.
An Overview of Plot of the Movie “Wife Off”
The story begins with the female lead Avani, who is initially portrayed as a ‘working girl’ standing alone in a road and signaling the men with her mobile light to stop by. Many men reject her high demand and pass by. In the quest she finds one young man named Sekar who accepts her demand. So, she takes him to a remote place. He finds her innocent and irrelevant in what she does for her living. So, he asks her to narrate the story which forced her to choose this profession. Avani recounts her life as a passionate actress who happens to meet an aspiring director Abhi. The accidental friendship develops a bond beyond friendship between Avani and Abhi. But an unforeseen marital proposal from her uncle puts a full stop to their relationship and she stops the story there and the story returns back to the real time. After a few minutes, she chokes Sekar to death and unleashes her anger out. The hook “Why? and What?” is her motive behind this sudden character switch gives the audience to pursue further with this story.
Analysis over the Screenplay of “Wife Off”
This is a movie with an appealing story narration with a simple idea that easily grabs the audience to stick to their movie rather than puzzling them with a complicated structures. The story of a simple revenge thriller movie “Wife Off” is about a wife who is transformed into a virulent and a merciless woman when the love of her life is taken away from her eternally. Debut director Bhanu and his team has poured their collaborative efforts to present a highly-standard thriller movie in Telugu language by designing both the characters and the complete movie with more cinematic creativity touch in it. Bhanu’s ingenious screenplay is presented in a non-linear form purposefully in the intention of making the audience confusing and unpredictable. The “dual perspective storytelling” is the technique handled in this movie which shifts the ball of truth behind the lead roles Avani, Ram and Abhi continuously to ensure the statement that “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. The story is segmented into three chapters including “Celibacy, Housework, and Forest Road” which I perceived as the three different perspectives of three different lead characters over the same set of incidents that takes place in their respective lives.
Evaluation of the Metaphorical References in “Wife Off”
Another significant element that makes “Wife Off” a content movie are the lighting and metaphors through colors and objects. Metaphors and object references are the key elements in a thriller movie. Because it feeds the audience to prepare for an outburst which will get revealed vigorously at the end of the climax. In this movie the shade of red is showcased predominantly and he foreshadows the rage, love, anger, & danger to the audience through lights, costume, and objects. The metaphor which describes the sadness, loneliness and the mental pain encountered by the lead characters Avani and Ram is implied through the shade of “Blue” in the frames they appear. All these convey his profound writings of all the characters especially, Avani.
A Rapid Scanning of leads’ Performances in “Wife Off”
Divya Sree carries the whole movie with her seamless and compelling performances as the lead role Avani and exhibits the contrasting shades of her character that gets upgraded from the first frame till the end card with finesse. She successfully pulled off the nuances of the character and emoted the impactful juggling emotions between her past and the present. The other two male leads portrayed by actor Abhinav and Nikil stand unique as they are sketched with variations and unreliable narration. All of these three characters written with more complexities will leave lasting impressions even after the credits roll.
What is the Mix-up in the movie “Wife Off”?
It doesn’t mean that the movie “Wife Off” has only positive aspects, the issue which I could find is the non-linear narration that could baffle the viewers at the scenes in which Avani narrating her past to a present/reality which is shifted through flash back that travels into another flashback. Another noticeable issue in the later part of the movie is the setting which is located in a house with neighbours nearby. A question arises naturally regarding the logical factor towards the end of the climax. When Ram screams out of pain during a fight with Abhi, no neighbour finds it suspicious and reaches the doorstep to raise questions. Though, I find this as a commercial cinema liberty, it does look odd when a story is designed with such beautiful cinematic metaphors.
Verdict of “Wife Off”
Director Bhanu Yerubandi has found the pulse of the revenge thriller audiences who are looking for something simple, new story and a sound content under this genre which is driven by the highly octane screenplay seasoned with sprinkles of humour and a considerable amount of love. So, it is a must watch movie which takes you into the intriguing world of Avani, a girl with a boundless love and dream which fades away after her marital life. Bhanu’s directorial debut movie “Wife Off” brings all the essential ingredients to entertain the viewers with complete satisfaction.
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