Gandeevadhari Arjuna, a Telugu-language mystery thriller, is one of the many entries in this genre that takes itself too seriously. Many such films claim to explore a social message as the main theme of the film, but at the end of the saga, only the surface level of the actual subject is explored and nothing beyond is discussed. In this article, we help you understand the motive behind the actions of the lead protagonist and antagonist.
Spoilers Ahead
What happened at the garbage dumpyard?
Gandeevadhari Arjuna begins with a group of men heading towards a shipyard, and the captain of the ship takes them to a garbage truck. It is implied that the garbage belongs to a particular company, and they mean to get rid of it in the dumping yard assigned to them. The captain complains that they lost 10 members of the crew because of the toxic nature of the garbage that was shipped.
The company that will be taking control of the garbage does not seem to care about the human cost of the job assigned. We feel that at this point, the makers trivialize the matter by dramatizing the issue at hand instead of handling the subject matter with care. The company handling the garbage feels they do not have any responsibility towards the people who work for them.
The leader of the group takes the issue rather lightly and dumps the garbage with human bodies at their assigned dump yard. The film does not bother to address the fact that the discovery of human remains might cause suspicion, which might also lead to legal repercussions, something this multinational company is not worried about.
Why is the minister in the UK?
The Minister of Environment, Adithya Raj, is approached by an Indian student from Southampton, UK, who claims to have evidence against Clean & Green, a company that claims to be a waste management firm, but she believes that the waste is not being recycled or well managed. She believes they handle plenty of toxic waste.
This is the environmental angle given to the story, and Shruthi, the whistleblower, wants to bring about a change by contacting the central minister, who comes to meet her at the designated spot. Shruthi had hoped her voice and cause would be heard. As the minister discreetly visits her, a group of men attack her. The minister and his chief of security, Vijay, barely escape the shootout. Vijay gets injured in the incident, while Shruthi escapes the place unharmed. It is implied that it is C&G that wants Shruthi dead, for obvious reasons.
It also proves that the minister’s office has a mole that is helping C&G get closer to Shruthi. The minister is also in the country visiting his daughter, with whom he has strained relations, while he gets along well with his granddaughter Riya. This portrays how familial relations are in well-to-do families. We are sure there is a history because it is implied the daughter has been upset with her father for the past many years. The minister is also in the UK to speak at the United Nations Climate Change Summit. He intends to speak about garbage disposal that is done on a mass scale in India and around the world.
How was Arjun recruited to the security team of the minister?
An injured Vijay recommends Arjun, an ex-army man who also worked for the R&AW. This man has a history of being good at his job, which is why, at a young age, he was assigned to be in the security detail of the central minister. Arjun is honored to have been given the job, but he will have to work with his ex-girlfriend, Ira. Their history of being involved personally makes the work difficult for them initially, but soon they find ways to get along.
Arjun is an honest man, and it seems he will do anything for the man he is protecting. Arjun also has an ailing mother who has been to the UK for further treatment involving skin and damaged internal organs. The doctors are unable to find the root cause of her deteriorating health. We believe his mother’s condition could be related to her exposure to garbage tainted by toxic waste. There could be no other reason to bring up this subplot but to connect his story to the C&G group. This will give Arjun another reason to begin his crusade against the company.
The minister gives him the task of obtaining a parcel from Shruthi, but this time the location would be a football stadium, which would camouflage him and her in the crowd. C&G’s men are also informed about the location. After great difficulty, Shruthi gets in touch with Arjun at the stadium, but their meeting is cut short when they are ambushed by the hooligans working for the MNC. Arjun’s only job was to get hold of the parcel; he wasn’t expecting an attack of this scale. Shruthi, unfortunately, is shot and dies. Arjun is unable to help her because he will have to survive and get to the minister with the parcel. We guess the parcel was of utmost importance, but he also wanted to know what the object was and whether it was worth someone’s life.
What is the connection between C&G and Arjun?
The minister talks about the nexus of crime involved in garbage disposal and waste management. He also brings up the subject of how toxic runoff from the waste affects water, soil, and air, which in turn causes diseases in people living around the contaminated areas. The whole montage was to educate Arjun about the minister’s crusade against MNCs like C&G, who do not care about the environment as they proclaim.
Arjun, who is a mere soldier, is unable to connect the dots. The minister finally reveals that Arjun’s mother is a victim of the toxic waste that seeped into the water around their home. This becomes personal for Arjun from this point, and he was quick to understand that C&G will not take accountability for victims like his mother. He has morally joined the fight to bring down the man.
The minister also reveals that C&G is one of the frontrunners to become the UN-assigned watchdog from India for waste management purposes. This proves that any company, just like C&G, can bribe their way up to achieve global recognition. The man who runs the company, Ranveer, also happens to be the ex-son-in-law of the minister and the father of his granddaughter. This revelation is unexpected, but it also proves why the minister is desperate to get the man behind bars. He believes Ranveer is an awful man who needs to be brought to justice for the number of crimes he has committed. Ranveer is putting pressure on the minister to endorse his company for the position at the UN summit. Ranveer kidnaps his own daughter, knowing this will push the minister to do anything for Riya.
Why does the Indian Interpol get involved?
With Shruthi dead, the CCTV footage finds Arjun at the scene of the crime. The Indian division of Interpol gets involved in hunting him and possibly arresting the man for his alleged role in her murder. Interpol, at this point, is unaware of the bigger role assigned to him. Interpol tried their level best to get hold of Arjun, but he turned out to be a lot more vigilant than they expected. Arjun is sadly getting hunted. This is the state of people in general portrayed throughout the film. Arjun, an innocent man, is on the run, while Ranveer, the fraudulent businessman, remains safe in every part of the world.
Ajit Chandra tries to get hold of Arjun when all of them learn of his mother’s demise. Ajit knew this could be the only way to detain Arjun because there was no way he would not come to see his mother one last time. Unfortunately for Ajit, he and his team were hoodwinked as the ambulance was switched in the basement of the hospital under the supervision of the minister, who did not want Arjun to get arrested. The minister is turning out to be a clean man who wants to do the right thing. Helping Arjun is his way of making sure the wrong person does not get accused. The minister just played one part in making sure Ranveer was finally caught.
Interpol finally comes across Shruthi’s data from the phone, which was accessed through Devendra’s pen drive. Devendra happens to be Ranveer’s henchman. Interpol arrested him after he was found in the CCTV footage the night Shruthi was murdered. The footage included Shruthi vlogging the polluting nature of the toxic garbage dumping and how it affects the environment. The girl had documented everything about the case she had built up against C&G. This was proof that she was not killed by Arjun. Her tireless work led to C&G making her life hell and pushing her into hiding away from her parents. Shruthi had made sure she had everything in hand that could incarcerate Ranveer.
Did Arjun Save Riya And Adithya Raj?
Arjun finally takes it upon himself to rescue Riya by five in the evening so that it will allow the minister to speak at the UN summit without worrying about his life. Ranveer, on the other hand, threatens to keep Riya and kill the minister if he decides to speak at the event. Ranveer knew the minister had all the ammunition that could bring down his company, which is why he thought kidnapping Riya would work in his favor. Since she is his daughter, Ranveer cannot kill her but he can use it as a leverage to make things go his way.
As the minister is about to speak at the seminar, a sharpshooter is hired, but he is killed by Arjun’s ex-colleague Vijay. The minister is finally able to give his speech, which in detail talks about the negative impact of garbage management and disposal that happens only in developing nations, mostly conducted by first-world countries. Talking about this subject was the highlight of Gandeevadhari Arjuna. This was a moral message given out from the biggest stage there is to talk about political and social matters from around the world. The minister brings a substantial number of allies, most of them developing nations, to his side with this speech. It was an obvious response to a speech that was anti-capitalistic. The minister also went ahead and revealed that Ranveer is a fraud who is responsible for committing many crimes in the name of garbage management. Hopefully, this speech will establish Shruthi’s legacy, who was crucial in building this case against Ranveer and other companies that carry out these activities.
Gandeevadhari Arjuna ends with Ranveer being on the back foot because his sharpshooter is killed. He can only use his daughter and take her to another country with him. This gets less and less believable because there must be laws that could be used against Ranveer if he tries to take Riya away. Arjun gets hold of him before he can leave the yard. Riya is saved by him, the local cops, and the Interpol team. Ranveer is killed by Ajit Chandra for attempting to kill Arjun one last time. This whole debacle of a scene proves that Ranveer was too rich and powerful for his own good; he had to be killed so that he would not use his money and influence to get himself bail and again go after the minister and his family. Arjun avenged his mother’s death as well.
