‘Vedaa’ Movie Ending Explained And Recap: Is Jitendra Pratap Dead Or Alive?

There are many caste-sensitive movies finally being made in Hindi cinema that talk about the rampant discrimination and humiliation that takes place around the country. This subject was hardly touched upon, especially by mainstream cinema. Vedaa, directed by Nikhil Advani, is an action drama that talks about a woman’s right to live with respect and dignity. Set in rural Rajasthan, the film can come across as over the top, but it attempts to put a message out there.

Spoilers Ahead

Was Vedaa’s brother in love?

Vedaa Berwa was a young college student who belonged to a backward caste in a village in Rajasthan. She was keen on learning boxing, as her college was planning to open a ring for the students. Her brother Vinod Berwa was in love with a woman from an upper-caste community. This relationship would not be accepted in the village if anyone were made aware of it. Vinod’s siblings Vedaa and Gehna tried to make him understand that the consequences of marrying her would be awful, yet the boy did not budge.

Why was Abhimanyu court-martialed?

Abhimanyu was a highly-ranked military officer in Kashmir and was part of a mission to capture a dangerous militant alive. Abhimanyu went against the orders of his superiors and killed the militant, as he was responsible for his wife’s brutal death. As a result, Abhimanyu was court-martialed from the service, and he came back to his wife’s village and began to live with his father-in-law. His father-in-law was the principal of the local college, and Vedaa was one of their students. Since Abhimanyu was ex-army with a background in sports, he was made the assistant coach for the new boxing ring in college. 

Who wanted to learn boxing?

The boxing ring in the college was opened for the students, and Vedaa was keen to enroll. She was stopped by the boxing coach, stating she should concentrate on taking care of the household. The coach was told to do so by Suyog Pratap Singh, the younger brother of the village head, Jitendar Pratap Singh, who did not want a woman from a lower caste to learn to defend herself. This was peak discrimination, and it was ingrained in Suyog and his family to not let Vedaa, her family, and others in her community prosper. Jitendar Pratap Singh also painted himself to be progressive but was a frontrunner in enforcing the caste hierarchy, stating this was the rule set by God. 

Suyog was also a part of the moral policing group that went after couples from different castes getting married. Abhimanyu and his father-in-law were witnesses to a bride of a lower caste being killed for getting married to an upper caste man, with the police doing nothing to help the families. Vedaa wanted to break away from the cycle of abuse and discrimination with the help of the constitution based on which the law of the land was made. Vedaa was beaten up by Suyog and his men, and she took it upon herself to defend her family. She approached Abhimanyu, who agreed to teach her boxing, and he went against the diktat of the community by doing so. 

Was Vedaa’s family humiliated?

During the festival of Holi, Vinod and his girlfriend were caught by Suyog and his gang. Vinod’s family, including Vedaa, were brought in front of Jitendar Pratap Singh with slippers on their heads (a mark of their caste) and made to apologize to the girlfriend and her family. Jitendar again stressed that the hierarchy was to be maintained and found nothing wrong with humiliating the family in front of a large crowd. Vedaa was angry yet helpless at that moment.

What happened on the night of Vinod Berwa’s wedding?

After Vedaa’s family was humiliated, Vinod and his girlfriend eloped to get married. Vedaa’s family was arrested and threatened if Vinod was not asked to come back. Jitendar asked Vedaa’s father politely to make sure Vinod returns and promises to be an honest and dutiful husband for the rest of his life. Vedaa’s family were happy to have been let go, but worse was about to befall them. Jitendar Pratap got the entire village and the police on his side and killed Vinod and his wife on the night of the wedding in front of his family. As Jitendar and his men went to kidnap Vedaa and her sisters, they escaped in no time, only to find the entire village collectively deciding not to help them. 

Who gave shelter to Vedaa?

Vedaa and Gehna were hiding from Suyog, Jitendar, and their family when the former decided to create a distraction so that her older sister could run away and seek shelter at Abhimanyu’s. Gehna wanted to live, but she knew she was not a fighter and chose to be the one who created the distraction. This did not end well, as Gehna ended up jumping into a water body, and Vedaa did not look back out of fear. She headed towards Abhimanyu’s home in the hope he would offer her shelter. Abhimanyu was backed by his father-in-law and the boxing coach, who advised him to leave the town with Vedaa before Jitendar came after them.

Were Vedaa and Abhimanyu betrayed?

Vedaa headed to the next village, hoping her uncle would offer her shelter. On reaching his home, Abhimanyu sensed something was off, and in no time, they were attacked by the police chasing them. Vedaa’s uncle betrayed them, as he’d given away her location to the police for a meager amount. Abhimanyu and Vedaa escaped in no time, not before killing the police officer and his team. 

Why did Vedaa cut her hair?

As they started being chased through the village, Abhimanyu was by Vedaa’s side all the time. Every time they were attacked, both could escape despite the injuries inflicted on them. As they entered a temple where mass marriages were being carried out, Vedaa, to avoid being detected, crudely cut her hair. This was the last thing she had expected to do, as her hair was pretty much her identity. To have to lose it to hide away from people who wanted her dead was heartbreaking. 

Vedaa and her father briefly reunited, and he gave her a blade to kill herself in case she had no other option if she was captured. She was horrified to learn that women had no option but to suffer or succumb. Suyog caught Abhimanyu and Vedaa and tied them up, intending to kill them. Suyog confessed to having lit Gehna on fire and killed her. Vedaa, however, used the blade in her mouth to injure Suyog and eventually untied herself. She used all of her boxing skills to brutally smash him in retaliation for beating her up in their village.

What happened at the court premises?

Abhimanyu killed Suyog and his friends by blowing up a portion of the coal mine where they were being held. They escaped the place and headed to the court, as Vedaa was hell-bent on taking the legal route to protect the dignity of her family. Vedaa and Abhimanyu reached the court only to find Jitendar, his father, and their men reached the premises and went full assault mode on them. Since Abhimanyu was ex-army, he used all of his combat skills to make sure Vedaa and her father reached inside the chambers of the lawyers to file a case against the brutality that was unleashed on her and her family. Although Vedaa was resorting to violence in self-defense, she had a logical solution in hand to end the humiliation and ostracization being carried out by the upper caste men against her family.

Vedaa owed her deceased brother, sister, and sister-in-law the chance to be avenged, as Jitendar and his family would go to any extent to eliminate her existing family. Since Vedaa was the last living child, her death would be the end of the family line. She wanted to protect herself and her family from that fate, and the only entity she believed could help her was the constitution, court, and law, which were made for the protection of the citizens. Abhimanyu was shot and was completely mangled. He’d once brutally lost his wife to militants, and he’d always felt he could have saved her from a horrible death. Saving Vedaa could be his way to find some sort of redemption. It could also be considered an expression of his savior complex: Abhimanyu’s need to save women from danger. 

How Did Jitendar Die?

Abhimanyu was just a roadblock, and the actual work of filing the case was done by Vedaa. She somehow reached the lawyers’ chambers and requested them to offer her help. Vedaa had to resort to profusely requesting any of the lawyers to take up the case. She had to describe in detail the atrocities her family had put through and the hardships she had had to suffer to reach the court premise. The movie was dangling between action and drama, it had the lead saving the young woman by fighting Jitendra and his family. On the other hand, it seemed logical as well because the woman wanted to take matters into her own hands. She was sure the court would assure her protection. Jitendar and his father knew they would face jail time if Vedaa was able to file a case against them. The lawyers heard Vedaa’s desperate plea, and one of them agreed to take the case on her behalf. As professionals, they were supposed to stand up for the people who were in need when the police and the local government refused to help the destitute, like Vedaa. The lawyer took the chance and chose to stand on the right side.

Vedaa ended with Abhimanyu and Jitendar having a face-off. Jitendar was hell-bent on his theory of playing God, where he was superior to Vedaa and his family just because he was born into an upper-caste family. This was a classic example of men and women like Jitendar being conditioned to believe these classes and castes exist for a pre-ordained reason. They see it as a way to suppress people. Just because it was the tradition does not make it right. Abhimanyu and Vedaa were aware this matter could not be sorted via dialogue between the two groups as Jitendar and his family did not consider her to be equivalent to them, to be worthy of sitting together for a discourse. Jitendar continuously hit Abhimanyu with the back of his gun. The man somehow mustered the strength to face the demon, who was willing to kill anyone for the sake of the backward norms of society. Jitendar was reminded of the shloka from the Bhagavad Gita, which stated, ‘I would appear whenever I saw injustice being done to people.’ Abhimanyu considered himself to be God here, as he was the savior and not Jitendar. 

In Vedaa’s ending, Abhimanyu pointed the gun at Jitendar and killed him. Even though this was a typical good vs. evil story, the latter had to lose. Vedaa found Abhimanyu, who succumbed to all the bullet wounds and other injuries. The credits of the film spoke about several cases of similar nature that went to court, with the culprits being thrown into prison for horrifying crimes they committed in the name of caste supremacy.