Raktha Charitra Story and Review

Raktha Charithra - 1 

For many film makers Raktha Charitra is a new text book n Professor RGV came back in a different format. (A )must watch Film.
Rating : 3.25/5
Director : Ram Gopal Varma
Music Director : Mani Sharma
Producer : Madhu Mantena, Sheetal Vinod Talwar
Starring : Vivek Oberoi, Surya, Priyamani and others...

What’s it about: The story of Rakta Charitra is pretty simple and almost known to everyone. Nagamani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao) gets a local backward caste leader Veerabhadraiah killed out of pure jealousy. The revenge drama unfolds as Veerabhadraiah’s elder son starts killing anyone who is close to the Reddy’s. He also tries to keep his younger brother Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi) away from the feuds. However, Bokka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh) gets Pratap’s brother killed. Enraged Pratap Ravi is sucked into the quagmire of revenge resulting in him being left to take hiding in jungles with only vengeance in mind. The rise of Pratap Ravi from a vengeful son to a political leader is the story of 

Rakta Charitra – Part 1

What is Good: From the moment it starts, we are sucked into the blood bath that is done in the name of loyalty and to an extent, fear. There are many characters, and we relate to each one of them easily within the first few minutes. The men are either loyal or jealous or afraid, but they are extremely true to their specific emotion.
The film seems like it looks down upon women showing them as mere spectators of what’s happening around them. But their silence is brutal; their support to their men is obsessive. If women can be so emotionally aggressive, almost all the men’s characters are justified. As a result of such justification and terrific characterization, almost all the actors shine.
Vivek Oberoi shows his calbire as an actor. Kota Srinivasa Rao fits right into the character of a villainous politician, even though he played such roles a zillion times. Shatrughan Sinha does the role of ‘over the top’ and self appraising actor-turned-political leader extremely well. Zarina Wahab as Ravi’s mother is intense. Sudeep and Ashwini Kaleskar have small but interesting roles to play.

However, it is Abhimanyu Singh who wows everyone in the role of Bokka Reddy. He plays the embodiment of all vices as if he is one such character in real life. He’s so good as the villain that you don’t feel like looking at him when he’s on the screen.
The metaphors that Ramgopal Varma uses for the police, the guns, justice, revenge, lost innocence etc. are plenty in Rakta Charitra. Those who want to find them will definitely find them.
The movie however doesn’t come across as brilliant as it could have been.
What is bad: Director Ramgopal Varma was so enchanted by this riveting drama that he chose to be the narrator himself. His voice is as good and as loud as Nutan Prasad’s narrative for a famous crime based TV serial. While the film’s tone is more like a documentary, it jumps situations and timelines for the sake of screenplay convenience. It seems the screenwriters were trying to avoid telling if the film is set in modern times or the 1980s. There are no mobile phones, yet the settings look ultramodern in urban scenes! The hero uses scooter, but the village settings don’t blend with the tone of the film, giving it a very hypocritical texture. This might result in making the audience disconnected with the story.
Rakta Charitra doesn’t glorify violence, but killing people never looked so easy and yet so excessive on Telugu screen. The only laughing moments come in the way Abhimanyu Singh looks at women. The only song in the movie looks like it has been hurriedly shot, and carries the flavor of ‘Khallas’ from Ramgopal Varma’s film ‘Company’. All other songs are in the background and almost all lyrics contain the words Rakta Charitra. Obviously those who will be looking for any kind of entertainment from this movie will be highly disappointed.
The movie doesn’t explain why Pratap Ravi’s brother is in jungles. In one scene Pratap Ravi, who is wanted in the village, drives along with his entourage of rowdies just hiding under a rug, and kills a very important leader just like that. Ramu doesn’t give any logic to such scene, as he might have thought that the emotion of killing will carry the scene. May be he is right!
echnical Departments: : Amol Rathod’s camera work is exceptional, and is supported by the film’s editing very well. One important aspect is that the continuity is noticeably realistic, inspite of having numerous characters on screen. The screenplay is brilliant at the beginning, when characters are introduced. It takes a backseat as RGV’s visual technique guides the film. Background music is justified. Costumes are realistic, but the setting should have been taken care of.
Ramgopal Varma the director is as good as he can get. A situation where the hero’s one eye is visible, and the other eye is covered with a sickle just tells how much importance he gives to visual style. However, his inattention to certain details like those mentioned above is visible too. All said and done only someone like Ramgopal Varma has the guts to make a film like this and he should be appreciated completely for it.
Final Point: Rakta Charitra has unexpectedly least entertainment value for a typical viewer of Telugu cinema, yet it never bores you. As expected it is a documentary style film, and has more violence than one can imagine. Watch it at your own risk, but this is an unforgiving film and you won’t forget it too soon.
P.S: The sneak peek of Rakta Charitra - Part II at the end of the Part 1 was so enthralling, especially with Surya on screen that no one moved till it ended!

Ram Gopal Varma is back after a long hiatus into the Telugu circuit and he chose his favorite genre of violence, intensity and bloodshed. Let us see how far RGV is successful in convincing audiences. Let us peep into good and bad in the movie:
StoryNoted MLA Narasimha Reddy (Kitty) has got a trusted aide in the form of Veerabhadriah (Rajendra Gupta) in Anandapuram area.

However, Narasimha’s relative Nagamani Reddy (Kota) is unable to take this for reasons of caste and losing his presence. He plants a seed of friction and in no time, Narasimha Reddy gets Veerabhadriah killed. This enrages Veerabhadriah’s elder son Shankar Ravi (Sushant) and he gets into a killing spree and operates from forests.
Veerabhadriah’s younger son Pratap Ravi (Vivek) who is away from all this gets to know of this and before he realizes, Shankar Ravi also gets killed. He vows revenge on his father and brother’s killers and in this process, Narasimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy and others are brutally killed. Nagamani Reddy’s son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu) who is insane to the core is unable to take this and he becomes Pratap’s main enemy.

Meanwhile, the rise of Pratap as opposite force to Bukka Reddy is noticed by Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan) who sets a new party and he decides to lift Pratap to put an end to Bukka Reddy. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Vivek Oberoi is an apt choice, his eyes deliver the sufficient emotion of revenge and his body language is intense. He has done full justice to his role.

Abhimanyu Singh is a complete show stealer. His menacing looks and his cold blooded performance will give some spine chilling moments.

Shatrughan Sinha was contained and it must be said that traces of real life N T Rama Rao are quite prominent in his gestures and dialogue delivery.

Kota was perfect, Radhika was naturally appealing, Zarina was neat, Tanikella was impressive and he made his presence felt, Rajendra Gupta was adequate, Sushant was brief, Ashish Vidyarthi was alright, Subhalekha Sudhakar was standard, Subrat Dutta was good, the others did their bit as required and added value.
Highlights:Symbolism shots with respect to showing a cycle in Shivaji Rao (Shatrugan Sinha)’s place (recalling TDP and NTR), usage of left had, addressing as ‘brother’ are impressive.

Showing a dog barking after the death of Naga Mani Reddy (Kota) depicts ‘kukka chaavu’..That’s impressive.

Ram Moorthy (Tanikella) saying to Pratap Ravi ‘to shave beard as a politician should look clean at face although dirty at heart’

Bukka Reddy’s introduction scene


Disappointments:RGV’s voice over is overflowing. It’s not a radio drama to explain everything with a voice over. Whatever RGV is saying in voice, is being conveyed visually! It disturbed the mood to some extent.

Pratap Ravi stays in forest as per the dialogue. But he stays in a dusty hill area that hardly looks like a forest. It may sound trivial, but when such observations linger in mind, some audience gets distracted from the mood.

Why Dabbunnoda song? The context is not convincing.
Challenges:The subject chosen is quite hard hitting so one needs to have some background information before actually connecting to the film.

Facing criticism with respect to Shivai Rao’s (a replica of NTR) characterization and converting it into publicity element.

Facing criticism and questions with respect to ‘pedda sir’ (implying YSR) and again converting it into a publicity element

Mood is suddenly dropping down at the conclusion point of the movie. Waiting till Part-2 to get completeness in feeling is a challenge for audience and it’s challenge for maker to sustain interest for 1 month till Part-2 release.


Analysis:“Goodness or badness can never be anyone’s property. They are situational.
If a man is hunger free, he showers only goodness. But if any sort of hunger (be it lust, power craving or greed or vengeance) hits him, he spells badness”.
Rakta Charitra is a fiction based on historical facts.
It’s rather powerful to say that it’s a true depiction of human emotions.
It’s a tour to extreme human beings.

Ramayan or Mahabharat or any chronicled history in dramatic form depicts the extremities of emotions in every character. For example if Karna is known for generosity, its shown with eccentricity of chopping off his own armored skin to offer for a beggar. If Bheeshma is known for sacrifice, its shown in extreme point of choosing life time celibacy to keep himself and his legacy far from kingship. Any drama holds grip only when the characterizations are strong. This fact was known for dramatists right from Veda Vyasa and Valmiki. Similar path is now chosen by Ram Gopal Varma is depicting a historical fact in dramatic form.
He has shown Bukka Reddy as a determined rapist (!) and dedicated murderer (!).The incidents canned around this characterization are extreme in imagination. Pratap Ravi is shown as a bad guy, but for a true reason (since he is chosen to be the hero of the plot).

Ram Gopal Varma is a master of movie making and an expert storyteller. This is seen here yet again. As such, the storyline can be understood in few words and there is nothing unpredictable about it but then it is the way Ramu takes off with each scene and how he gets the viewer into the film which counts.

His screenplay techniques and shot compositions are one of those dexterities he possesses. Perhaps a layman might find the visual appeal to be dim but then there are few flashes of his brilliance which are seen on and off. The focus was more on the emotion of the protagonist and the villain so that is a challenge to handle for more than two hours.

On the other hand, it is not a typical Varma characterization where most of the actors give hard expressions, talk less and convey more. Here the characters speak sufficient and sometimes little verbose!! But still there is a rhythm in their performance and it connects to the regular audience.

Worth Watch Movie


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