Rakta Charitra 1 Review

Revenge, a verb and a noun, that has been a predominant topic for a movie in Telugu or rather Indian cinema. And one man who took `Revenge' to the next level through horrid and gory-filled movies like `Sathya', `Company'etc. is back with his next! Ramgopal Varma, director par excellence and an adroit technician has worked on a script called `Rakta Charitra' which was publicised as a real life story is nothing but a legend of a revenge that continues to haunt a few people in Andhra Pradesh.

The Movie

IndiaGlitz makes it a point to, not spoil your viewing experience by breaking the ice about the movie. You will not see spoilers here but just the delicate details of the art of film making.

Ramgopal Varma is the child of sensation and controversy! He walks, sleeps and talks with the two! Whatever right he does is a controversy and whatever his profession demands is a sensation. Nothing really exaggerating here but if you've observed his style of film making then you would agree that his ideas are not just instructions from a text book!

We're letting just the story line out and nothing more! `Raktha Charithra -1' as you all know is a reel account of a dreaded politician but get this straight to your mind, this movie only holds a line of that real life story and everything else is creative fiction.

`Rakta Charitra 1' starts in Anantapuram, land of faction where violence is the way of life! Family feuds exist aplenty and one such feud that made history is shown. A father and brother are killed and the younger son (Vivek Oberoi) takes to weapons to avenge their death.

Class is not the word

Ramgopal Varma (or should we call him RGV from here, he's popular that way)  loves cinema and isn't that evident when he decides to make a movie on a real life incident that according to him is a subject that is unique and `deserves to be told to a much wider audience'. He explains the rise of Pratap in this part and then through his narration speaks of a character (Suriya) who will lead to Pratap's fall, thereby paving the way for Rakta Charithra 2!

Bravo RGV! Your celluloid depiction is the best of these times and your content is quite simple yet one would term that as `boiling blood spilt on the ground'! But as a member of an audience, don't mistake this movie to be an action entertainer! It is a revenge drama made for the sheer love of movie making!

Actors and their acting

Firstly, the casting was near to perfect. Vivek Oberoi was the best bet for the role of Pratap, the son who takes the revenge. Emoting the terrific emotions and his barbaric acts have been impressively portrayed. The next show stealer is Abhimanyu Sekhar Singh, who played the role of Bukka. His dreadful eyes, daring histrionics, stunning physique and the way of killing people would probably spine-chill the audiences.

Veteran Kota Srinivasa Rao, a regular in RGV's movies, cake walks as Nagamani Reddy. There is no need to explain about his calibre of acting as a crooked politician. Shatrughan Sinha plays the role of Sivaji and his character has the similarities of the legendary NT Rama Rao as the Telugu Desam party founder.

Other artistes including Radhika Apte as the lady love of Pratap, Zareena Wahab as Pratap's mother, Rajendra Gupta as a strong politician Veerabhadraiah, Asish Vidyarthi as Manda and others live up to their jobs.

Through the lens

Amul Rathod, the cinematographer, used fantastic lighting for the picturing of the entire film. In order to show the film depicting the violence some three decades ago, he used tint colour while shooting most of the picture. The visuals were quite impressive and the cinematographer lived the idea of his director and delivered it with perfection. The camera work is just ultimate and camera angles are incredible.

A word about Bhanodaya's editing here. `Raktha Charithra' is a two part movie that has to be carefully dealt with to make sure the audience has not had enough of the story. Bhanodaya has done his duty right.

Music, the pulse

This is not a faction movie on the lines of `Samara Simha Reddy', etc. Don't expect the hero running around trees or on sets and spoil the momentum of the movie. There are no duets in the film as it is totally based on violence, despite a love thread between Vivek and Radhika Apte. However, there are some background songs which elevate the scenes. Likewise, there is a group song, which has no connection with the subject, but was kept only for a relief it seems. However, the background score by Dharam-Sandeep is tremendous.

The re-recording was extraordinary as the director chose to use Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra, some slokas praising Lord Siva and other such devotional songs, during the violent scenes grip the audiences and their attention. There was a lot of applause for the background score. RGV's concentration towards the music department has always been strong and this movie is no exception.

Action, Instinctively Natural

Cutting the throat, stabbing the stomach, punching it hard and what not, everything seems so natural and you might imagine that it could really happen that way because of the natural choreography of the action scenes. Don't expect the `Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' stunt show or a normal Telugu movie circus in this.

What went wrong?

The story line as said is just plain revenge. So the script is predictable. RGV narrates throughout in his own voice and that laid it down. Yes it is his brain child, so you got to give it to his enthusiasm. A point that the director would have to know is, the audiences are not as intellectual as he or his crew is. A few scenes were not really shot (or edited by editor Bhanodaya's scissors) and just had a mere verbal description.

Being a revenge drama, the dialogues need to stab both your mind and heart but Nageswara Rao, the dialogue writer was a little too casual in his approach but RGV's movies usually have underplayed cinematic dialogues and hence this too shall pass.

IndiaGlitz Verdict

Strictly no for women, kids or whoever who you think is, soft at heart. This is not an entertainer but is a painting of an emotion called revenge. Quarrels and fights or lets talk bigger, wars or battles always have violence. Grow up and come out of the ordinary faction movies like `Reddy Series of Telugu Cinema'!

See this movie; it is a work of fiction more than a mythological epic that you've only heard off or not just a real life story that you read in a magazine.  This is not just about the suppressed and the dominant, this is Rakta Charitra.

Released on: October 22, 2010