Rakta Charitra 2 Review

The much-awaited Rakta Charitra-2 hit the screens much the despair of the audiences. The delay in release caused some loss for the second part of the film as the audiences almost forgot the previous story and struggled for a while to recall the past. However, the director managed to give some hints. The film undoubtedly has some similarities to Paritala Ravi's story though Varma continue to publicise that it is a fictitious story based on some real life incidents. Let us recall how Varma succeeded in narrating this real life story in a fictitious manner.

After killing all his rivals Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi) concentrates on his political career and becomes a big leader and minister. However, Suryanarayana Reddy (Surya) comes to the fore to take revenge for the killing of his men. The TV bomb attack on Pratap Ravi shakes the people and the DCP Ananda Prasad (Sudeep) investigates and finds that it is the handiwork of Suryanarayana Reddy. He cleverly catches Suryanarayana Reddy's wife Bhavani (Priyamani) and convinces her to make Suryanarayana Reddy gives up to police. Though he is behind the bars, Suryanarayana Reddy hatches attacks on Pratap Ravi. At the same time, learning that Suryanarayana Reddy was behind attack on him, Pratap Ravi too tries to maul Suryanarayana Reddy in the jail itself. However, some politicians, who had rivalry with Pratap Ravi, help Suryanarayana Reddy for their political gains and gives a MLA ticket to Bhavani. Unable to digest that she is going to contest against him, Pratap Ravi plans to eliminate Bhavani, but changes his mind following his wife Nandini's (Radhika Apte) advice. In order to settle all the disputes, Pratap Ravi meets Suryanarayana Reddy in the jail but the latter was adamant and makes it clear that he would definitely take revenge come what may. Did Pratap Ravi succeeded in his attempts to win the elections? How Suryanarayana Reddy planned to kill Pratap Ravi? Did he succeed in his attempt? Who helped Suryanarayana Reddy in taking revenge against Pratap Ravi? How the bloody history (Rakta Charitra) ended? Answers to all these questions form part of the climax.

PERFORMANCE

Surya gave an ultimate performance in this film and he is the only saving grace for the movie. It is because of Surya the entire film became watchable. The bloody attacks and gory killings are less in this film when compared to the first part. It was the facial expressions. The rift between the two main characters were perfectly portrayed on the screen and both Surya and Vivek Oberoi competed with each other. However, Surya scored more marks in this drama. Priyamani is okay in his role, while Radhika Apte also got good opportunity to showcase her acting capabilities. Both Priyamani and Radhika got meaty roles in the film. (Probably with the controversy in the first part, RGV might have trimmed the role of Satrughan Sinha). Sudeep also showed some impressive performance in the role of DCP. Especially the dialogue in the end near the court entrance, `Hats off to you, you did what we could not' evoked good response in the theatre. Subhalekha Sudhakar is at his best.

TECHNICAL

The dialogues in the film penned by Nageswara Rao are good in parts. Surprisingly, the dialogues penned for Surya were simple one liners and are very effective. Lyrics in the film are okay and the background score by Dharam-Sandeep elevated certain scenes in the film. The highlight of the film is the cinematography by Amol Radhod. He perfectly captured the emotions of the artistes and the lighting was very apt and suited the mindset of Ram Gopal Varma. However, editing by Ashok Gupta should have been a little sharper as some scenes were unnecessarily appeared to have stretched and tested the patience of the audiences. It was Ram Gopal Varma who should be commended for narrating a real life story in a fictitious manner and this time, he almost succeeded in explaining the entire story on the lines of a fiction and it will not give any room for unnecessary controversy. For those who know the story of Paritala Ravi, they could compare the film with the real life story. For others, it is a good fiction and revenge drama.

REMARKS

Ram Gopal Varma succeeded in making money for this film. The controversies that were raised in the first half and the protests by the Telugu Desam leaders and others helped to make the first part of the film a success. However, by picking up the right choice of artistes for the characters, would definitely help RGV to achieve his goal. Any how, those who watched the first part of Rakta Charitra, would definitely watch the second part as to how he ended the story of Pratap Ravi. Surya factor would help the remaining audiences to reach the theatre to watch the film. The film earned an above average talk after release. Mouth publicity may help it to earn a hit talk in the next few days.

VERDICT

Watch the film without any expectations. Surya's performance is impressive and made the film worth watching.

Released on: December 3, 2010