Swamy Ra Ra Review

If you did not squander away your precious time on unproductive Sundays and instead chose to jot down the scenes of all the chase-for-the-coveted-price movies, you might have successfully brought out at least one unabashedly rehashed story inspired by a hundred screenplays that had a dozen characters wanting to lay their claims on a coveted treasure.  Since drudgery doesn't come easily for the rest of us, the likes of Sudheer Verma become entertainers and we, for no apparent mysterious reason, find ourselves watching the second-rate and second-hand creations of happy copy cats.

Watching the convincing (in terms of writing) last 20 minutes of Swamy Ra Ra, one is sure to realize that unflappable practice can make the most unimaginative mind rise to the occasion.

It is old wine in an affected bottle.  Trying to add pep to the proceedings, the director laces the film with 'snazzy' BG score that seems to be on and on and never off.  There is more music than logic and dialogue.

Jogi Brothers begin discussing matter-of-factly about how one of them wanted to marry Silk Smitha after becoming a man, but the unsuspecting audience is shocked to see them brutally gun down an affluent middle-aged man in a span of minutes.  Elsewhere in the city, Nikhil, Pooja and Praveen, are having gala time by effortlessly pick-pocketing almost every second person they come across in crowded places, shopping malls, etc.

Nikhil's life takes a romantic turn when he steals Swathi's new bike during a chase sequence.  Caught red-handed moments later, he poses as an employee of Hewlett Packard.  Their feelings for each other come to the fore, in a very improbable fashion, in another chase sequence where we see them flashing a heart-felt smile at each other in the midst of a near-death experience, as if being chased by gun-wielding thugs has been their past time.

What kind of grown-up adults will not understand that the value of a stolen idol belonging to the famous Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple of Thiruvananthapuram, whose image has been flashed in tv, would cost crores and not lakhs?   The avaricious threesome approach their house owner, who in turn introduces them to another mediator, who takes them to one Salarjung Shankar (Jeeva), a notorious smuggler.  The only reason we can think of for this silly mistake in the script is that the director wanted to involve as many stakeholders as possible to make the plot look, ironically, complex and intelligent.  As the film progresses, we helplessly keep counting the number of stakeholders (among them a Minister who wants to be the next CM), most of whom speak to be passive in the presence of the music director's hyper-active instruments.

In his enthusiasm to present a technically dashing cinema (and the film is not even remotely that), Verma has opted for a style (copied, for sure) that makes us cringe and mutter "Style over substance."  Should every chase and every pickpocketing endeavor be shown to be as momentous as the idol changing hands?  As for the Ganapathi number heard in the background, it is a sorry restating of the done-to-death RGV's Govinda Govinda innovation.

Why do Nikhil and Co. not even wonder where Swathi must have got the idol from?  The reaction on the faces of the four characters when Ravi Babu barges into Swathi's house is totally incredulous.

The songs are badly inspired.  The BG score would have worked had the director known where to turn it off and where it turn it on.  The cinematography and editing work fine.

The performances of Swathi (she has got her-kind-of role) and Nikhil (he can't emote a range of emotions) are clearly outshined by the rest of the bunch, including the comedian sidekick.

The dialogues (by Verma himself) could have been better.

Verdict:  Swamy Ra Ra is a rehash of already-seen loot-and-scoot films with nothing unpredictable in store.  The substance doesn't match the style.  The interesting screenplay in the last leg of the film culminates in a cinematic denouement though.

Released on: 23rd March, 2013