RAKTA CHARITRA - I MOVIE REVIEW

Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Radhika Apte, Shatrughan Sinha, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Tanikella Bharani, Ashish Vidyarthi, Abhimanyu Shekar Singh, Sudeep, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Zarina Wahab, Subrat Datta, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sushmita Mukherjee, etc.

Story: Prashanth Pandey
Dialogues: Nageswara Rao
Director of Photography: Amol Rathod Action
Directors: Javed-Aejaz
Background Score: Dharam-Sandeep
Music: Bapi-Tutul, Imran, Sukhwinder Singh , Vijay Kurakula
Lyrics: Kaluva Krishna Sai
Choreography: Remo D'Souza
Art: Tarun Ahuja, Satya Srinivas
Visual Effects: Future Works
Makeup Designer: Vikram
Editing: Bhanodaya, Nipun Ashok Gupta
Producer: Madhu Manthena, Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Rajkumar
Executive Producer: Jaspidnder Singh Kang Line
Producer: Alok Singh
Screenplay, Direction: Ram Gopal Verma
Censor Certificate: A
Date of Theatrical Release: October 22, 2010
Theater watched : Hollywood, Guntur.
Rating: 3.5 / 5


Rakta Charitra -I Hindi and Telugu Movie Review:
Arguably the most controversial film of the year is here! A well-made film based on the incidents in the life of an individual, Rakta Charitra-I appeals to those who can take violence and gory details of a real life trauma blended with political drama. Needless to say, this film is not just a run-of-the-mill song-and-dance film; films like these need gripping story, editing, and direction as well as great performances. Rakta Charitra-I has all of them, and more!

Story:
Narasimha Reddy is a powerful politician in Aanandapuram of Andhra Pradesh. He is a reasonable guy and he wants to distribute the power that is dominated by Reddy’s to another group that is economically backward. He asks his lieutenant Veerabhadrayya to take over the responsibility of nominating candidates from the other caste.
Nagamani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao) who don’t like the other caste people to come up poisons the mind of Narasimha Reddy. Hurt by the sudden turnaround of Narasimha Reddy, Veerabhadrayya starts his own faction to contest in elections. In the process Narasimha Reddy kills Veerabhadrayya and his elder son Shankar. Pratap Ravi who is never interested in the feuds has no option left now but for wage a war against the family of Narasimha Reddy.

The rest of the story is all about how he fights and kills the family members of Narasimha Reddy and how he climbs up the ladder to become an alternate system using the political patronage given by Shivaji Rao (Shatrughna Sinha).

Artist Performance:
Vivek Oberoi delivers a controlled performance as the protagonist that's forced into the path of violence. His voice (dubbed by R.C.M. Raju?) has a considerable role in successfully pulling off the character on the screen. Radhika Apte (voice dubbed by Sunitha) as the lead lady makes a positive impact in the very limited scope of her role, and her aptitude can be noticed when the camera is up close on her expressions. Kota Srinivasa Rao is his usual, and yet distinctly notable, while playing a cunning politician. Shatrughan Sinha is appreciable in the role of a star-politician who etches the political career of the protagonist. His gestures and addressing people as "brother" are natural. Abhimanyu Singh has a strong screen presence in the role of a sadistic and violent womanizer. His expressions are very natural and subtle. While Ashish Vidyarthi has a very short-lived role, Tanikella Bharani, Sudeep and Subhalekha Sudhakar are wasted. (They may have more to do in the second part of the film.) Zarina Wahab does the needful. Ashwini Kalsekar is good as the police inspector that confronts Bukka Reddy. Singer Sukhwinder Singh appears in a song, though the vocals are rendered by Vandemataram Srinivas.

Technical and Other Departments:
This story is based on the life story of Paritala Ravi and Obul Reddy. Though RGV claims it as a fictional story, major killing incidents and character traits are taken from the real life characters of two warring families. However, he modified the story happening over 20 years into two years to make the movie interesting. He has also changed the sequences of few events to give a logical ending to part one (for example, Obul Reddy is killed after the Rama Naidu studios bomb blast). However there is no proper lip-sync for most of the actors.

screenplay - direction: Screenplay of the movie is neat. Direction is intense. There are two sides to the orientation. Since it’s based on real lives, people would like to know what has exactly happened and the get satisfied by looking at the way those scenes are canned. On the flip side, people who are not interested in knowing the history might not connect to the movie. Telugu people are used to watch the melodramatic violence and factionism in Telugu films. The story telling in this movie takes docu-style.

Cinematography by Amol Rathod is good. RGV is following tight close-ups in his movies since Sarkar and this film too has tight close-ups. Dialogues by Nageswara Rao should have been better. Background music by Dharam Sandeep is impact-making. Fights by Javed Eijaz are realistic. Ram Gopal Varma conveniently avoided showing bomb blast scenes since they require more budget. Editing is adequate. Ram Gopal Varma gave voice over to the movie. Though his voice sounds little strange, the emotion in his voice helps it. We expect a better dubbing. Producers should have guts to invest in such a movie that doesn’t have anything except violence that required for a formulaic blockbuster in Telugu.

Analysis:
I do generally have the habit of bifurcating the movie into first half and second half. But the entire movie is like first half as the ending of the movie appear like a pause for the second part of the movie (Rakta Charitra II) which is going to release on 19 November. The movie mostly concentrates on rich-poor conflict and counter killings in the first half. Movie gets smooth and colorful from the time actor/politician character enters. Rakta Charitra movie is interesting for me because I am always interested in these kind of bio-pics where we can relate what we heard/read to what we see on the screen. All those people who have the same curiosity as me will get satisfied with the movie. It might be little disappointing for the people who see this movie as an independent film with no Paritala Ravi angle attached to it. The sequel of the movie will release on 19 November which means that the producers want to release the sequel when the memories of this first part are afresh in the minds of movie lovers. Plus points of the movie are curiosity value and boldness. The minus points are non-Telugu actors (which made the movie appear like a dubbing film) and excessive violence. On a whole, Rakta Charitra is a bold film with excessive violence. It is not for the weak hearted. It’s RGV’s brave attempt. As a Telugu movie lover, you might want to watch Rakta Charitra with an academic interest. This movie will generate terrific openings because of the Paritala factor and because of the various controversies surrounded around it. We have to wait and see how an abrupt-looking ending to part 1 will appeal to regular movie goer.

Final View:
Rakta Charitra-I is executed well, with not as much violence or controversy as is projected, and makes you look forward to seeing Rakta Charitra-II within the next one month. The first-time experiment of two-part release seems to be worthy a wait on the part of the audience and a confident move on the part of the makers. If you are used to seeing violence on the screen in all recent films where the protagonist goes around carrying ordinary and designer weapons and using them more frequently than the antagonist may use one, this film is probably not very violent for you. Some scenes depicting violence are unsuitable for children! (And, that is, of course, why the film received an 'A' certificate from the Censor Board. Please discourage children from watching any and all such films - it's against the law.) However, given that the film attracts only various pockets of target audience - it's a given that this film may not be suitable for family audience - how it rings the box-office is a wait-and-see affair.

Miss it Your Own Risk!!