Racha - Movie Review

For someone whose movies have titles like CHIRUta and MA(e)GAdhera - titles that are references to his celebrated father - one would expect that with a name RAm CHAran, Ram Charan would come into his own with his new film. If you are someone who goes to watch 'Racha' with such kind of self-styled expectations, you are sure to be disappointed. Most of the movie has hat-tips to films of Chiranjeevi. But then on the other hand, one ought not to complain much considering that he is still fresh in the industry; Pawan Kalyan after so many years in the industry still piggybacks on his brother's name.

The most natural gift that Ram Charan possesses is the fantastic voice modulation of his father and his style of dialog delivery. That is one area he needn’t work hard on to mature as an actor. What he has proven in Magadheera, he reiterates in Racha - that he is an effortless dancer and he can be wonderful in action sequences. The scene where he balances between two bamboo trees and holds a long bamboo in his hands to give bamboo to a cartload of rowdies is the stand out scene of the film. When he says a thing like 'Raj, Betting Raj. Aadmi kum, risk zyaada', you can't but smile thinking that he is being a sport and has reconciled with the fact that he can't grow any taller. As for the songs, 'vaana vaana villu vaaye' is a feast to the eyes - all thanks to Tamanna. I have decided to follow Tamanna's career with special interest after her performance in 100% Love.

Racha, as I pointed before, has a heavy Chiranjeevi hangover in the first half. The plot takes time to pick up and eventually the movie turns out to be a good entertainer in the second half. The screenplay is a little incoherent towards the end but those are all minor gliches. We are talking about high entertainment and not high art (I am not for a moment saying high entertainment can't be high art). Over all the movie delivers. It neither disappoints nor does it offer anything new. The hall I watched it in on the second day of the release was not houseful - but it was running in 5 other movie halls in town. I was pleased to see the entry of the main villain of Magadheera in the latter half of the film, albeit in a minor role. The way Chiranjeevi build his career was with a team of regulars like Rao Gopala Rao, Radha... fans would also remember a regulation fight with whom-in-those-days-we-called-'Bombay Rowdy', that bearded Neanderthal-from-hell who had no dialog and a solitary fight unto death. If the presence of Dev Gill is any indication, Ram Charan is going in the right direction.

3 out of 5 Stars.

Comments

[chimera]

Even if high entertainment is not high art, you sure make us believe that they can be synonymous. :)

[Arvind Swarup Pathiki]

@Chimera: I shall take it as a compliment. ;)