| | |  | | | Home > Movie Reviews | |
| RATTHA
CHARITHIRAM MOVIE REVIEW |
|
| Review
by : Behindwoods review board |
|
| Starring:
Suriya, Vivek Oberoi, Priyamani, Shatrughan
Sinha, Sasi, Sudeep
Direction:
Ram Gopal Varma
Music:
Mani Sharma
Production:
Ram Gopal Varma
There
are many firsts to Rattha Charithiram
and its earlier version. Suirya makes
his Hindi and Telugu debut, Vivek Oberoi’s
first in Tamil and Telugu and director
Ram Gopal Varma’s first direct Tamil
film. Produced under Cloud Nine banner,
RC is a tale of revenge and retribution,
said to be inspired from a real life incident
that happened in Andhra Pradesh.
|
|
|
 |
|
As is known to movie buffs, Rattha Charithiram is
the second part where Suriya comes into being. Hence
the first twenty minutes of the film is a recap of
sorts of Part 1 and Suriya makes his appearance only
after this. The film begins with a narration from
director Gautham Menon who in fact takes the audience
through the entire course of the movie with his perfect
rendition.
Narasimha Murthy (Kitty in a small cameo) is a popular
politician and Veerabhadran is his close aid who has
won his affection and trust. Not withstanding this,
a fellow party member (Kota Srinivasa Rao) hatches
a conspiracy and creates a wedge between Murthy and
Veerabhadran which leads to the latter’s murder.
Vivek Oberoi as Prathap Ravi is the educated son of
Veerabhadran who avenges his dad’s death by
killing Narayana Murthy. A group of trusted aides
of Veerabhadran forms a coterie around him and leads
him into many killings, making him believe in them.
As the next logical step in such cases, Vivek joins
Shatrughan Sinha, an actor turned politician, raises
in political stature and murders become a way of his
life.
Meanwhile, Suriya, the second son of Narasimha Murthy,
attempting to avenge his family's murder, plants a
bomb in Vivek's car but fails and in the ensuing events
surrenders to the police due to the intervention of
a (good looking) DCP but continues to harbor the thought
of eliminating Vivek. Does he succeed in this mission
and what happens to his life is the rest of Rattha
Charithiram.
As this film is ‘dedicated’ to killing,
revenge, blood and gore, expecting anything else is
not warranted. However, there are so many characters
(a test to your memory power indeed!) who come and
get killed spitting blood all over in slow motion.
No mercies shown- all of them are effaced at point
blank with small and medium range weapons which appear
to incessantly give out bullets. The screen is filled
with such gore with an accompaniment of slokas and
verses in an obtrusive decibel.
The film could be about reprisal but RGV is unable
to make the audience feel for his protagonist and
his mission. There is no enough and strong justification
for the viewer to be in sync with Suriya’s goal.
As this film has mostly non-Tamil characters and artists,
it is difficult to view it as a Tamil film and it
gives a dubbed film feel. The premise also is alien.
When Suriya is deeply involved in the thought of killing
Vivek, the timing of his marriage to Priya Mani and
subsequent fatherhood is unexplained.
As usual, Suriya has given his best. His commitment
towards work shows. The scenes where he fails to kill
Vivek and the last scene where he shows an amalgam
of joy and sorrow, he reiterates his acting caliber.
Priya Mani demonstrates that she is after all a National
Award winner. Here is someone who looks good and also
emotes well. The major relief is that Priya speaks
for herself which intensifies her characterization
and the audience is relieved of the ordeal of listening
to a voice double. Vivek Oberoi is effective in his
role and his body language as a politician is noteworthy.
Radhika Apte as Vivek’s wife makes an impact.
There are many artists like Zareena Wahab, Subhalekha
Sudhakar, Sushmita etc who do their roles satisfactorily.
Dialogues by T J Gnanavel (and co) set the apt tone
for retribution. A sample at the jail is when Vivek
meets Suriya and says ‘nee un vazhila po, naan
en vazhila poren’ to which the latter retorts
with ‘un vazhiya maraikiradu daan en vazhi’.
And later when Suriya doubts the veracity of DCP’s
statement that says Vivek is not responsible for the
TV bomb in his house and DCP replies ‘Vazhkaila
edaiyum nichayma solla mudiyaadu’.
Police seem to be a complete casualty in RC and in
connivance with misdeeds. Although the ‘sepia’ed
visuals are deliberate to set the feel of the film,
it does not help much to get engaged in the film.
The court room scene in slow motion where Suriya encounters
the man clad in sari is powerful but the same technique
followed in most scenes is annoying.
Finally when Gautham Menon speaks for RGV and dedicates
this film to people who wish to take revenge, one
wonders if RGV is glorifying retribution.
Verdict: Diluted mission!
|
|
| Tags
: Rattha
Charithiram, Suriya,
Ram
Gopal Verma,
Priyamani,
Mani
Sharma,
Vivek
Oberoi |
| | | | | | |
