Film: Rachcha
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Mega Supergood Films
Cast: Ram Charan Tej, Tamannah, Mukesh Rishi and others
Music: Mani Sharma
Cinematographer: Sameer Reddy
Editing: Gautham Raju
Story, screenplay, direction: Sampath Nandi
Producers: N V Prasad, Paras Jain
Release date: 05/04/2012
Ram Charan Tej is back after a brief hiatus and he has taken a risk of sorts by teaming up with a budding director like Sampath Nandi. Let us see how this has worked.
Story
Betting Raj (Charan) hails from a slum and true to his name, he is known for winning bets. But all the money got from there is used for a good cause. But in truth, he happens to be the son of Suryanarayana (Parthiepan) a big man of Rayapuram village who is killed along with his family. Raj escapes by chance and is brought up by another couple (MS Narayana, Sudharani).
The story takes a turn when his guardian suffers a heartstroke and 20 lakhs is required for operation. In comes James (Ajmal) who keeps losing bets with Raj. He is ready to give the money but the bet is Raj should woo and make Chaitra (Tamannah) say ‘I Love You’ in 30 days. But Chaitra is the daughter of the notorious and powerful Bellary (Mukesh Rishi).
So what happens to the love challenge of Raj? What is his connection with Chaitra? Who is Bellary? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Ram Charan has developed a strong screen presence and he has put full efforts. If only his characterization was strong he would have given a power packed impact. But his fans would be happy with this.
Tamannah gave the required visual feast in songs and her glamour quotient has been on a high. There was not much scope for performance this time but her screen time is good.
Mukesh Rishi was apt for the role. His personality is still intact and he seems to look the same right from the time of ‘Indra’. It is time Mukesh starts using his own voice for dubbing.
Parthiepan and Ajmal were not required given their roles. But since the film is releasing in Tamil the makers seem to have taken them for nativity purpose.
Brahmanandam, Srinivas Reddy, Tagubothu Ramesh, Ali were there for the comedy scenes but it was not that appealing. Kota was usual. M S Narayana was serious this time. Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao was brief. Dev Gill was okay. The others didn’t have much to offer.
Highlights
- Charan’s performance and Tamannah’s glamour
- Picturization of songs
- Production values
- Commercial elements
Drawbacks
- Outdated storyline
- Ordinary script
- Overdose dialogues of praising Mega family
- Routine formula
- No gripping moments
Analysis
Watching the film never makes you feel that you are watching a big ticket venture starring a big hero. It is a story which suits even a B-grade hero.
Given the star image of Charan and the expectations on him and the film, the story was bound to be strong with a strong depth and gripping twists but it is not so. Though the title sounds powerful, it is a routine formula line with no variation. You have the regular half dozen fights, half dozen songs, itsy bitsy comedy scenes, one sentiment which is half baked, a supposedly romantic track which was created only to justify the presence of heroine.
On a whole director Sampath Nandi made a sheer attempt to impress Ram Charan and his family with this movie but not loyal to his story line or acumen.
Comedy by Ali brought some laughs but that failed to sustain with more scenes. Same is the case with Brahmanandam episode and Krishna Bhagawan’s part.
While all that is one side, the dialogues form a crucial aspect for these projects. But here again, Paruchuri Brothers ended up spilling the ink with ‘Self-Dabba’ lines and fingering the Nandamuri clan. Here are few examples:
“Otami ante ento teliyani Genes naadhi” - This will prompt the mega fans to recollect Chiranjeevi’s defeat at Palakollu, disconnecting from the movie for sometime.
“Edho Chuskuni Thodalu Kotte type kaaduraa nenu” –
Listening to the dialogue, the audience started discussing, “The reference to this needs no explanation. Well, it’s like a retort for Balakrishna’s dialogue in Simha referring ‘buradha vamsham’”. That’s how dialogues rubbed wrong side in many ways.
Given their experience, this is not the quality of dialogues expected. On the other hand, it is very natural that the Nandamuri fans will come to watch the movie to check its weight. But due to dialogues like these, it would lead to negative publicity and audience percentage will come down.
The director was careful not to experiment and went blindly following a commercial formula. That has hampered the strength of the script. The production values are of high quality but it is definitely not matching the image of Charan or has that velocity to give a kick to the masses.
At the box office, this will be a treat to the hardcore fans of mega family and it could scrape through as decent grosser but hit is ruled out.
Verdict: Neither Good Nor Dud
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
