Director – Ram Gopal Varma
Producer – Cinergy
Cast – Vivek Oberoi, Shatrughan Sinha, Rajendra Gupta, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Sushant Singh, Ashish Vidyarthi, Radhika Apte, Zareena Wahab, Sushmita Mukherji and Abhimanyu Singh
Remember Vivek Oberoi’s last hit? It was ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’ in 2007. Remember Ram Gopal Varma’s last hit? Well, it was ‘Sarkar Raj’ in 2008. We’ve seen them work together in ‘Company’ (2002) and with some other films. Company was a masterpiece from RGV’s factory, perhaps the last where he was successful in displaying the negative elements of society on the big screen. This team of Ramu and Vivek has returned with Rakta Charitra, a political drama based on the life of slain Andhra leader Paritala Ravi. And yes, Ramu has proved once again why he is the God of realistic cinema.
The film is set in Anandpur village of Andhra Pradesh. Virbhadra (Rajendra Gupta) is a dalit who works for a local leader Narsimha Reddy. Virbhadra has been able to get party tickets for dalits with Narsimha’s support. His rise to popularity is resented by Narsimha’s aide Nagmani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao). He gets Virbhadra murdered through a wicked game of politics. His elder son Shankar (Sushant Singh) decides to avenge his father’s death. As such mass killing begins on both sides. Shankar’s home is now the forests and his aim is to fight for his people (similar to the actions of the People’s War Group) Pratap Ravi (Vivek) Virbhadra’s younger son is about to marry Nadini (Radhika Apte) when he learns about his father’s death. Shortly, Shankar is murdered by the police upon instructions from Nagmani Reddy.
Now Pratap becomes the leader. He murders the culprits one by one and gets married to Nandini. Meanwhile Nagmani’s spoilt son Bokka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh) decides to make his elder brother a candidate from Anandpur seat. He vows to eliminate anyone who dares to oppose him. Incumbent CM Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan) from the ‘Praja Desham Party’ (as good as Telugu Desam party) wants to win that seat at any cost. He discovers that only Pratap can stand against Bokka. He meets Pratap and convinces him to join politics to get his revenge. Pratap wins and becomes a minister in the Shivaji Rao Government. This loss shatters Bokka and he is arrested for his crimes. He escapes on bail but is murdered. Pratap takes control of the politics in Andhra with the support of Shivaji Rao. His opposition is silenced. The film ends with the question – Will anyone stop Pratap? For the answer wait for Rakta Charitra 2.
All the actors have done justice to their roles. I’ve never liked Vivek Oberoi on screen. This film not only changed my opinion but forced me to accept that he’s indeed an actor. Shatrughan Sinha (minus his patent moustache) seems to have studied Nandamuri Tarak Rama Rao (NTR) carefully. All his actions remind you of the late Andhra CM. Violence?? Yes, there is blood in every alternate scene. But you can’t make this film without violence. The opening scene itself gives you a rough idea of what the film’s going to be. The violence is like that of a Mel Gibson film. So kindly do not see this film if you can’t tolerate blood.
This is probably the first film which I’ve seen (after a gap of several years) where I was hooked to my seat from the beginning to the very end. I was so involved in the film that I had no time to concentrate on the technical aspects (For a fact the technical aspects have no glitches at all). Ramu has taken realistic cinema to a completely new level. I’m sure his critics will have no arguments left with them after they see this film. Truly Ramu, You Rock…!!!!
I go with three and a half out of five stars and two big thumbs up for Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra. His ‘Rakta Charitra – 2’ which released on the 4th December 2010 marked the debut of Tamil actor Surya in Bollywood.
© Pratik Potdar
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