The Genius strikes back

Ram Gopal Varma has finally made a comeback, and how! For a long, despairing while, it seemed like the maverick director, responsible for hits such as Satya, Company, and not to forget, his very first film, Shiva, had lost his touch.
He produced a string of flops and his career graph seemed to sink rapidly and was in the danger of dipping below the horizon. But that was only his career graph, and thankfully, not his belief in himself. For, RGV, going by all the video graphic evidence, was his usual dry, arrogant and sarcastic self.

Like all clouds have a silver lining, and all tunnels have light at the end, so did the depressing run of RGV's dark days. Sometime back (I forget exactly when), RGV announced he would be making a film on the life of (in)famous Paritala Ravindra, who died a violent death in 2005. The title of the film was announced as "Rakht Charitra". RGV was so occupied with thuis project, that he devoted little time or attention to other projects, and the result was the little more than mediocre Rann. While the fact that RGV was going great guns the "RC" might have been the truth, all the common, movie going public could perceive was yet another flop from the "RGV factory", and soon, there were very few believers left.

But I remained a believer, and duly, when anybody would argue against RGV, I would argue for him. "Just wait for Rakht Charitra," I would say, "and you will see Varma make a grand comeback." But only I knew that my arguments were laced with more than a hint of desperate hope. The core of my belief in everything RGV was beginning to waver, and my voice had begun to quiver. But I still believed. The D-Day arrived, and Rakhta Charitra released in the theatres. And my belief in RGV stood vindicated.

With the bloody Rakht Charitra saga, telling the tale of rise, and fall of Paritala Ravi, RGV had successfully made a thumping comeback, and proved to one and all that on his day, and as a director, he is second to none.
I will not go into the story. I’m sure everybody who has or hasn’t watched the movie knows the story. Let’s instead focus a bit on the man himself, Ram Gopal Varma. RGV has always shown us that he is the past master of attention to detail. He also does not shy away from taking potshots at everyone. He does both with great gusto in this film. About two years ago, when I met RGV, I had, albeit briefly, spoken to him about the influence of “The Godfather” on his very first film, Shiva. RGV, very casually says “I think all my movies have traces of The Godfather in them.” That stands true for Rakhta Charitra, too.

Let’s look at the parallels – The Godfather is about a young man (Michael Corleone), who is reluctantly thrust into the violent world of the New York underworld after his father (Don Vito Corleone) is attacked, and his elder brother (Sonny) is brutally murdered. Rakhta Charitra, is about a young man (Pratap Ravi), who is violently initiated into the world of Rayalaseema politics, fractured by faction violence, after his father and his elder brother are murdered. In both films, the protagonist, after initial reluctance, through sheer force of personality, and inherent cunning, manages to rise to the occasion magnificently.

Then, coming to the the two movies. I love the way NTR was portrayed in the first film as Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha). Facing a task of considerable difficulty – that of playing a
venerated figure like NTR, Sinha just focused on the larger than life persona of the late actor, and thus, manages to hit the nail squarely on the head. His every facial expression, every inflection in the voice, every gesture is designed to shock and awe and enthrall. In short, Shatrughan Sinha plays the role like it is meant to be – A veteran of the silver screen, becoming a leader of men.



Viveik Oberoi does a magnificent job playing Pratap Ravi. Simply put, he turns in what is the best performance of his start stop career. He began his career in resplendent fashion, under Varma’s tutelage in Company.
After that his career never took off. With Rakhta Charitra, it can be said that Viveik Oberoi has risen from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix.

While I was intensely curious about how these two roles would be played, the thing that interested me the most, was how RGV would portray a lot of politically sensitive elements. Everybody knows NTR set up the Telugu Desam Party, which, back then, had the Bicycle for its symbol, and it would take a lot for RGV to portray that party without raising too many hackles. He does that. The party does have yellow as a major colour, and a bicycle, in various forms, keeps popping up in the frame. This Freudian use of implied inference, is a masterstroke by the director. It doesn’t stop here. RGV does a deft job of portraying the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the former AP CM. YSR was a key player in the Paritala Ravi saga, and RGV just had to find a way to portray the Congress party, and the man himself.

YSR, is portrayed as a man whose face is never shown, but his cut-outs of political rallies, and a framed photo in his house prominently feature his right hand. As we all know, YSR was a man given to expansive gestures with his right hand, which has become a signature of sorts. The fact that this illusive man is accompanied by a Safari suit wearing confidante, ala YSR’s close friend KVP Ramachandra Rao, only goes on to strengthen this. The Congress Party, here, is portrayed with a close fist, as opposed to an open palm. With this RGV completes a hat-trick of sorts. The infamous Moddu Seenu – the man who confessed to killing Ravi, and who was later murdered inside Jail, is shown here has Muddu Krishna. After Ravi’s assassination, ‘Muddu’, as he is called in the film, declares he is responsible for Ravi’s death. He also goes on to say he killed Ravi to avenge the deaths of Surya’s family, just like it happened in real life.

In short, while Rakhta Charitra has its flaws and plot shortcomings, it is a movie that would be rated right up there with Ram Gopal Varma’s best.

Topic is over

The leading idiot

That the Telugu Film Industry, 'Tollywood' (stop snickering!) produces movies ranging from the bad to the worse with dedication and discipline is a fact that is unknown to very few, seeing as how the industry is inhabited, and indeed dominated by filmmakers equipped with ever dwindling IQ. If any of you reading this are thinking about contesting this statement of mine, thank you my friends, but your services are no longer required on this planet. You are now free to kill your resepctive selves in whichever manner you deem fit, or unfit, as the case may be. However, it must take a special kind of idiot to make a movie that is as cringe worthy,, and as retarded as Daggubati Rana's debut vehicle, LEADER. That special kind of idiot, is the director, Shekhar Kammula.

Now I sincerely do not know whether Shekhar Kammula actually believes his movies are any good, or whether he has been fooled into thinking so. If the latter is true, I'm baffled by what ulterior motives lay behind such an inhuman act. The act is inhuman not because of the false sense of aesthetic superiority that the 'director' has been lulled into. It is inhuman because of the kind of tripe the few discerning humans among us audiences are subjected to. As if the over hyped, overrated, and equally, if not more (in comparison with the subject of my rant, LEADER)cringe worthy "HAPPY DAYS" wasn't bad enough, Shekhar Kammula, due to mystifying brainwave, decided to make a movie that will tap into the dormant political consciousness of the general movie going public, and make them more politically dynamic. Sadly, however, that idea seems to have died in gestation, as what the final product is, however, is a movie that is full of hammy acting, even hammier acting, bad...nay... worse dialogues... a plot line that is filled with more holes than a fisherman's net. To top it all, the movie was skippered by a director, who seemed to have abandoned all good sense, including a sense of direction, to the four winds (A bad pun, but it'll have to do).

Enough talk about the non-specifics that have gone into making this movie. On to this movie itself. The basic plot line is this - The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is the victim of an assassination attempt. Just like every bad movie demands, the CM, after a protracted battle in the ICU, dies. Now here, we have a few interesting things to take note of. The incredibly yawn-inducing battle with death, is, in fact, a cunning plot device inserted to establish a background to the movie. In this case, the background is the dirty world of politics, where everything takes a backseat to hunger for power. At this juncture enters the CM's gormless, expressionless, senseless, and talentless son, Arjun Prasad. The poor boy, being in the US, studying for his masters, seems to have no clue that his daddy-dearest, is an Indian politician (Indian politician is a politically correct way of saying "corrupt", FYI). Hence, after his father's death (to which we add the mother of all 'icing-on-the-cake' effects - the dying father's last words - the son should become the Chief Minister), the son is horrified to discover the true extent of his father's corruption. So with steely resolve devoid of all facial expression, he sets himself on a personal mission - that of cleaning up the state politics. Good luck, son! Anyhow, on we go...

So, the hitherto political retard, is now an overnight politician, complete with arm-candy (a suitably dumb looking Priya Anand). He, with consummate ease, spins political webs, trapping his father's adversaries, and attracting his father's allies, and soon, manages to occupy the CM's Gaddi. Funny thing here is, our fresh pup of a CM is on a mission to eradicate corruption, yet, he has no qualms about bribing politicians and officials left, right and centre. Tired of his operation clean-up, the politicians now hatch a plot against him. So now, our hero thinks of yet another cunning plan (again devoid of all facial expression). The government's main political ally, very conveniently, has a daughter, who is just ripe for the plucking. Moreover, she is a social activist, who goes around calling the CM on his personal mobile. So the CM, with speed of thinking that would fail to surprise even Dr Manmohan Singh (equipped with his sunday best expression of surprise), decides to "romance" the daughter to bag the father's support. He does that, and yet fails to uphold his government. The young CM is in quandary now. The very values that he has sworn to uphold, he is now forced to betray just to keep the government alive. To hell with it, he thinks, and decides to fight it on his own, including his very own Padayatra (a favourite pastime of Indian politicians). He wins, gets sworn back in as Chief Minister (must be a record of sorts, an idiot getting elected as Chief Minister of state twice in a row. Are we smart or what!).

'Nuff said about the movie. In a nutshell, the movie is made of bad acting, terrible writing and downright horrendous directing (if there was any direction, that is). Nothing surprising, as every other Telugu movie can boast of the same. Why did I pick on Leader, then? Well, I had to start somewhere, eh? Rana Daggubati might become a good actor eventually, but there's very little evidence of that in his first film. Shekhar Kammula can't direct to save his life, and there is a lot of evidence of that. Don't make me go into the details again. Rana can't act, Shekhar Kammula can neither direct, nor write. And I can't watch. Such a happy family, eh?

I will end this rather abruptly by quoting my current favourite onscreen politician, Shivaji Rao (Rakht Charitra). Topic is over!