Banner: Trilingual Indian film
Cast: Viveka Oberoi, Suriya, Priyamani, Shatrughan Sinha & Radhika Apte
Direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Production: Ram Gopal Varma
Music: Mani Sharma
Lyricis: Kaluva Sai
Ram Gopal Varma is a pet child of controversies. Some of his biopics in the past invited the wrath of many. So is ‘Raththa Charithiram’, which created waves in Andhra Pradesh even before its release.
The movie on the life of AP politician Paritala Ravi makes one sit sraight and watch. Ramu seems to have done intense research to render an film movie which is strikingly different from run of the mill stuffs.
Thanks to a stellar performance by Suriya and intense show by Priyamani and Vivek Oberoi, ‘Raththa Charithiram’ makes it count. Add to it Shatrughan Sinha’s role, the movie leaves one spellbound.
Suriya lives as Suriyanarayanan, who is baying for the blood of his enemy. His subtle emotions, body language and dialogue delivery gives meaning to the movie. Suriya is right there giving one of his best performances as angry young man.
Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi), who goes on a killing spree in Annathapuram to avenge the killers of his father, settles down to become a politician. He wins the Assembly election from Ananthapuram thanks to the blessings of actor-turned-Chief Minister (Shatrughan Sinha).
He bumps off all his enemies and their relatives and paints the town red. When everything goes well, an attempt on his life creates kerfuffle.
He comes to know that it was Suryanarayana (Suriya), who was waiting for an opportunity to avenge the deaths of his relatives, who got killed in the hands of Pratap.
DCP Mohan Prasadh (Sudeep) identifies the culprit as Suriya. He threatens Suriya to surrender to police holding his wife Bhavani (Priyamani) as captive. Soon, Suriya surrenders to police and goes to jail.
Ravi decides to bump off Suryia in jail but his attempts fail. Meanwhile, leaders of the opposition party, to settle scores with Ravi, volunteers to help Suriya. They decide to clip the wings of Ravi by making Bhavani as candidate in the elections in Ananthapuram.
Ravi now decides to kill Bhavani. Eventually Suriya hatches a plan and decides to execute it at a party meet convened by Ravi. Comes Suriya in disguise to realise his mission. Does he or not forms the climax.
Awesome is one word to describe Suriya's performance. His eyes emote well and in many scenes Ramu has zeroed in on his eyes to make one understand the scene. His diction and body language ooze revenge.
Priyamani is adequate. Vivek Oberoi matches Suriya in performance. However it’s Suriya who walks away with all honours.
Technically, it’s one of RGV's best. The slick editing, different colour tones used by cinematographer Amol Rathod adds to the momentum. Especially he has captured the stunt sequences really well.
But there is no denying that the movie oozes blood and gore. There are crude violent scenes. Bullets fly around. On the whole, it is a tight rope walk, but RGV manages to walk with ease.
Thanks to Suriya's performance and RGV's slick narration, ‘Raththa Charithiram’ is a movie that strikes a chord.
