Rakht Charitra - RGV's return with a Bang

It may look weird but i would start off with the climax because these were those 2-3 mins, which not only took this movie, but also the Indian movie making to a new level. Throughout the movie, you stay involved and focused on the plot and characters etc etc etc., but not in your deepest and farthest imagination would you be able to guess the way it ended, and it just multiplied all the praise and "likeness" you have developed for it while watching it.

It was a reply to all the critics who had written off RGV after his "Aag" truly smoldered every active brain cell of the spectator leading them to a temporary mental breakdown. But Rakht Charitra is his movie, his piece of art, his very own exclusive style of narration, his stronghold. And he improves it further by having someone in the lead, whom i consider, fits in just perfectly in such a role. Vivek Oberoi is simply outstanding. Such characters are what define his acting skills. It may be pointed out that this way he would be categorizing himself to a specific genre, but wouldn't it be correct to work in a genre that suits you the most (even if it stereotypes you) and excel in it, than to keep failing in those which are just not your cup of tea. Company, Shootout At Lokhandwala and Rakht Charitra...these are the ones where he excelled and its the kind i feel he should continue with.

There is no need to point out the positives in this movie as there were hardly any negatives. It's a roller coaster ride with a rapid storyline and tons of bloodshed. No doubt and no  questions raised on the camerawork. Amol Rathod's cinematography just rocked the screen. It has been and was his fort. Every single detailing was taken care of including the change of expressions on the faces of general public shown in the background. Every single emotion was captured just the RGV way. The camera angles and focuses used were just superb. The violence and bloodshed were depicted in a way to give you goosebumps during certain sequences.

Apart from the single song sequence in the 1st half, there isn't a single break where you would feel getting diverted from the plot. Direction was RGV and i guess i just used RGV as an adjective.

The plot, the screenplay, and the narration were coordinated in an as perfect manner as it could have been possible. After disappointing dialogues in movies like "Rajneeti" and "Aakrosh" where you truly expected to have lots of them, Rakht Charitra had some of the most power packed dialogues which at moments excited you to your limits. I felt, if this movie would have been named "Aakrosh", instead of the actual one, it would have made much more sense coz that's what you get to see in it all the way from beginning to end.

The background music along with the voice narration of the plot were exceptional and keeps pumping you up, and resembled somewhat to "300". The background wasn't changed in accordance with its release in rest of India and it was an actual treat to watch it with the "Andhra" background. It just sent me few years down the memory lane.

Abhimanyu Singh played one hell of a character "Bukka Reddy" and was able to depict the negative side of it to the extremities with perfection. He has proved his worth as an actor earlier in Gulaal too and was one of the strongest characters in the movie. Kota Srinivasa Rao aka "Nagmani" who has been a mainstay of any RGV movie played his part just the way it was expected to be. It was nice to see Ashish Vidyarthi after such a long time though i felt he could have been given a stronger character with longer screen presence. It was truly amazing to see Shatrughan Sinha catch up on with a south Indian accent (A.P. in this case) and that too with great proficiency.

The movie completely justifies the statement from Mahabharat that "Revenge is the purest emotion".
It's a must watch for all those who had lost their faith in RGV, just to revamp it. And now I am waiting for November 19th,Friday, evening show...I am coming.

"Rakht Charitra Rakht Charitra Rakht Charitra Rakht Charitra Rakht Charitra Rakht Charitra"...This is still the only thing that's going on in my mind and I am damn sure you would experience the same.
Go...watch it !!!


 Overall Verdict : 9/10 (an extra 0.5 just added up due to the climax)

Aakrosh - a Raw but Passionless Tale

Lets assume you have an excellent plot based on real life facts, and you have an extraordinary star cast to support it, and guess what, its being handled by a person who is a genius at handling sensitive storyline, but then you end up disappointed. That's what you feel after sitting through those 180 odd minutes.
A lot more is expected from a director of the stature of Priyadarshan.


The Positives -
1. An electrifying storyline that could truly bring the "Aakrosh" out of you.


2. Paresh Rawal- he truly deserves an applaud. Be it a serious role or a comic one or a one with a negative touch, he is just the man you would look out for, for such a role. Simply outstanding.


The Negatives -
1. Mediocre performances. Ajay was fine and had a common expression throughout the movie which is slowly turning out to be the one which comes naturally to him. Akshay was just OK, and i would rather say that he didn't get the chance here to show his enormous talent. He is one of those most underrated actors in the industry who can do wonders with such a role. Bipasha was over expressive. Reema Sen was fine and would have been a better choice over Bipasha for her part. All the remaining crew from "Netaji" to "Hawaldaar" to "Bahubali" did justify their roles but couldn't bring out something exceptional and worth noticeable.


2. Once again the same old story of a poor screenplay impairing the entire strength of the powerful thought and fact that was meant to be presented through this movie. The pace of the movie was quite slow too.


3. Unimpressive dialogues. When you have Ajay Devgan in the casting in a meaningful role, it does make sense to prepare your script and dialogues in a way that would not only suit him but would impress and get hold off every single viewer. He did have a couple of them but they were truly not enough to support the already weakened presentation.


4. Forgettable music - not even a single track is worth appreciating, though its a fact too, that this storyline didn't require any songs in the first place. Even the single item number is quite a turn down. Each song only slowed down the movie further.


5. Cinematography was good but only in parts. There were various scenes like the one in which Ajay and Akshay chase a car and the one where they are being chased down on bicycles, these two were only few of the many parts where a greater precision with the camera would have improved the cinema quality as a whole. Its worth mentioning here that the sequence where Ajay chases "nasbandi" is simply amazing and in a way kinda makes you remember POP stunts (not exactly but quite close).

The other aspects like choreography were not as crucial for this plot and are surely worth neglecting. The movie simply lacked the firepower, the spark and the vigor that would stir you to your inner core. This was a highly sensitive issue which demanded extremely high amount of dynamism in the script writing. Even the background score wasn't up to the mark, and just like other factors didn't do any good to support the narration.


There wasn't a single moment in the movie where i felt moved or agitated and that was where Aakrosh was a big flop. The scene where the entire village burns down could have been much more impactful and full of emotions, as you do expect that from a man who has earlier presented brilliant cinemas like "Gardish" and Virasat". The part where the barbarians cut off Reema Sen's tongue, and she's in hospital, crying in pain, agony and the feeling of revenge, does touches you to an extent but then it ends almost as soon as it starts to absorb you into her pain.


A feel of disgust, a feel of anger, a feel of self realization is what i expected from Aakrosh and i didn't get any of it. It may not have to be something like RDB but that very strong sense of hate against society, against the govt., against the corrupt human mind and all its evilness which RDB could instill into its viewers was what expected from Aakrosh. In the end it neither proved out to be a thought provoking and thought stirring cinema nor a documentary showcasing the issue of Honor killing. The movie did start off well with an important question "kya mera desh aazaad hua hai" and did end with the answer to hope that it will, but most of the time between the two turned out to be hugely disappointing.


Ideas are like water. They need to be shaped using a proper vessel to showcase their true worth, but i guess in this case, the vessel itself turned out to have lost its shape while in the making.


Overall Verdict : 5.5/10

ROBOT - Shankar's Magnum Opus

Rajini here, Rajini there, Superstar Rajini everywhere. That’s what you feel by the time movie approaches its end. For all the ardent Rajini fans it was a roller coaster ride with Rajini's magic flying all over. Like every movie it had its share of positives and negatives and I would definitely like to start off with a brief summary of it.

First of all, hats off to Shankar for bringing Indian cinema in some way or the other, at par with Hollywood. A great plot and a wonderful concept, but then it had a very broken up and scattered screenplay which couldn't hold on the perfect idea that Shankar had in his brain. A little shorter version of this movie would have been much more appealing. It was just like, you have excellent seeds to sow but then you don't know when and where to sow them to reap the best crops out of it. This definitely doesn't mean in any way that his effort has gone in vain rather he has shown the path, a path for the betterment and equalization of Indian cinema with the so called "Hollywood".
Special effects were the USP of this movie and apart from the sequence of Rajini robot saving people from fire in a building, all other shots with special effects were just amazing or in my words "simply awesome". The last 30 minutes just throws all your senses into a frame where you can't argue anymore if India is capable of making high quality cinema with advanced special effects.
So, on the Special effects front i just have two words "Bravo Shankar".

The cinematography was fine and could have been little better. I guess after spending so much they could have extended it a little further and hired Christopher Pop, whom i feel, has given one of the best cinematographic efforts in an Indian cinema so far. The choreography was pretty mediocre and can be neglected as it was never bound to be a key feature for Robot. The worse part of the movie was the songs. Now i have two stands on it. Maybe it was because of the dubbing of songs in Hindi which ruined them or Rahman truly didn't perform up to his standards and then I felt it was a mix of both. It was an addition to Rahman's latest series of underperforming projects and was pretty disappointing. This movie would have been much more perfect without songs which were highly unbearable. The dialogues were pretty fine and it was clearly visible that Shankar has taken personal care that the whole translation and dubbing part goes well and comes out as decent as possible, though i personally felt it could still have been better.

Now comes the part which defines every feature that has been described so far, the performances from the two actors who are considered to be amongst the finest of all.

Rajinikanth, the man with the greatest fan following ever and considered a "matinee idol" by millions truly doesn’t disappoint any of them. Each character out of the hundreds of Rajinikanth in the movie was played to "Dot". But the best of it was that wicked evil laugh of the curropted villain Rajini robot. In fact he displays his true artistry and the magic that has millions under his spell, playing the evil robot. The movie in itself is Shankar's salutation to Superstar Rajini on the behalf of millions of his fans, portraying him in a manner he is so natural at, but this time he has added logic to it too, by turning him into a humanoid robot. Aishwarya played her part well though there wasn't much to do for her.

After watching Robot, one thing which I am sure of is that I have really taken up a great task of starting off with this movie. The reason being, though it was a great piece of work weighing up several aspects, it still was made with a regional touch and wasn't designed considering a global or even an Indian point of view. It was tough to watch it with a critical point of view because it wasn't made for that purpose. Rather it was a perfect example of the typical mainstream masala flick which does have a sense of logic added to it too and thus in a way was never expected to be watched as a critic but as a bedazzled spectator and witness the quality and excellence of Shankar, and the charm and aura of Superstar Rajini.

Overall Verdict: 6.5/10