Ram Gopal Varma or the so called- RAMU sir had lost his AAG after his AAG went into PANI...and after years of TAPASYA...he is finally back with a film that is able to keep the veiwer at the edge of his seat and towards the end, crave him to come back for the sequel!
For a change, the film is set in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and is based on the true story of Paritala Ravi & his tryst with NTR!
Vivek Oberoi portrays the role of Pratap Ravi who's based on Paritala Ravi and carries the movie on his shoulder after the first half. While the first half is swayed away by a brilliant performance by Abhimanyu Singh who plays Bukka Reddy, son of slain Political snake Nagamani Reddy played by South supervillain KOTA SRINIVASA RAO.
The Films sets off with the brutal massacre of Pratap's father at the order of Narasimha Reddy, and thus an angry elder son played by Sushant Singh sets out to chop off each member of the Rao Dynasty. Though soon, He chopped off during the intense and frequent bloodbaths and Pratap vows to take revenge from Narasimha, Nagamani & Bukka...one by one...infusing fear in each of them before dying.
The Story has nothing new to offer except for the fact that this one is directly lifted from a real life story and not from some South Indian or Hollywood Political Blood Drama!
Pratap finds support from a retired Superstar turned Politician, Shivaji Rao (real life inspiration is NT Rama RAO) played by yesteryears star Shatrughan Sinha. Pratap leaves Bloodshed and joins politics to drive lawlessness away from his Andhra constituency and becomes a System in himself..something we have seen in Sarkar films.
The movie has a VETALIC narrator who at times punches your ears inside out and that gives a very earthy effect to the narration.
The background music has been perfectly timed and is very similar to the ones that we have heard in Sarkar & Rann...the sanskrit shlokas delivered in an airy manner.
The Cinematography has been mind blowing, some of the scenes seem to be lifted from Sarkar...but others are perfectly moulded into the plot. although I felt that the editing could have been better, for at some points, the film's punches have been lost while editing.
Performance and dialogues are what keeps this movie apart from rest of the political dramas that have been churned out in Bollywood along with the intense Bloodshed. Vivek Oberoi and Abhimanyu Singh stand out with intense performance while KOTA SRINIVASA RAO keeps his Telugu accent intact to give Prakash Raj a run for his money. There are a few characters who have been kept hidden in this movie, like Sudeep & the minister of the opposition party and finally SURIYA and PRIYAMANI...who will be the base for the next installment of this MAHABHARAT which is to release in 3 weeks!
MY VERDICT - 4 out 5!
Watch this movie, unlike critics who call it as a movie for stronghearts...I think it's a slap on the makers of Rajneeti! This is called a Political Drama!
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