Rakta Charitra(Telugu) - 2010 - Review

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Film: Rakta Charitra
Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Cinergy productions

Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Kota, Radhika Apte, Zareena Wahab, Sushant Singh, Tanikella, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Rajendra Gupta, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kitty and others
Dialogues: Nageswara Rao
Music: Dharam- Sandeep
DOP: Amol Rathod
Editing: Bhanodaya, Nipun Ashok Gupta
Story, screenplay, direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Producers: Madhu Mantena, Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Rajkumar
Release Date: 22nd Oct 2010

Ram Gopal Varma is back after a long hiatus into the Telugu circuit and he chose his favorite genre of violence, intensity and bloodshed. Let us see how far RGV is successful in convincing audiences. Let us peep into good and bad in the movie:

Story
Noted MLA Narasimha Reddy (Kitty) has got a trusted aide in the form of Veerabhadriah (Rajendra Gupta) in Anandapuram area.

However, Narasimha’s relative Nagamani Reddy (Kota) is unable to take this for reasons of caste and losing his presence. He plants a seed of friction and in no time, Narasimha Reddy gets Veerabhadriah killed. This enrages Veerabhadriah’s elder son Shankar Ravi (Sushant) and he gets into a killing spree and operates from forests.

Veerabhadriah’s younger son Pratap Ravi (Vivek) who is away from all this gets to know of this and before he realizes, Shankar Ravi also gets killed. He vows revenge on his father and brother’s killers and in this process, Narasimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy and others are brutally killed. Nagamani Reddy’s son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu) who is insane to the core is unable to take this and he becomes Pratap’s main enemy.

Meanwhile, the rise of Pratap as opposite force to Bukka Reddy is noticed by Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan) who sets a new party and he decides to lift Pratap to put an end to Bukka Reddy. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Vivek Oberoi is an apt choice, his eyes deliver the sufficient emotion of revenge and his body language is intense. He has done full justice to his role.

Abhimanyu Singh is a complete show stealer. His menacing looks and his cold blooded performance will give some spine chilling moments.

Shatrughan Sinha was contained and it must be said that traces of real life N T Rama Rao are quite prominent in his gestures and dialogue delivery.

Kota was perfect, Radhika was naturally appealing, Zarina was neat, Tanikella was impressive and he made his presence felt, Rajendra Gupta was adequate, Sushant was brief, Ashish Vidyarthi was alright, Subhalekha Sudhakar was standard, Subrat Dutta was good, the others did their bit as required and added value.

Highlights:
Symbolism shots with respect to showing a cycle in Shivaji Rao (Shatrugan Sinha)’s place (recalling TDP and NTR), usage of left had, addressing as ‘brother' are impressive.

Showing a dog barking after the death of Naga Mani Reddy (Kota) depicts ‘kukka chaavu'..That’s impressive.

Ram Moorthy (Tanikella) saying to Pratap Ravi ‘to shave beard as a politician should look clean at face although dirty at heart'

Bukka Reddy’s introduction scene

Disappointments:
RGV’s voice over is overflowing. It’s not a radio drama to explain everything with a voice over. Whatever RGV is saying in voice, is being conveyed visually! It disturbed the mood to some extent.

Pratap Ravi stays in forest as per the dialogue. But he stays in a dusty hill area that hardly looks like a forest. It may sound trivial, but when such observations linger in mind, some audience gets distracted from the mood.

Why Dabbunnoda song? The context is not convincing.

Challenges:
The subject chosen is quite hard hitting so one needs to have some background information before actually connecting to the film.

Facing criticism with respect to Shivai Rao’s (a replica of NTR) characterization and converting it into publicity element.

Facing criticism and questions with respect to ‘pedda sir' (implying YSR) and again converting it into a publicity element

Mood is suddenly dropping down at the conclusion point of the movie. Waiting till Part-2 to get completeness in feeling is a challenge for audience and it’s challenge for maker to sustain interest for 1 month till Part-2 release.

Analysis:
“Goodness or badness can never be anyone’s property. They are situational.
If a man is hunger free, he showers only goodness. But if any sort of hunger (be it lust, power craving or greed or vengeance) hits him, he spells badness'.

Rakta Charitra is a fiction based on historical facts.
It’s rather powerful to say that it’s a true depiction of human emotions.
It’s a tour to extreme human beings.

Ramayan or Mahabharat or any chronicled history in dramatic form depicts the extremities of emotions in every character. For example if Karna is known for generosity, its shown with eccentricity of chopping off his own armored skin to offer for a beggar. If Bheeshma is known for sacrifice, its shown in extreme point of choosing life time celibacy to keep himself and his legacy far from kingship. Any drama holds grip only when the characterizations are strong. This fact was known for dramatists right from Veda Vyasa and Valmiki. Similar path is now chosen by Ram Gopal Varma is depicting a historical fact in dramatic form.

He has shown Bukka Reddy as a determined rapist (!) and dedicated murderer (!).The incidents canned around this characterization are extreme in imagination. Pratap Ravi is shown as a bad guy, but for a true reason (since he is chosen to be the hero of the plot).

Ram Gopal Varma is a master of movie making and an expert storyteller. This is seen here yet again. As such, the storyline can be understood in few words and there is nothing unpredictable about it but then it is the way Ramu takes off with each scene and how he gets the viewer into the film which counts.

His screenplay techniques and shot compositions are one of those dexterities he possesses. Perhaps a layman might find the visual appeal to be dim but then there are few flashes of his brilliance which are seen on and off. The focus was more on the emotion of the protagonist and the villain so that is a challenge to handle for more than two hours.

On the other hand, it is not a typical Varma characterization where most of the actors give hard expressions, talk less and convey more. Here the characters speak sufficient and sometimes little verbose!! But still there is a rhythm in their performance and it connects to the regular audience.

On a whole it’s a movie about the raise of a leader.

Bottom-line: For the lovers of realistic violence

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Ramu to challenge censor board decision

Director Ram Gopal Varma and producers of his film "Rann", which stars Bachchan as a media baron, will to go to the Supreme Court to appeal against censor board's ruling to remove the song "Jana Gann Mana Rann hai" from the movie as well as the promos.

The censor board has objected to "Jana Gann Mana Rann hai" because it feels that the song violates the law governing the national anthem.

Varma and producers Madhu Mantena and Sheetal Talwar were supposed to go to the High Court on Wednesday (Mat 13) to fight the censor board's ruling. But Tuesday afternoon there was a change of plan. The "Rann" team has now decided to go straight to the apex court to challenge for what they think to be their fundamental right to expression.

"There has been a change of plan. We were earlier to go to the High Court. We're now moving into the Supreme Court because our lawyers Naik & Naik feel we've a very strong case," Mantena told IANS.

"The censor board has prevented us from using the song in the film and for the promotions. They've cited the rule that applies to national emblems and symbols, not the national anthem. So we feel that rule cannot be applicable to our song. As far as we know, the rule regarding the national anthem is that no one can be stopped from singing it."

Mantena and his co-producer Talwar have registered a civil case in the Mumbai High Court against the censor board's ruling. The "Rann" team is determined to fight it out to the last.

"We've time on our side. We're releasing 'Rann' in October," said Mantena confidently.

With "Rann" Varma is attempting to expose media industry. Apart from Amitabh, Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, Gul Panag and Neetu Chandra form the cast of the movie.

Many feel Varma should have desisted from creating a controversial situation.

"When it's Mr. Bachchan, you've got to be very careful with what goes into his projects because there are political elements waiting to pick holes in what he does. It's an unnecessary burden on his over-burdened sense of commitment to his projects," said a filmmaker who's making a movie with the Big B.

Interestingly, Amitabh was supposed to sing a song in "Rann", but that's no longer happening.
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Lyricist of 'Jana Gana Mana Rann' talks about why he wrote the song

It's the RGV controversy season yet again as this director loves to be hated. With much said and done about the controversial song depicting the Indian National Anthem in his recently launched song promo of Rann, the lyrics 'Jana Gana Mana Rann' have now come in the eyes of the censors. Now in a do or die situation, RGV fights his own battle in the Rann. Will one man, lyricist of 'Jana Gana Mana Rann', Sarim Momin come to the rescue of RGV and his Rann? Without losing focus on the media and politics, Ramu nails the adrenaline rush of breaking news and emphasizes the power of a medium being used to its potential. The director's strongest promo shows the calm before the storm, signifying the start of what will be a historic broadcast, or will it? Censors may apply their own politics to it, but they're missing the point. This is an incendiary attack on complacency but the Rann promo occupies a chapter of history when words spoken via television captured a national audience. It should raise the pulse and bubble the red blood of any audience members proud enough to call themselves Indians. As RGV has used the line - Truth is Terrible. Bollywood Hungama's London correspondent and UK's Harrow Observer columnist Devansh Patel brings you Sarim's take, who shares his views on the controversy and why he thinks the song should be dear to all the citizens of India in the following excerpt. Over to Sarim...

Sarim Momin:

"When I was writing this song, I wanted to capture the emotions of a situation in the film where the citizens of India are asked to wake up; To wake up and realize that we are not being fair to the country by letting anti-national powers flourish for their personal gains, that we are surrendering the very freedom that we fought for, that we are dividing the country when we should actually stand up united for it's progress.

Now, if we had used lines like "Jaag jao... Bharat ko bachaao' or 'Humari jaan Hindustan', maximum reaction would have been a yawn or a raise of an eyebrow. Or both, if somebody really liked it and were generous.

It would NOT have made people sit up and think about the current state.

Diverting from the song for a moment, the Election Commission started many campaigns this year to urge Indians to come out and vote yet the turnout was only around 50%. It's not like we don't care. It's just that we don't care enough to make an effort to even elect the best men to decide the future and fate of our country. We are comfortably numb and almost sleepy to what is happening to us.

And how do we wake up a person who is asleep? Do we sing lullaby to him? Or do we shrug him and shake him out of sleep?

As the script demanded it, with this song, the characters want to shrug and shake people out of their slumber; make them realize that India is wounded. It needs us, the citizens to come forward and help it. By now, we were clear that we wanted the song to be intense and hard-hitting; an eye-opener! Any 'Jaag jao... Bharat ko bachaao' wouldn't have served the purpose.

Since the film Rann is not about a battle fought on the borders of India but it is about the battle that all of us fight within ourselves, the words were meant to express "There is a battle in the minds of all people" and literally they translated into 'Jana Gann Mana Rann Hai'. This was the birth of this song.

Yes, there is a reference to the respected National Anthem of our country but this song is NOT our National Anthem, nor is it demeaning or insulting it in any way. While the National Anthem speaks about India and Victory, this song talks about the 'need' to achieve that victory by keeping India united today. In fact it reaffirms all the goodness that the National Anthem stands for. But at the end of the day, it is just a song by itself pertaining to the script and the scenes of the film.

How can you call it National Anthem when there are 100 different words used in it? (Yes I counted, 100 words!!)

Kindly go through the lyrics once and decide for yourself if there is any insult to India...
Kindly understand the intent before blindly judging the content...
Kindly ask yourself if you don't really want India to be free from all corruption, bloodshed and destruction...
Kindly be honest...

This song reinforces and urges citizens to respect India, its greatness and it's National Anthem.

If anyone thinks that it is a crime to ask Indians to stand up and help India be the glorious Country that it was, then I have only one thing to say...
"BHARAT KO BACHAA LE VIDHAATA"
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I have done it for publicity: RGV

Ram Gopal Varma is upset. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), as was expected, has denied the filmmaker permission to air his song Jana Gana Mana Rann Hai in his forthcoming film Rann that is reportedly based on the national anthem.

Vijaya Chawak, secretary to CBFC chairperson Vinayak Azad, told media persons that the song violates guidelines 219 of Section 5B2 of the Cinematography Act and the lines Jana Gana Mana are a violation of the National Honour Act of 1971.

Azad, however, is travelling; and Rann co-producer Sheetal Talwar (with Madhu Mantena), who claims to be unaware of the CBFC order, is waiting for Azad’s return on Wednesday when they will get the official word on the fate of the song. But RGV has drained the bitter cup already. The controversial director is feeling persecuted. “The Rann song is not the national anthem. It’s just inspired by what the national anthem stands for,” he said in a chat with BT. “The national anthem has a completely different meaning. But, yes, the Rann song stands exactly for what the national anthem does today... and in consideration of what we are going through.”

He is furious that people are saying he knew the song would meet this consequence, and that he did all this for publicity. “Of course, I have done it for publicity,” RGV snapped. “Any material that goes out of a filmmaker’s office by way of interviews, audio-visuals, music pieces or anything else is to garner publicity for his film. I have made a film and I want as many people out there as possible to know that it will soon come to their theatres. I also want them to know what the film is going to be all about. I ask you, if I had known that this was going to happen, would I deliberately turn people off my film?”

According to the beleaguered director, with Rann he wants to bring people’s attention to the battle they are fighting with the powers-that-be of our so-called civilised society. “There has been no attempt to ridicule or demean or show the national anthem in a bad or comic light. It only seeks to draw attention of all concerned to the problems that the country has... like terrorism, poverty, riots, debt-ridden farmer suicides, rapes, murders, famine and flood, they have become mere symbols that are highlighted as conscious awakeners for vote banks,” said RGV.
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Protesters burn effigies of Amitabh, Ramu

Activists of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) burnt effigies of director Ram Gopal Varma and Amitabh Bachchan in Ranchi for "dishonouring" the national anthem in their movie "Rann".

Hundreds of LJP members gathered around Albert Ekka roundabout in Ranchi on Saturday (May 9) morning and burnt effigies of Varma and Amitabh. They also shouted slogans against them.

Ram Gopal Varma has tinkered with the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" in "Rann".

"We cannot tolerate twisting of the national song. It is dishonour of the national song and country. We are planning to file a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court seeking banning of the movie," said Jitendra Singh, an LJP leader who participated in the protest.

"We will not allow screening of the movie in Bihar and Jharkhand if the national song which has been twisted is not removed from the movie," he added.
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Censors ban Ramu's anthem

Banned by the Censor Board, Ram Gopal Varma says his modified Jana Gana Mana retains the dignity of India's anthem.

The song is being used in the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Rann and contains lines like "Jana Gana Mana Rann Hai" and "Is Desh ne humko ek kiya, hum desh ki tukdey kar rahein hai" before the line "Dravid Utkal Banga."

It also has "Vindhya Himachal Yamuna Ganga" followed by "mein tezaab ubal raha hai." But Ramu says the song is alright and that "everyone can see the dignity with which it has been treated.

The Censor Board saw it differently and has held the song's release.

"The Censor Board reviewed the film's promo on Friday and decided to refuse permission under guideline 219 of Section 5 (b)2 of Cinematograph Act as well as Prevention of insult to National Honour Act 1971," Vijaya Chawak, secretary to the CBFC chairperson Sharmila Tagore said. She added that the anthem could not be modified in any way. Ramu's song also has the line "Bharat ko bacha le vidhaata!" instead of "Bharat bhagya vidhaata."

The plot of Rann revolves around a media tycoon who owns a television network (Big B) and his understudy played by Riteish Deshmukh. Ramu and Ritiesh had got into trouble when they accompanied Deshmukh's father Vilasrao to the Taj Mahal hotel after the November attacks. Dubbed 'terror tourism' Vilasrao lost his job because of ensuing coverage.

About Rann, the director said that the word means war and in the context of civil society large organized forces, like news channels, political parties and industrial czars, were involved in a fight with each other. "If dog bites man, it is not news. But if man bites dog, it is news. And if a cat bites a dog, it’s Breaking News," said Ramu. The sensationalism of news television is going to be the target of his movie.

But for now, the hard-hitting song that spearheads his message has been put in the freezer.
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RGV remixes the National Anthem - Video

Watch the controversial promo of Rann



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Jana Gana Mana issue is RGV's call: Big B

Amitabh Bachchan’s equation with the media in the overall course of his career could easily be used as anecdotal illustration for the phrase ‘love-hate relationship’.

In the days of a VCR being the only alternative in case you didn’t want to watch good old Doordarshan, for many years, he was a recluse, perhaps an angry recluse, who wouldn’t speak to any mass media if he could help it.

Today, irrespective of how he feels about something, is silence an option at all anymore for someone in his position? “Well, firstly, I don’t feel that there is any kind of ‘position’ that I have as such ... ” The trademark who-am-I-after-all style comes in rightaway. “The fact is that in the course of these years, the business of entertainment has also become the business of the media. The simple truth is that promotions, marketing, how films are publicised — all that has become very important. The time span of attention of the masses has become very, very small, and the media, therefore, has an important portion in the forming of impressions in that limited timespan. Previously, films used to run for 25 weeks, 50 weeks, 75 weeks ... ”

... .But now the days of golden and platinum jubilees are over? “Yes, they are clearly over. Now the first week is all that matters, sometimes! So we need to go with the times, and in these times, if, in order to promote our ventures, we are needed to increasingly interact and meet people, and the media, I don’t see what is wrong with it.”
He’s made the point in earlier interviews that — at least he feels so — the media has an agenda against him and his family. As he wears the cap of a media baron and lives that role, even if cinematically as of now, does he see things from a perspective that’s any different — does the ‘media’, if there is any such one collective entity, have agendas for or against people? “

It would be wrong for me to mix the two things. One is real, what my actual life is, while the other is a storyline, which is in the realm of fiction, it is someone’s creativity and imagination. And I don’t ever equate these. What I do in a film, what I play in terms of a character, is somebody else’s interpretation, somebody else’s writing. I just play what I am asked to, in order to execute that interpretation.” In other words, he doesn’t see things differently.
For someone who seems to diligently avoid courting controversy, he’s managed to have more than his fair share in recent times. When a movie he’s associated with sees the national anthem subject to creative reworking, isn’t he — willingly and deliberately — expecting to be in the eye of a storm again, this time? He’s quick to remind you that he’s just an actor and to place the responsibility for that where it lies — “That’s something that Ram Gopal Verma will have to deal with. It is his product, his idea, his interpretation. I would assume he has taken whatever precautions are required.”

But will the audience not count him in, by association, on this call? “I don’t think so. In this case, you will need to be more distinct, more pointed, before you make any accusations”.
Can we have his take on how, in retrospect, he sees the media’s handling of three things — the Abhiash wedding, his association with the SP and its leadership, and the campaign Raj Thackeray ran against him? “Hmmm... Well, it’s not really for me to pass judgment on the media. A wedding is a very personal affair, and we decided to do it in as personal a manner as possible. But the entire space of the world doesn’t belong to me. We can’t stop anyone, including the media, from coming and going where they wanted to, and we didn’t. But we did not feel that they needed to invade our personal space. As far as who I am friendly with and why I am friendly with, that is also my personal decision. If the media wishes to do anything or say anything about it, they are free to do so, but I will have the freedom to reject or deny if it is incorrect. The same is the manner with the MNS — it is a democratic country, if people feel strongly about an issue, they have the right to express their views, I have the right to present my side of the picture.”

Anyone looking at a politically incorrect quote from Mr Bachchan can go take a walk. Since that option wasn't there, we continued, and came to political issues instead. During earlier elections, hasn’t he been more upfront about talking about things and endorsing people and parties — maybe not directly in electoral terms, but definitely in terms of extending support and being physically present? Why’s he invisible this time around? Are there any pressures and compulsions? The denial is quick. “No, no, I don’t think that this is right concept, you’re equating things which aren’t really the same. I merely did a campaign because I was asked to do it, because it was Uttar Pradesh. If they had asked me, I would have done it this year as well. Why should there be any compulsions?”

So the MNS’ hostility hasn’t held him back from being more proactively seen supporting Amar/Mulayam and the SP this time around? “No, no, nothing like that. I am not interested in politics, I don’t do politics.”

But hasn’t he, in previous years, addressed large crowds gathered for ‘Blood donation camps'’across UP with Mulayam and Amar on stage, during campaign time? “Blood donation social work hai, political nahin. Social work toh abhi bhi chal raha hai, chaahe woh Maharashtra mein ho ya Uttar Pradesh mein.”

Right. So what’s the political philosophy of Amitabh Bachchan? “My philosophy is to be a good human being.” But surely, you can’t have no political point of view — you would have debates on the correctness of existing political agendas, even at home — after all, Jaya is a sitting MP? “Yes, of course we do, but I wouldn’t want to share those debates publicly.”
Just as you wouldn’t want to share whom you voted for, I guess. Did you step out to vote — the picture the country latched on to — because you believed you must, personally, or to play the role of the role model? “Voting it is my constitutional right, it is my democratic right, it is my birthright. I must exercise it. I voted because I must, and for no other reason.”But you won’t exercise the right to possibly join the political system at any point, even now? “I don’t know politics. I just can’t.”
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Ramu's India 24/7 is now Rann again

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma's media-based film, whose title had recently been changed to "India 24/7", is now back to its original title "Rann", says megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Bachchan, who plays the owner of a news channel called 'India 24/7' in the film, revealed the new development on his blog and has also put up a picture from the movie.

"The photograph is from my film that I shoot for these days - Ram Gopal Varma's ‘Rann'. Yes... It is back to being called that since the title we wanted – ‘India 24/7' is with another producer who refuses to part with it," Bachchan posted on his blog.

"This (the picture) is my character - Vijay Harshvardhan Malik, the owner of the TV channel "India 24/7". And that is where the story of this film unfolds, which is why RGV (Ram Gopal Varma) felt that "India 24/7" as the title of the film was appropriate.

"But since someone else has it and has refused to part with it, despite our requests, even though they have no intention of starting a film by that title, we felt we should leave the issue and move on giving the other producer our warmest wishes and greetings," he added.

"Rann" is Varma's attempt to "expose the Indian media" and apart from the Big B, it stars Paresh Rawal, Rajat Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Manisha Koirala, Purab Kohli and Gul Panag.
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