Cast: Vivek Oberoi,
Shatrughan Sinha,
Abhimanyu Shekhar
Singh, Sushant Singh
Director: Ram Gopal
Varma
In a recent interview, Ram
Gopal Varma emphatically
declared that Rakta
Charitra is not for women.
He said: ‘They can sit at
home.’ As I endured the
incessant violence of the
movie — sickles slitting
throats, a drill boring into
a skull, limbs being hacked
and countless women
being abducted and raped
— I wondered if I should
have taken Varma’s advice
and just stayed at home.
Rakta Charitra is a bio-pic
of Paritala Ravi, a
politician from Andhra
Pradesh, played here by
Vivek Oberoi, whose
career began with murder
and ended when he was
assassinated in broad
daylight by his rivals.
This film is part one of this
horrifically fascinating
story, which illustrates the
heart of darkness that
constitutes politics in India.
The murderous saga of
revenge and counter-
revenge begins with
momentum but then gets
bogged down by its
repetitive mayhem, an
annoying voice-over and
exhausting decibel levels.
Varma isn ’t one for
subtlety.
The sound-track is blaring
and despite the rivers of
blood that flow freely,
every character feels the
need to say rakta as often
as he can.
The director has little
interest in the psychology
and evolution of his
characters so Pratap goes
from college to killing
without batting an eye-lid
and then, with the same
ease, moves from outlaw
to minister. Instead what
seems to fascinate Varma
is extreme behaviour.
As Karan Johar revels in
beauty, Varma revels in
ugliness. So he spends an
inordinate amount of time
on exploring the ways in
which people can hurt
each other and his
depiction of depravity
feels uncomfortably
voyeuristic.
And of course like earlier
Varma films, this one too
features a gallery of
singularly unattractive
faces shot at peculiar
angles and the requisite
sweaty celebration song.
There are some powerful
moments and strong
performances here —
Abhimanyu Singh as an
unhinged goon is
especially good. Oberoi
also shows flashes of
prowess and the real
discovery is the surprisingly
sober and effective
Shatrughan Sinha. But
how much you relish
Rakta Charitra is directly
connected to your
threshold for gore.
If like me, it’s low, I
suggest you take Varma’s
advice and sit at home.
Print | A+ A-
No comments:
Post a Comment