Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun and Rana Daggubatti
Director: Gunsekhar
During her nearly 10 year long association with the southern film fraternity, Anushka Shetty has quite successfully established herself as a force to be reckoned with thanks to her confident personality, .powerful screen presence and uncanny ability to pull of challenging roles with effortless ease. Perhaps that is why expectations were at an all time high when her latest big screen outing ‘Rudhramadevi’ arrived in theatres earlier today.
However, despite its grand scale, the Gunasekhar-directed venture fails to do justice to the actress’ talents and
ends up being a disappointment.
Touted as a historical drama, ‘Rudhramadevi’ revolves around the life on an eponymous 13th century queen from the Kakatiya dynasty. At a very basic level, storyline is pretty hard-hitting and touches upon the customs/ideologies that were prevalent in 13th century south India.
However, it is let down by some underwhelming writing. Written by Gunasekhar himself, the screenplay seems a bit half-baked and rushed. It relies too much on ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’, making it almost impossible for the viewer to connect with the situations depicted on the big screen. This problem is magnified even further by a snail-paced narrative which at times becomes a bit yawn inducing
Moreover, barring the titular character, none of the characters have really been fleshed out properly. To make matters worse most of the dialogues especially in the second half end up becoming extremely over the top and even preachy.
That said and done, a few scenes have been executed well and do much to strike a chord. The sword fighting sequence between Rana Daggubatti and Anushka is a case in point. Similarly, the twist in the second half too is mildly engaging.
The same unfortunately cannot be said about the battle/war scenes. They look artificial and lack the grandeur of the ones in ‘Bahubali’.
As far as performances are concerned, Anushka essays her role with utmost sincerity. Her body language is top notch. However, she isn’t able to showcase her full potential courtesy a mediocre script. Rana Daggubatti is under-utilized, Allu Arjun is strictly okay. But beyond a certain point it becomes clear that ‘Bunny’ has been miscast.
As far as the supporting cast goes, Prakash Raj and Suman are the only actors who make any impact. Raj in particular steals the show in the last few minutes, delivering a intense performance. Interestingly, Vikramjeet Virk fails to do justice to his character putting on a stiff act.
The cinematography is decent.
However, close up shots could have been used in the dramatic sequences in order to highlight the shock associated with them.
Illayarajaa’s music is the only saving grace of ‘Rudhramadevi’. The maestro’s tunes gel quite well with the narrative, bearing testimony to his brilliance, ‘Naina’ is the pick of the lot.
To cut a long story short,‘Rudhramadevi’ is an ambitious project that could have worked had the screenplay not been so unimpressive.
Rating: 1/5
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