Release date: 12 May 2010
Cast: Ram, Arjun, Banerji, Brahmaji, Brahmanandam, Nasser, Sayaji Shinde, Gracy Singh, Pragathi, Vajja Venkata Giridhar and others
Genre: Comedy
Genre: Comedy
The Story and Screenplay
We don't want to be spoilsports in revealing the exciting humour-weaved screenplay and the story of the movie but we'll give our readers the gist –
RRKK starts off in Mumbai with a daylight murder of a brother of Powar, an evil Don, by Arjun who is a good don. An exact description of the character would be like Rajinikanth in Baasha. Shades of that particular character has been spotted in many movies before.
Senior artist Arjun is ‘Ashok Deva’, a Don who does all the good things. (We’ve seen this for the Nth time) Arjun's wife Gracy Singh (Gauthami) wants Arjun to stop his activities and live in peace with his sisters – Priya( Priya Anand) and Sirisha. On Gauthami's birthday, in an attempt to kill Arjun, she falls prey to the villain's gun. Remembering his wife’s last wish, he leaves the violence. They flee to a Gandhipuram village in West Godavari and here is where our hero's introduced in the clichéd way. Ram (Rama Krishna) flies and arrives in the scene. Will the audience ever be relieved of such scenes in the changing scenario of Indian cinema?
Here is introduced an array of characters. Interestingly Ram’s introduction is narrated through junior NTR’s voice! Nasser as the village president and Ram’s father, Pragathi as Ram’s mother and Ram’s friends including Srinivas Reddy are given their quick introduction. The supposedly branded second heroine of the movie Bindhu Madhavi, is introduced as a modern day village girl. Importantly described is that Gandhipuram village is a village that doesn’t resort to violence!
Now to the plot - Arjun's sister Sirisha and Ram's brother like each other. As usual the families oppose, Ram promises his brother a happy union with the one his brother likes, after they elope away. In the course Arjun's enemy confronts them. How Ram unites them by fighting the villains and convincing the families is what forms the core part of the screenplay!
The screenplay has enough twists and turns with loads of family sentiments, especially sister sentiments of Arjun and high voltage action scenes. Enough doses of comedy are also included in the script which proves to be the only relief to the audience.
The Movie Analysis
The release of the movie in May seems like a strategy to target the family audience.
Director Srivas has tried to offer everyone of the family something in this movie. The murder scene at the beginning gives a sense of action movie but slowly transforms to the family genre. After the focus shifts to the villages of West Godavari, the scenes have been beautifully pictured. A beautiful song in the background composed and sung by M M Keeravani is played while the credits are scrolled with the beautiful Godavari River in the backdrop.
The hero’s characterization has been etched well. Ram as Rama Krishna has qualities of both Lord Rama and Krishna. He has a locket on him and whenever he’s in a dilemma in solving issues, he turns the medallion that has Rama on one side and Krishna on the other. So whoever God appears on the facing side, the hero takes that quality! How childish!
Cinematography, Choreography and Stunts receive a lot of appreciation as they have been weaved well in to the screenplay. Editing by Gowtham Raju is commendable as a few flashback scenes have been handled well without losing the plot in the present. Art direction in a few songs and in most scenes deserves applause as well. The entire team of RRKK as a whole has put a lot of effort but only time will tell if those efforts pay off.
The Performances
Starting from Action King Arjun, the senior actor looks fit given his maturing age. His physique is appealing and as a Don he suits quite well with his costumes. Having dubbed for himself in the movie, his acting doesn’t need a comment as he is versatile and has been acting for a long time now.
Moving to Ram, he has showcased his talents well. As a hero, his dance, fights and dialogue delivery have improved. He is quite responsive and in comparison to other movies, he’s done a tremendous job. He can try to offer some differentiation in his new projects from now on. Sticking to the same image can be stereotypic.
The heroines are just about okay. Though they don’t really have scope for acting, they have given their best. Priya Anand has a considerable screen presence when compared to The cute dimpled Bindhu Madhavi is simply used to flirt with her aunt’s son (Ram of course!) She usually pushes him to a corner and asks him to marry! Sans her, the movie has nothing to lose.
Siyaji Shinde has become the usual cop for Telugu movies! He has no variety in role or in performance. Other character artists like Nasser, Pragathi, Banerjee, Bramhaji in the villain’s camp and others have done their roles justice. The director has chosen the right actors for the right roles.
The Highlights
The first and foremost highlight of the movie is comedy. A healthy laugh is provided to the audience by Comedy King Bramhanandam. He is LSR, short for ‘Lechipoyina’(read elope) Subba Rao. His facial expressions, his comic timing and his dialogue delivery are simply awesome.
MM Keeravani’s rerecording is another major highlight. Some songs are great to hear, credit to the DTS and Sound Effects Team. The songs have been beautifully pictured. Especially in ‘Lera Chanti’, the festivities in Sankaranthi festival have been beautifully shown. Special effects in the movie also deserve praise, though at a few scenes you could sense them to be artificial. Car chase sequences have been captured well by director of photography Shekhar.
The Thumbs Down
Movies have always been an inspiration to us. Everyone in the audience would want to fight like the hero, drive cars like him, just about everything. Director Srivas has defied logic in the movie like most other directors. For an actor like Ram’s body-frame, can you expect him to thrash guys double his size? We all grew up learning to accept all that. Ram doesn’t quite drive the car, he flies it!
Bindhu Madhavi must concentrate on improving her acting! Priya Anand is learning fast and she would want to do a better job in the future.
A few Songs in the movie are placed in the wrong side of the screenplay. They pop up at awry places. Pity the audience and try making the movie, the slick way!
Violence in the movie is a little too much for the kids to see. A village youth like Ram, learns to handle the pistol as soon as he grabs one! Please, give us relief or we’ll end up chanting your film's title!
Fancy this movie if you like Ram, else wait for the TV Release!