Rudhramadevi Review

After Baahubali another magnum opus has come to the screens from Telugu film industry and it was Rudhramadevi. The flick which is made using more than 100 crore rupees is touted as the first ever historical stereoscopical Three Dimensional film made in India. The flick has been directed by the noted Telugu director Guna Shekhar and he had written the story and screenplay of the film as well. Apart from that he is one of the financers of this big budget movie as well. Most popular south Indian actress Anushka Shetty is playing the title role in this film and has a bunch of popular actors along with her is been playing key roles in this flick. They are Allu Arjun, Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Suman, Nithya Menon etc. The film has been made in Telugu language as well along with Tamil and dubbed in Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada as well.

The film’s story is taken from history as it tells about the life of Rudrama Devi one of the prominent rulers of Kakatiya Dynasty. She is one of the few queens who rules in India. Kakatiya kingdom is waiting for the birth of their ruler. But against the hope of the birth of a male heir, a female heir is born. To protect the kingdom from the attacks of the enemies the king decided to conceal the truth that the child born is a girl. Instead he made public announcement that the new born baby is a girl. And the actual Rudhramadevi is disguised in front of the people as Rudra Simha.

The film shows the war she had to fought with her enemies to protect her country and at the same time her efforts to conceal her true self from others. The director and script writer Guna Shekhar had tried to give a real visual spectacle with this flick. But all went in vein because of the miserable narration of the story. The fact remains that it is no way near Baahubali in its VFX and setting. No need to compare this to Baahubali as it is not as big as Bahubali in its making and budget. Ilaya Raja’s music was one of the highlights of the film and at many places it went well. Ajayan Vincent’s direction of Photography was stupendous and his contribution to the whole effect of the film was amazing. National award winner Sreekar Prasad once again made his presence felt by crisp editing of the film. The VFX team behind the film tried hard but the VFX not raised up to the mark and at some places it looked too much as well.

The negative about the film is that the dialogues are poor and too much dramatic. It creates more of a laugh than thrill. It failed big time to move the audience with the story. Anushka Shetty is the real central pillar of this film with an astonishing performance of hers. Really she can be called the lady super star of South India from now on and she almost carried the film on her own shoulder despite the presence of many leading male stars in it. Allu Arjun probably tried too much as Gona gana reddy and looked not at all convincing. Rana Daggubati once again sizzled after his negative role in Bahubali. All other actors including Prakash raj, Vikaramjeet, Krishnan Raju, Suman, Nithya Menon, Adithya Menon, Brahmanandam done their portion perfectly as well.

But the poor screenplay and direction made the film a debacle. VFX was also a let down. If you watch this film remembering Baahubali you are going to run out of the theatre with a scream.

Director : Gunasekhar
Release Date : 9/10/2015
Cast : Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun,  Rana Daggubati

Review : Harikrishnan