Rangasthalam

Theatre, in Telugu is known as Rangasthalam. Also, there is a saying that, World is a Stage. The saying normally means that we are all just puppets in a big mythical universe. So, what does Cinematic Universe of Rangasthalam defines, the stage as?

Plot : Rangasthalam, a village in Godavari Districts, during 1980’s saw a huge uprising of people against a landlord, Phaneendra Bhupathi (Jagapathi Babu). He is a feudal lord and under him as President, Rangasthalam saw no development in 30 years.

The uprising came because of two brothers, Kumar Babu (Adhi Pinisetty) and Chitti Babu (Ram Charan Tej). Chitti Babu is a deaf person but he tries to manage it with the help of his friends. He is a happy-go-lucky guy but Kumar Babu is more serious person. Chitti Babu has a love interest, Ramalakshmi (Samantha Akkineni) and Kumar Babu has a love interest too. Well, who helped the uprising against the feudal lord? What caused this feud actually? Watch the movie for answers …

Performances : Ram Charan Tej has been trying to find a script that excites him and also, a character that will help him immerse himself into it. He got it with Rangasthalam and he is a revelation in this film. As a deaf person, he delivered the best performance of his career till now.

Samantha Akkineni in this movie looked completely like Ramalakshmi and not like her. That is a commendable job on her part. Jagapathi Babu is at his menacing best as the evil President of village.

Anasuya Bharadwaj, Naresh, Rohini looked the part and gave the movie, it’s emotional weight. Adhi Pinisetty as Kumar Babu is too good and suited the character well.

Technicalities : The most important aspect in any film is Cinematography. Ratnavelu did a fantastic job in giving a texture to the visuals. He made the movie look very true to the time period. But in few scenes due to VFX work and documentary kind of approach, we feel a sudden disconnect. That should have been rectified to maintain a unified tone all-over.

Art Department should be appreciated for their work in the film. The movie depends on their meticulous hardwork and craft to build the set that looks completely authentic. Ramakrishna and Mounika should be appreciated for it.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad fits the movie really well. It blends into the character of the film and mainly, his Background score is a backbone to the film.

Writer-Director Sukumar, tried to completely bring the 1980’s to life again. His execution and writing did not blend for few sequences in the film. But wherever it blended, it blended so well that the movie makes for a pleasant and delightful viewing.

Those parts that it did not blend well, do hurt the film but they are on a miniscule level that we can ignore them in the bigger context. Ram Charan’s more than makes up for Sukumar’s shortcomings with his performance.

Analysis : The movie suffers with regular Sukumar problem of messing up somewhere in the middle after a good start. He did that in all his movies but Arya had a more convincing ending and giving a twist in the end, became his identity. He tried the same here too.

This time, the twist works in parts but in larger context it looks pale. Still, the performances make us watch the movie without caring for those flaws. Had Sukumar tried to iron out those issues, the movie would have been much much better. Still it is a definite one time watch for a Summer weekend.

Rating : 3.5/5

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