Ranabaali Review

It’s been quite a few years since Vijay Deverakonda scored a unanimous blockbuster at the box office. His film, Kingdom, also didn’t live up to expectations and ended up being average. At a time when the need of the hour is unanimous success, he teamed up with his ‘Taxiwaala’ director, Rahul Sankrityan, for a period action drama film, Ranabaali. The film marked the third film in the combination of Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna and the first film together after their marriage. South African actor, Arnold Vosloo, Mummy Fame, played a crucial role in the film. Renowned Bollywood music director duo, Ajay-Atul, scored the music for the film. After being in the news for the last few weeks, the film was released in theatres today. Did Vijay Deverakonda, finally score a success at the box office? How was the chemistry between Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna on screen? Did the director, Rahul Sankrityan, score his third success after Taxiwaala and Shyam Singha Roy? What was the forgotten history which, Rahul Sankrityan, wanted to tell through, Ranabaali? Did he manage to come up with an engaging film in a genre which was already saturated? Did the production house, Mythri Movie Makers, score a hat-trick of success with Ranabaali after Irumudi and Modha Rathri? Did the music director duo, Ajay-Atul, come up with memorable music for the film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Singanamala Bobbili Ranabaali(Vijay Deverakonda) is born with a purpose and eventually ends up becoming the Legend of the cursed land. What was the purpose of Singanamala Bobbili Ranabaali’s birth? What is Ranabaali’s relationship with the village deity, Bhadra Mallanna? What was the goal of Sir Theodore Hector(Arnold Vosloo), the commissioner during British rule in India? How did the colonial grain export policies, cause famines in India during British rule? How was the Madras Presidency affected by a famine during 1876–1878? How did Ranabaali stand against British atrocities and save his people and his motherland? Why did the British government in India build railways? Did Ranabaali succeed in his fight against British rule? Did he succeed in stopping the colonial grain exports from India to England? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Vijay Deverakonda managed to get the Cuddapah(Kadapa) slang right in most places. He looked good in the role of Singanamala Bobbili Ranabaali. He was his usual self during the portions with Rashmika Mandanna and did well at a couple of emotional blocks as well. However, his body language was stiff and lacked ease during action sequences. It appeared as if he was too conscious while emoting at times.

Rashmika Mandanna in the role of Jayamma did a superb job with her performance. She was too good at emoting almost every emotion and she also managed to get the diction right. Mummy fame, Arnold Vosloo, in a crucial role, did a good job using his towering personality and appeared menacing with his subtle yet impactful performance. Easwari Rao in the role of a mother to Ranabaali, made her presence felt. She played similar roles in a number of films in the past and she just delivered what was required for the role. Vinod Sagar got a meaty role and he did a good job as always with his performance. The actor who played the wannabe government employee during British rule in India, did a good job with his performance, especially during the pre-climax. The film featured quite a few Indian and non-Indian actors. Most of them delivered a standard performance.

Technicalities:

Ajay-Atul’s music sounded refreshing compared to the usual music we have been hearing in the recent past in Telugu movies. The music director duo came up with three good songs and their background score suited the mood of the film very well and managed to amplify the impact of a few portions. Endhayya Saami was soothing and looked very good on screen. Editing by Karthika Srinivas was alright in the first half but he should’ve done a better job in the second half. Especially, during the middle portions in the second half, ten to fifteen minutes of runtime should have been cut easily. Because of the excessive runtime, the second half felt tiresome at times. Jishnu Bhattacharjee and Nirav Shah’s cinematography was apt for the genre of the film. The camera work during the cave fight deserves special mention. Visual effects, especially during the Madras port episode, were very patchy. Production values by Mythri Movie Makers, were adequate. The producers seemed to have provided the resources well within the market limitations.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠First Half
2.⁠ ⁠Sincere Storytelling
3.⁠ ⁠Lead Pair’s Chemistry
4.⁠ ⁠Cave Fight In The Second Half

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Predictable Narration
2.⁠ ⁠Wandering Around A Single Point
3.⁠ ⁠Poor Visual Effects in Places
4.⁠ ⁠Excessive Runtime

Analysis:

There were a number of films in the past that were made with the backdrop of ‘British-ruled India’ across languages. It is a genre which was reached saturation a few years ago. Even, the mighty S S Rajamouli, added a lot of fiction to the real-life characters in RRR, to make it commercially viable. The director, Rahul Sankrityan, believed in the phrase, ‘A forgotten past is a stolen future’ and attempted to tell an untold story during British rule. However, was the story he attempted to tell never touched on in the past? The idea of famine during 1876–1878 in the Madras Presidency and the actual reasons for the famine, may never have been touched on in a film in the past but everything else we were shown in the film, isn’t new. Credit should be given to Rahul Sankrityan for sticking true to his story and for managing to come up with a fairly engaging first half. But, after the cave fight in the second half, the film got itself into a predictable zone and evoked not much excitement until the climax.

The film started on a rather shaky note. The opening sequence, the introduction action episode on the protagonist, the diction of Vijay Deverakonda during the initial few minutes and everything else during the initial fifteen minutes were unsettling. The film got back on track with the introduction of the antagonist and continued to be engaging up until the cave fight at the start of the second half. The major highlight of the film is the track between Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna. The real-life couple brought their intense chemistry onto the screen and it looked so good to see them together. Almost every sequence between them worked out in the film. Along with the lead pair’s chemistry, the sequence where the Britishers first visit the protagonist’s village, the pre-interval sequence and a couple of sequences which showcased the atrocities of the Britishers, stood out in the first half. Especially, the setup and the following action episode of the pre-interval sequence worked out very well and helped to give the audience a satisfactory feeling at the end of the first half. The cave fight at the start of the second half also worked big time in the film’s favour.

After the action episode in the cave, the real problem for the film started. Whatever we see on screen after this point, was so predictable. To be fair to the director, there’s not much anyone can do to prevent the audience from feeling déjà vu with a beaten-to-death backdrop. There were a lot of repetitive sequences in the second half that gives the feeling of proceedings just got stagnated without moving further. Just when we think the film has come to an end, the director introduces a new chapter titled ‘Kobali’. Unfortunately, the twist the director and his team used during this episode lacked impact. We have seen a similar twist in several Telugu films in the past and it was very easy to guess as well. Even the climax portions failed to evoke any excitement because of the half-hearted writing, lack of emotional depth and the conscious acting by the lead actor while emoting. Even the episode where a very important character in the film dies, did not leave the expected impact and it is because of the lack of depth in the writing. The film reminds us of Megastar Chiranjeevi’s, Sye Raa, at many places. The song on Rashmika in the second half with a few migrated villagers, reminds us of the song on Nayanthara and Tamannaah Bhatia in Sye Raa. The fact that Ajay-Atul scored the music for both Sye Raa and Ranabaali, further amplified the déjà vu feeling.

Overall, Ranabaali has a good first half and a few good moments in the second half. The attempt to narrate an untold story in a sincere manner is certainly appreciable. However, the lack of depth in the writing and the predictable screenplay along with excessive runtime in the second half, worked against the film. The proceedings just keep wandering around a ‘single point’ and ended up making the audience become restless at times. A bit more care in writing and editing should’ve made the film better.

Bottom Line – Sincere. But, Lacked Impact

Rating – 2.5/5