Ravanasura Movie review: Ravi Teja entertains in grey shade

Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja has come up with his latest film, “Ravanasura,” which has been released in theatres. There has been decent hype surrounding the film, given that everyone was excited to see the actor in a grey shade. The movie is directed by Sudheer Varma, and let’s now see how the film fares at box-office.

Story

Ravi (Ravi Teja) is a criminal lawyer working under his ex-girlfriend Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Faria Abdullah). While a lot is on their platter, Ravi shows interest in Harika’s (Megha Akash) case. Why is he keen on taking up her case? What is the connection between Ravi and a series of gruesome murders taking place is the movie’s basic plot.

Analysis

Sudheer Varma of “Swamy Ra Ra” and “Ranarangam” fame directs “Ravanasura.” He picks an exciting setup and goes ahead with the narrative blending his thriller style and the commercial requirements of the star. In the first half of “Ranavasura,” one sees clearly the commercial and thriller genre mixture from Sudheer Varma. A large chunk of the first half revolving around the characters of Kanaka Mahalakshmi and Ravi serves the commercial needs. It has comedy and romance dominating the other elements. However, the comedy itself and so does the narrative lack freshness. It comes off as very formulaic and provides passable entertainment at best.

As we move towards the interval, the thriller angle takes over in the film. The series of murders and sequences leading to the interval is where “Ravanasura” grabs the attention. There is intrigue in the proceedings overcoming the illogical things offering the thrills. The beginning of the second half maintains the momentum and the thrills that commenced from pre-interval.

However, as the narrative progresses and we get to the ‘why’ of all the killings, things fall apart for “Ravanasura.” The core plot revealing the reason for killings is utterly predictable, offering nothing new. We know where things are headed after that point. To add to the predictability woes, we have the illogical thrill elements taken to the next level. They are so over the top that it’s laughable.

The prosthetic makeup aspect is very unconvincing and gets ridiculously silly after a point. The intrigue goes for a toss entirely as the proceedings reach the climax in this logic-less way. One wishes the law and criminal lawyer aspects were cleverly used in the narrative.

On a whole, “Ravanasura” is a commercial drama with thriller elements. Some parts offer intrigue, but a fair share lacks the impact with its illogical and over-the-top proceedings. If you like Ravi Teja and want to see him doing something different, even a small part, try the movie.

Performances

Ravi Teja is in form as one expects. He plays a character with dual shades wherein the second avatar is the surprise package. The first one is regular, which we see all the time. It has all the timing and trademark energy associated with the actor. The second one is the unusual one with a negative tinge. Ravi Teja is good at it as well and delivers the required.

Faria Abdullah, Megha Akash, Anu Emmanuel, and Daksha Nagarkar play the female leads in the movie. Among them, Faria Abdullah and Megha Akash have decent roles. The former has the better character among the two, even though the actual length isn’t that big. They are okay in their respective characters. Anu Emmanuel and Daksha Nagarkar are mostly wasted in minor roles.

Sushanth plays a crucial role in the movie’s progress. Despite such a pivotal part, it doesn’t require heavy-duty performance, and the actor goes about the work casually. Meanwhile, Sreeram doesn’t have much to do at all. Poojita Ponnada, as the cop, registers in her brief appearance. Hyper Adhi, similarly, works out his punches as the sidekick. In a poorly written role, Jayaram isn’t that effective, whereas Murali Sharma is wasted appearing in a scene or two. Rao Ramesh is adequate but doesn’t quite hit the high with the dialect given to him. Sampath Raj, Praveen, Jayaram, Harshavardhan and others act as fillers doing the necessary within the limited time they get.

Technicalities

Director Sudheer Varma tries to do his best with the story he’s been given. He managed to have crafted an engaging and okay first half, but the second half is the major let down for the movie. Harshavardhan Rameshwar and Bheema Ciciroleo provide the music. The songs are forgettable once they are done on screen. The background score further drowns them with its loudness. It is pretty noisy out there. Vijay Karthik Kannan’s cinematography is satisfactory. The narrative has a slick look in parts that take a thriller approach. Naveen Nooli’s editing is neat and gives a racy feel to the proceedings during thriller sequences. The writing should have been better.

Advantages

Ravi Teja (The negative shaded one)

Pre-Interval Post-Interval sequences

Drawbacks

Predictable core plot

Laughable logicless scenes

Missing thrills

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