Mr. Bachchan: A Masala Treat For Ravi Teja Fans

Harish Shankar does a fine job in molding the central character, but a palpable sense of danger is missing

  • Starcast: Ravi Teja, Bhagyashri Borse, Jagapathi Babu and others special appearance (Siddhu Jonnalagadda)
  • Director and writer: Harish Shankar
  • Original story: Ritesh Shah
  • Based on: Hindi movie Raid (2018)
  • Producer: T. G Vishwa Prasad
  • Production house: People Media Factory Banner
  • Music: Mickey J. Meyer
  • Cinematography: Ayananka Bose
  • Running time: 2 hours and 35 minutes

Harish Shankar is one of those few directors with a good track record in making successful remakes. Gabbar Singh the remake of Dabbang gave a much-needed commercial hit for Pawan Kalyan. A major reason for Gabbar Singh success was how he integrated the trademark Pawan Kalyan quirks and eccentrics. Similarly, Jigarthanda was remade as Gaddalakonda Ganesh. For Varun Tej Gaddalakonda Ganesh was a breakthrough movie. On the other hand, Harish Shankar hasn’t found much success while directing original stories. After a hiatus the director is back with the Hindi remake of Raid Mr. Bachchan. Raid was an intense thriller taken from a real-life income tax raid. It was the longest ever raid to have happened. Director Raj Kumar Gupta made sure that the proceedings were taunt with no unnecessary commercial elements. Sure, the film had a few romantic numbers and also some romance between Ileana D’Cruz and Ajay Devgan but that didn’t hamper the film’s flow. Mr. Bachchan on the other hand is more commercial in sync with Ravi Teja’s mass image. This remake has ample doses of action sequences, mass numbers where Ravi Teja shakes a leg with a much younger heroine etc.

Mr Bachchan and Raid

Mr Bachchan begins off with establishing the honesty of Indukuri Anand who is also called as Mr. Bachchan. He has done many raids earning a good reputation. However, a particular raid leads to his suspension. Indukuri Anand comes back to his hometown. There is a specific reason behind Indukuri also being called Bachchan. The father played by Tanikella Bharani is a huge fan of Shahenshah Amitabh Bachchan, it goes without saying that Ravi Teja too is a big fan of Amitabh Bachchan in real life. Coming back, the father decides to keep the name of Bachchan as a nickname for his son. There is an entire sequence where Ravi Teja enacts scenes from Deewar and Shahenshah among others. In his hometown Bachchan falls in love with Jikki (Bhagyashri Borse). While the love story is going on Mr. Bachchan path crosses with that of a powerful politician Mutyam Jaggaya (Jagapati Babu). Later on, Anand’s suspension is revoked, as part of duty Indukuri lands in Mutyam Jaggaya’s house to unearth all the black money and gold. How his personal and professional life gets entwined with Mutyam Jaggaya is the core of Mr. Bachchan.

Ravi Teja enacting scenes from Deewar and Shahenshah among others
Ravi Teja and Bhagyashri Borse

Not surprisingly the soul of Mr. Bachchan is Ravi Teja’s energetic performance. He does well as a determined IT officer and is also charming in the romantic scenes. The confrontation scenes with Jagapathi Babu have some nice punches particularly the dialogues about honesty and how he will shower the power of an honest Income tax officer.

The romance between Ravi Teja and Bhagyashri Bose is developed through old songs and her visits to the place of cassette recording. These portions have a certain oldworld charm. Bhagyashri Borse lends the necessary glam quotient and is also fairly effective in the intense scenes.

Bhagyashri Borse adds to the glam quotient

Jagapathi Babu seems to have stepped straight out of Aravinda Samatha sets. The senior actor doesn’t match up to Saurabh Shukla’s towering act, nevertheless Jagapati Babu does make for a formidable adversary and does a fine job in showcasing Mutyam Jaggaya’s frustration. However, in terms of characterization Saurabh Shukla’s Tauji was more layered. The actor coupled with the writing brought a certain humanity. There are scenes in Raid where there is a palpable anguish in Tauji’s eyes about his own family’s incompetence. This is absolutely missing in the remake.

Jagapathi Babu makes for a formidable adversary

Another problem with Mr Bachchan is the characterizations of the team members. Amit Sial in Raid had a very important role. He goes from being Tauji’s mole to developing a conscious. Here they have been written in extreme broad strokes. Coming to Siddhu Jonnalagadda’s cameo the young actor impresses with his charismatic style and trademark dialogue delivery.

Micky. J Myers music is suitably massy with some energetic dancing from Ravi Teja and Bhagyashri Borse. Ayananka Bose’s cinematography is lavish,

Mr. Bachchan is best watched without comparisons to Raid. For hard core Ravi Teja fans there is enough to enjoy.

Ravanasura: Ravi Teja Comes Out All Guns Blazing In This Decent But Muddled Thriller

Lacks solid story & screenplay!

Ravanasrura (Telugu)

  • Cast: Ravi Teja, Sushanth, Anu Emmanuel, Faria Abdullah, Megha Akash, and Daksha Nagarkar
  • Direction: Sudheer Varma
  • Producers: Abhishek Nama and Ravi Teja
  • Music: Harshvardhan Rameshwar and Bheema Ceciroleo
  • Runtime: 2 hours 21 minutes

Sudheer Varma made an impressive directorial debut with the film Swamy Ra Ra starring Nikhil Siddharth in the lead. It was a well-made crime comedy that received both critical appreciation and commercial success.

Later, the director teamed up with Nikhil once again for Keshava in 2017. Though it was a revenge drama it had an interesting element to it.

The element is the condition of the hero who suffers from a rare congenital disorder called Dextrocardia. People with this disorder are prevented from doing activities which results in a faster heartbeat.

In between these two films, Sudheer Varma directed two absolute duds – one with Naga Chaitanya and the other with Sharwanand.

Still, Ravanasura created a certain buzz, thanks to the title and the different presentations of Ravi Teja in the promos.

The director does deserve appreciation for how he connects certain qualities of the famous mythological character Ravanasura to his protagonist Ravindra. However, the film lacks the required punch to make it a memorable experience.

Synopsis

Ravindra (Ravi Teja) is a junior lawyer working under Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Faria Abdullah). Kanaka Mahalakshmi is a reputed criminal lawyer.

One day, Harika (Megha Akash) approaches her to take up a murder case where her father (Sampath Raj) is accused.

Ravindra falls for Harika at the very first sight. At least that is the impression that the audiences get in the initial reels. He requests Kanaka Mahalakshmi to deal with the case.

Meanwhile, several murders happen with a particular pattern. The rest of the story deals with whether Harika’s father is connected to those crimes or not and also how heroes are not always innocent.

An engaging first half

Ravanasura begins interestingly. There is a proper mix of comedy and thrills. The scenes between Ravi Teja and Hyper Adi do bring many a smile to the audience’s faces.

The entry of Sushanth as a mysterious guy makes the film more interesting.

Although the suspense regarding the killer is revealed midway into the first half itself, we will still be interested in knowing about the motivations behind these murders.

The interval bang raises expectations for a gripping second half.

The flaws

However, things fall flat in the second half once we come to know the reasons behind the murders. The proceedings soon become tedious.

The Ramayana connection has its high points but at the end of the day, it doesn’t add much.

The flashback of Ravindra is dealt with in a rather haphazard manner. As a result, it lacks the required emotional connection. Vigilante justice is also hugely problematic.

It also doesn’t help the film except for Sushanth and to an extent Megha Akash the rest of the actors are severely handicapped by underwritten parts.

Rao Ramesh in particular suffers on the account of a weak characterisation.

Ravi Teja is a real surprise

Despite the film’s many flaws, Ravi Teja does manage to hold the movie together with his solid performance.

In the comic bits, he is his usual goofy self but the actor surprises you when he has to portray the unhinged nature of Ravindra. His menacing avatar will send a shiver down the audience’s spine.

Sushanth does a good job as a prosthetics artist. His confrontation scenes with Ravi Teja have come out well.

Megha Akash has a dual-shaded role and she does a good job of portraying the contrasting shades.

Among the technicians, Vijay Karthik Kannan’s cinematography deserves appreciation. It is in sync with the dark nature of the film.

Harshavardhan Rameshwar’s background score does provide some thrills.

Final take

Though Ravi Teja gives his all, Ravanasura needs a more solid story and screenplay.

Waltair Veerayya: A Routine Vendetta Saga With All Style And No Substance

Summary

Waltair Veerayya (Telugu) 2 out of 5
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Ravi Teja, Prakash Raj, Bobby Simha, Rajendra Prasad, Shruti Hassan, Catherine Teresa, Vennela Kishore and others
Director: Bobby Kohli
Producers: Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Running time: 2 hours and 35 minutes
Genre: Action drama/comedy

Chiranjeevi is an actor who came with no background but emerged as a megastar with his hard work. There is a huge fan base that Chiranjeevi enjoys. But of late the actor has been struggling big time ever since he made a comeback to cinema.

Apart from Khaidi No 150, nothing has clicked for the actor.

Waltair Veerayya is thus an important film to him as neither Acharya nor Godfather set the box office on fire, although the latter had good reviews.

The promos of Waltair promised Chiranjeevi at his massy best and the addition of Ravi Teja had made the audiences excited.

Chiru has a blast

There is no denying that Chiranjeevi had a blast playing Waltair and his energy at the age of 67 is indeed commendable, but the end result is still hugely underwhelming.

Chiranjeevi is a smuggler of luxury goods and liquor along with being a fisherman. In spite of having a criminal record, there is a certain respect that Waltair enjoys. He is so respected that even the Coast Guard takes his help when in dire need.

Even a police officer like Seethapathi (Rajendra Prasad) approaches Waltair to help him bring back a notorious drug dealer Solomon Caesar (Bobby Simha) from Malaysia. Waltair and co go to Malaysia to kidnap Solomon.

Here Veerayya’s path crosses with that of Solomon’s brother Michael Caesar (Prakash Raj in another routine villain role). Waltair and Michael have a past that is connected to ACP Vikram Sagar (Ravi Teja). Vikram Sagar and Veerayya are step brothers.

Commercial package

What follows is a template commercial package where the elder brother takes revenge on the enemies and restores honour to his dead younger brother.

The story of Waltair doesn’t make any bones of being different and the fan appeasement is very clear from the moment Chiranjeevi is introduced.

The first half is sporadically engaging, all thanks to the comic timing of Chiranjeevi. His fear of heights generates some chuckles. There is a particular slang that the actor uses and this leads to some entertaining moments.

The other members of the gang that include Srinivasa Reddy and Saptagiri don’t get to do much in spite of their proven comic skills.

Sruthi Hassan’s character has an interesting twist when she is revealed to be a RAW officer, but as in most big ticket vehicles, she is relegated to the background soon.

Things take a turn for the better at the interval point and the interval bang is where the real story begins.

Ravi Teja factor

Ravi Teja’s entry and his scenes with Chiranjeevi are easily the best part of the second half.

The scenes where both the actors reference each other’s films do bring a smile to your face. There is big friction between them but at the same time there is also an undercurrent of emotion.

In spite of knowing where the story is going to head, you are involved as long as Ravi Teja is there.

As ACP Sagar, Ravi Teja brings a certain intensity to his part. A particular mention must be made of Ravi Teja’s death scene and the one final conversation that he has with his brother.

But once the flashback ends, the film starts becoming a big slog with endless action scenes and the pre-climax involving vigilante justice leaves the audiences with a sour taste.

Both Prakash Raj and Bobby Simha are earnest in their parts, but these are roles that they can play even in sleep.

As in most Telugu films, there is a huge set of supporting actors; but, with the exception of Rajendra Prasad, none have anything much to contribute.

The music by Devi Sri Prasad is apt for those who enjoy mass entertainers.

Chiru needs better scripts!

As Waltair, Chiranjeevi undoubtedly has a blast. His performance in both the comic and emotional bits is a delight to watch.

But it is high time that the actor understands the changing tastes of audiences and chooses scripts accordingly.

It would be good if the senior actor takes the route of an Amitabh Bachchan or a Mammooty.