| Rakta Charitra | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ram Gopal Varma |
| Produced by | Part I: Sheetal Vinod Talwar Part II: Sheetal Talwar |
| Story by | Prashant Pandey |
| Starring | Vivek Oberoi Suriya Sudeep Shatrughan Sinha Kota Srinivasa Rao Abhimanyu Singh Priyamani Radhika Apte |
| Music by | Part I: Sukhwinder Singh Bapi-Tutul Dharam Sandeep Imran-Vikram Part II: Dharam Sandeep Kohinoor Mukherji Imran-Vikram Sukhwinder Singh Amar Desai |
| Cinematography | Amol Rathod |
| Editing by | Nipun Gupta |
| Distributed by | Vistaar Religare Film Fund |
| Release date(s) | Part I: 22 October 2010 Part II: 3 December 2010[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu Hindi Tamil |
| Budget | 30 crore[2] |
| Box office | 46 crore |
Rakta Charitra ( Telugu: రక్త చరిత్ర ; Hindi: रक्त चरित्र) is a two-part Indian biographical film based on the life of Paritala Ravindra, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film features Vivek Oberoi as Ravindra in the lead role, whilst Suriya plays as Surya, who predominantly appears in the second part. Shatrughan Sinha, Sudeep, Abhimanyu Singh, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Sushant Singh, Priyamani and Radhika Apte play other supporting roles.
The film was released in three different languages, but shot predominantly in Telugu while some scenes were re-shot in Hindi and Tamil. The Telugu and Hindi versions were released in two parts, six weeks apart, while the Tamil version was released as a single film titled Raththa Sarithiram (Tamil: ரத்த சரித்திரம்).
Contents |
The film starts with a narration about politics and gangs in Anantpur district, Andhra Pradesh. The opening scene of a murder in broad daylight, which the narrator calls "rakta politics", sets the tone of the movie. Narasimha Reddy, a local politician, is a powerful man in the area. His close associate Veera Bhadra (Rajendra Gupta) is his trustwothy ally for his political work, to the extent that Narasimha Reddy gives him freedom to contest Jilla Parishad polls with his men. Veera Bhadra champions the causes of the poor and oppressed and they look up to him like their leader.
Nagamuni Reddy (Kota Srinivas Rao), who is the local MLA of the district and close to Narasimha Reddy, becomes jealous of the budding trust between Veera Bhadra and Narasimha Reddy, and starts poisoning Narasimha Reddy against Veera Bhadra. Narasimha summons Veera Bhadra and asks him not to contest the polls with his contestants, but rather support Nagamuni Reddy's. Veera Bhadra lashes out at Narasimha Reddy for being unfair to the lower castes and storms out. Nagamuni Reddy calls for Mari (Ashish Vidyarthi), a close follower of Veera Bhadra, and manipulates him into killing Veera Bhadra, giving him the assurance that if he does it, people will suspect the policies of Veera Bhadra as his own follower killed him and he will be the next in line as the leader of the poor people, else take his life. Mari reluctantly agrees to it. Veera Bhadra and his wife (Zarina Wahab) travel in a bus with 40 people to a wedding. Manda and Nagamuni's men stop the bus, kill Veera Bhadra's guards, and tell him to step out of the bus or else he will be killed along with the other innocents on the bus. Veera Bhadra comes out, looking at Mari, and dares him to kill. Nagamuni's henchman Durga shoots at Veera Bhadra, making it look like Mari shot at him; prompting Mari about the deal he made with Nagamuni, he tells him to kill him in front of everyone. Mari takes a boulder and crushes Veera Bhadra's skull and kills him.
This results in an agitation led by Shankar, who wants to avenge his father's murder by killing all the men of Nagamuni and Narasimha Reddy. Enter Nagamuni's son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh), described as a ruthless man who enjoys raping women and killing men in brutal ways. He starts killing Shankar's men in gory ways: drilling a hole into their skull, chopping off their heads with a sugarcane chopper, burning them alive and feeding them to ravenous rats.
Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi), who is in college in the city, gets the news of his father's murder and rushes to the village. Nagamani Reddy orders local police inspector to kill Shankar in a fake encounter. When Pratap goes to the police station to ask about his brother, the inspector shows him Shankar's dead body and mocks him. Infuriated with this brother's murder, Pratap and Veera Bhadra's men kill all the police officers and the inspector.
Pratap Ravi hides in the jungle with his father's associates and vows to kill Narsimha Reddy, Nagamuni Reddy and Manda one by one, instilling fear of death in each one of them. He starts by busting in the house of Narasimha Reddy, killing his guards and finally killing him with a scythe in front of his wife as she looks on in horror. Next is Manda; as he roams in the market, Pratap's men follow him, and before he can defend himself, they chop his hand off. Manda begs for his life but Pratap stabs him in front of everyone. They plan to kill Nagamuni Reddy, but they are cautious as there is heavy police security in his house. As Nagamuni Reddy is sitting on his lawn conversing with a police officer, he is shot at by Pratap, who is dressed as the cop, and his men, dressed as cops as well, kill most of the policemen.
As Bukka Reddy and his brother Puru Reddy see their father's dead body, Bukka becomes enraged to the extent that he slaps the policewoman (Ashwini Khalsekar) who has come to take the body for postmortem. The story progresses as famed filmstar-turned-politician Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha) targets Anandpur for contesting elections. The day he enters Anandpur for the rally, Bukka's men throw bombs, which makes Shivaji Rao get back inside the car and go back. This insults him greatly and he asks his secretary for the one who can stop Bukka. Immediately, his secretary mentions Pratap's name; Shivaji Rao sends for him and puts down a proposal of joining his party and ticket for contesting elections. On the other hand, Bukka Reddy makes his brother Puru Reddy contest for elections and tries to sabotage the voting process by stealing the ballots. Pratap starts his rampage by eliminating, one by one, every rival of his party. Eventually, he comes across a man named Babu Qadri who seeks Pratap's help in avenging his sister's death. Bukka Reddy had raped his 16-year-old sister, because of which she immolated herself, and Bukka had then broken Babu Qadri's leg. Pratap assures him his vengeance but asks him to forget everything for some time.
As Bukka's men fail in rigging the election process, Pratap wins by a majority. Immediately, Bukka Reddy is arrested. Puru Reddy seeks the help of opposition leader Sethji's help in influencing the release of Bukka on bail. As soon as Pratap learns of this news, he looks out for the location where Bukka is hiding. Bukka, inflamed with the desire to avenge his father's death, hides out in an apartment with his men, and plots to kill Pratap Ravi. Pratap comes to know about his hideout devises a plan to execute him. He immediately gathers his men and calls Babu Qadri, who had sought Pratap's help in avenging his sister, to lead the execution of Bukka Reddy. He calls for the servant of Bukka Reddy and bribes him with 5 lakhs to aid in the execution. Babu Qadri and Pratap's men rush into the apartment, killing all Bukka's men; Babu shoots at Bukka but he escapes the bullets and runs to the balcony through the back door, where Babu shoots him from behind, and hacks him repeatedly with his axe, venting his anger. Pratap Ravi, being at the peak of his power with Shivaji Rao's full support, invites all the gangsters of the state to his place for lunch; after lunch he orders everyone to stop their illegal activities or face the music, emphasizing the power that he has in the state now.
The first few minutes show a recap of part 1, such as the events of how Prathap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi) takes revenge for the murder of his father and brother as well as how he comes to power. When no one in Andhra has the courage to stand up against Ravi, a man comes into light to seek revenge on Prathap. Surya Narayanareddy (Suriya Sivakumar) is seen waiting in the woods near the main road, waiting for Prathap Ravi and hurls a bomb at his convoy. Unfortunately for Surya, Prathap Ravi escapes the bomb blast. Prathap Ravi's henchmen attempt to kill Surya but he manages to escape.
Surya informs his wife that he missed the chance of killing Prathap Ravi. Meanwhile the media ask's Prathap if this attempt is a Surya's revenge for the TV bomb placed in Surya's home by Prathap himself. Prathap Ravi denies the charge. Shivaji Rao asks Prathap to stop this vengeance but Prathap insists on killing Surya. Prathap orders his action team to kill anyone who opposes him. DCP Mohan Prasad starts to investigate the case.He finds Bhavani (Priyamani), wife of Surya, and demands Surya to surrender or else he would harm his wife and baby son Arya. Surya thinks that he has missed a great chance and another chance will not come so easily and decides to surrender for protection plots to kill Prathap Ravi. DCP Mohan Prasad produces Surya in court to face trial. Prathap Ravi sends a henchmen to kill Surya in court itself, but Surya manages to fight him and kills the henchman in front of judge. Surya is sent to prison.
Prathap Ravi decides to kill Surya inside the jail, he plans carefully and decides someone from outside their camp should do this, so that the police does not suspect them. In prison Surya befriends Muddu Krishna by telling him his story. The flashback shows that after Prathap Ravi's attempt to kill Narasimha Reddy (Kitty), Surya's brother wants to take revenge. Surya, on the other hand, doesn't want to take revenge straight away, and tells him to be patient and to leave the matter as it is, as he doesn't want to put his mother and sister in any danger. Within few months Surya entire family is killed in the TV bomb blast. After hearing the story, Muddu Krishna decides help Surya in killing Ravi. The henchmen in prison try to kill Surya but Surya fights them back. After this failure Prathap Ravi is warned by Shivaji Rao. As a result, Prathap Ravi decides that he wants to stop this revenge and he meets Surya in jail.Ravi tells Surya to stop this bloodshed, to which Surya promptly replies "I'll surely stop - after killing you". Prathap thinks he can't do anything because he is in jail, which makes him defenseless.
Enter Krishnaswamy, the opposition Party leader, who decides to meet Surya. He says that to kill Ravi, Surya has to become a bigger name in Anandpur than Ravi. Krishnaswamy requests Surya to ask his wife to stand in election. Surya convinces Bhavani to stand for election. This makes Ravi to fear for his life and also for his ministerial post, consequently his henchmen want to eliminate Bhavani but Nandhini (Radhika Apte) pleads with Ravi not to kill Bhavani, causing Ravi to abort the plan. However, one of Ravi's closest gang member, Umapathy, is already on his way to kill Bhavani. Muddu Krishna kills Umapathy and saves Bhavani. Krishnaswamy comes to prison to thank Surya, and Surya thanks him in return.
A scared Prathap organises a meeting involving the leaders of all the states of India. Knowing this, Surya plots to kill Prathap. He realises that in the meeting, all the leaders will participate with their bodyguards. He orders Muddu Krishna to dress like a bodyguard since no one would be able to identify whose bodyguard belongs to whoever. Using this ambiguity Surya's henchmen can kill Ravi. After the meeting comes to end, Ravi plans to leave. As he was leaving, he see's a familiar face and is struck. He sees Surya, standing in front of him with his handgun. Surya fires at Prathap until he dies in a pool of blood. Surya's friends put teargas and create panic, and under the cover of smoke, Surya escapes from the scene and returns to the prison. Nandhini cries by hugging her dead husband Prathap Ravi.
Muddu Krishna takes the blame for killing Prathap Ravi for Surya. DCP Mohan Prasad comes to meet Surya in jail and justifies why Ravi became a factionist. It was the circumstances that made Ravi a factionist. He adds to Surya that the same circumstances will change him into a Ravi. Surya finally says "Thank you, but I won't change into another Ravi". The movie ends with the birth of Prathap Ravi's child.
| Rakta Charitra | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Imran-Vikram, Dharam-Sandeep, Bappi-Tutul and Sukhwinder Singh | |
| Released | 2010 |
| Genre | Film soundtrack |
| Length | 135 minutes |
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Khaul Khaul Ke" | Jojo, Ujwal | 4:29 |
| 2. | "Mila Toh Marega" | Ravindra Upadhyay, Vishvesh Parmar, Sandeep Patil | 3:40 |
| 3. | "Paisewala" | Sukhwinder Singh | 3:53 |
| 4. | "Maar De" | Jojo | 4:17 |
| 5. | "Kaaton Se" | Suresh Wadkar | 4:12 |
| 6. | "Karma Dharma" | Vardan Singh, Aditi Kaur | 3:08 |
| 7. | "Har Jazbe Mein" | Sukhwinder Singh | 4:32 |
| 8. | "Paisa Mix" | Sukhwinder Singh, Sumitra Iyer | 4:35 |
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Patthar Ko" | Sukhwinder Singh | 3:09 |
| 2. | "Khel Shuroo" | Armaan Malik, Shree Kumar | 4:03 |
| 3. | "Nagendra Haraya" | Sukhwinder Singh, Viveka | 4:02 |
| 4. | "Maar Da" (Remix) | Jojo | 6:04 |
| 5. | "Mila Toh Marega" (Electro Mix) | Sandeep Patil, Ravindra Upadhay | 3:48 |
| 6. | "Patthar Ko" (Theme Music) | Instrumental | 2:05 |
The film opened to mostly positive reviews from critics, garnering particular praise for its technical brilliance, Ram Gopal Varma's direction and powerful performances from the ensemble cast. On the review-aggregation website ReviewGang, the film scored 5.0/10 based on six reviews.[3] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama claimed that Varma "handled a number of sequences brilliantly", drawing comparison with the filmmaker's previous successful ventures including Satya and Sarkar. He went on to praise the performances, labeling Vivek Oberoi as "super efficient" and giving the film a rating of three stars. All reviewers unanimously praised Suriya, for whom this film was his Bollywood entry, saying that "he delivers, without doubt, one of the most aggressive and forceful performances Hindi cinema has witnessed this year" followed by stating "Southern superstar Suriya is a welcome addition to the ranks of A-list heroes in the Hindi film industry."[4]
Rediff.com wrote: "Ram Gopal Varma doles out another concoction of outlaw politics with all his favorite ingredients — an intense ensemble cast, new south Indian baddies, edgy wide angle camerawork and a trademark theme track."[5] Moviebuzz wrote that the film was "a feast for serious moviegoers."[6] Daily News and Analysis and Filmfare gave the film a 4/5 rating and Midday Mirror gave it 3.5/5.
Nominated[7]
Nominated[8]
Nominated[9]