Racha (film)

Rachcha
Film poster
Directed by	Sampath Nandi
Produced by	R. B. Choudary
Written by	Sampath Nandi
Starring	Ram Charan Teja Tamannaah Bhatia Ajmal Ameer Mukesh Rishi Parthiepan Kota Srinivasa Rao Nassar Dev Gill
Music by	Mani Sharma
Cinematography	Sameer Reddy
Editing by	Gautham Raju
Studio	Megaa Super Good Films
Release dates	5 April 2012 (2012-04-05)[1]
Running time	144 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	45 crore (US$7.2 million)[2]
Box office	113 crore (US$18 million)[3] (worldwide gross)[4]

Rachcha (translation: Uproar) sometimes spelled Racha, is a 2012 Tollywood action film written and directed by Sampath Nandi. The film is produced by R. B. Choudary under his Megaa Super Good Films banner. The film stars Ram Charan Teja and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles, with Mukesh Rishi, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Ajmal Ameer essaying other important roles.^[5]

The music was composed by Mani Sharma. The film released on 5 April 2012^[1] and was a success at the box office.^[3] The film was also dubbed and released in Tamil and Malayalam as Ragalai and Raksha respectively.^[6] Although opening to mixed critical reception, the film gross 12 crore (US$1.9 million) at the box office which is a lot for this hero. The film has been dubbed in Hindi as Betting Raja ^[7]

Plot

'Betting' Raj (Ram Charan Teja) is a Hyderabad-based happy-go-lucky guy who makes his living by betting. He lives with his adopted parents (M. S. Narayana and Sudha) who support his means of living. Everything goes on as usual until tragedy strikes the family in the form of his father who is diagnosed with cirrhosis as a result of heavy drinking. Raj needs 2 million for his father's liver transplant, which must be done within a month. As he is on the lookout for money, he is approached by James (Ajmal Ameer), another bookie whom he had already met at an earlier competition, with a betting challenge. James dares Raj to make Chaitra (Tamannaah Bhatia), a dental student and the daughter of the powerful betting committee president Bellary (Mukesh Rishi) to fall in love with him. If he is able to make her fall in love with him before the month end i.e. 31 December 2011, he would win 2 million.

A desperate Raj, badly needing the money for his adopted father's operation, takes up the challenge and begins wooing Chaitra. Initially, Chaitra appears to spurn his advances and sets him even tougher challenges to propose her. Raj successfully overcomes all these challenges and Chaitra soon reciprocates his advances. Unfortunately, Bellary finds out about this relationship and sends his henchmen to kill the couple on the night of 31 December, the day Raj is to win his challenge. Raj successfully thwarts the henchmen and he and Chaitra escape to Srisailam. Bellary, with the help of his corrupt minister-friend Baireddanna (Kota Srinivasa Rao) and the latter's Dubai-based son (Dev Gill), begin a search for the couple.

Meanwhile while Raj and Chaitra are on the run from Bellary's and Baireddanna's henchmen in Srisailam, James surprisingly appears and rescues them. At this juncture, Baireddanna's son appears, kidnaps Chaitra and stabs James. A wounded James then reveals to Raj about the latter's past.

Raj was the son of Suryanarayana (Parthiepan), a respected man in Rayadurg. Suryanarayana was best friends with a rich man Ramamurthy (Nassar), whose daughter was Chaitra. Chaitra was a childhood friend of Raj. Suryanarayana's brother-in-law was none other than Bellary, who had found out about the presence of iron ore under Ramamurthy's land. He and Baireddanna decided to exploit the ore for their sinister purposes. When Suryanarayana and Ramamurthy objected to this, Bellary, Baireddanna and their henchemen killed them and their families, except Raj and Chaitra. Chaitra was adopted by Bellary, who planned to kill her when she became a major, so that he could acquire Ramamurthy's land. Chaitra, who already knew about Raj's betting nature, told James, who was her school friend, to place the 2 million bet to Raj so that he could destroy Bellary and Baireddanna. Raj decides to avenge his father's death and kills Bellary, Baireddanna and his son in a thrilling climax at Rayadurg, rescues Chaitra and distributes Ramamurthy's land to the villagers.

Cast

• Ram Charan Teja as "Betting" Raj (childhood name Cherry)
• Tamannaah Bhatia as Chaitra (childhood name Ammu)
• Ajmal Ameer as James
• Ali as Papa Rao (Love Guru)
• Nassar as Ramamurthy
• Parthiepan as Suryanarayana
• Mukesh Rishi as Bellary
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Baireddanna
• Dev Gill as Baireddanna's son
• Geetha as Bellary's wife
• Thagubothu Ramesh as Bobby
• Brahmanandam^[8] as Dr. Rangeela
• M. S. Narayana as Raj's adopted father
• Lisa Haydon^[9] in an item number in the song Rachcha

Production

The film was launched formally on 12 June 2011 with Chiranjeevi sounding the clapboard.^[5][10] Furthermore Ajmal Ameer is said to play the main antagonist after the unit was impressed by his performance in Rangam, the dubbed version of the Tamil film Ko.^[11] The unit has finished shooting a song in Sri Lanka.^[11] Mani Sharma has been roped in as the music director and reports say that he has completed two songs.^[12]

Release

The film was released worldwide on 5 April 2012.^[1] Rachcha was released in 1600 theatres world wide in three languages.

Critical reception

Racha opened to mixed reviews. The critics in the CNN-IBN website gave the average rating 2.5 out of 5 for the film, stating- "Rachcha is technically sound, but lacks storyline".^[13] The critics of The Times of India website gave the above average rating 3/5 and stated that "The movie is designed for the hardcore "Mega Fan" and it makes no bones about it".^[14] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote- "Rachcha is tailor-made for Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan fans. Go without expectations and you will be entertained."^[15] Sify says the movie is "A Paisa Vasool Movie".^[16] OneIndia says "Don't miss the movie".^[17] TeluguOne says "Racha is a potpourri and Mega Fans will be fully satisfied." ^[18] CineCorn says "Racha is a mass entertainer. Watch it because it's an entertaining commercial mass film in a long time".^[19] 123Telugu says "The film has all the commercial elements required for a good run at B and C centers.Racha is decent one time summer watch".^[20]

Box office

This film has crossed the magic figure of 10.8  crore in its opening day. The film has collected a gross more than 50 crore in its first week .The Tamil version of this film Ragalai has collected 5.2 crore in its full run and Malayalam version Raksha has collected 1.8 crore.^[3] The film has completed 50 days in 127 direct centres on 24 May 2012.^[4][21] Racha collects 89 crore (US$14 million)(worldwide share) And A final gross figure of 113 crore (US$18 million).

Home media

The Aditya Video Company has released the film through VCD's and DVD's into the market in India and Overseas, five days after completing 100 days of the film.^[22]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Mani Sharma, which happens to be his second film with Ram Charan after 2007 film Chiruta. The soundtrack album was released on 11 March 2012 at People's Plaza in Hyderabad.^[23]

Accolades

References

External links

• Racha at the Internet Movie Database