Ram Gopal Varma’s Attack (2016) Movie Review

Ram Gopal Varma’s Attack (2016) Movie Review
Movie Review: Attack
Cast: Manchu Manoj, Jagapathi Babu, Poonam Kaur, Prakash Raj, Vadde Naveen, Abhimanyu Singh and Surabhi.
Story by Sameer Chandra, Screenplay and Direction by Ram Gopal Varma, Music By Ravi Shankar, Cinematography by Anji and Edited by Goutham Nerusu.

Censor Certificate: A and Runtime: 107.50 Minutes.

“Attack” is what our sensational director RGV was planning when he decided to make this film for fans. Was it a final attack on Telugu audience, RGV? Or was it to the thought that Sarkar needed rehashing… again, for Telugu audience?

I will not try to look at his last year’s film Rowdy that has pretty much the same story line [Which was inspired from God Father, and retelling of RGV’s Sarkar]. Since Attack has very little for the RGV cult fans to be interested in, let alone excited about. And that too beyond the cast which includes Jagapathi Babu, Vadde Naveen, Manchu Manoj and Prakash Raj as powerful ex-gangster family and Surabhi as the female fiddle.

Yet, we are going through a phase in Telugu cinema where remakes and freemakes are running at every second theatre screen so we will excuse the rehashing of the story and its resemblance to Hollywood classic, Godfather.

The story of course is very well known. Ex-mobster turned Businessman Guru Raj (Prakash Raj) ruled a powerful, politically well-connected rowdies in Hyderabad. He is a family man, however, and most of the tension in the family is generated by the admirably close family allegiance of the characters contrasted with the violent illegality of their daily lives. After an attack on Guru Raj, this brings elder son Kali (Jagapathi Babu), who had stood inside the family, back into business. Radha (Manoj) is capable and sympathetic, but when he joins family business, we quickly see his lethal-ness. Much of the emotional impact of the film comes from following narrative arc – from cordial and promising man to silent, murderous mafia kingpin. The rest of the film is working out of Radha’s rise under the shadow of his father’s assassination attempt and taking revenge on the culprits.

While the story seems apt for a short film, RGV’s 108 minutes saga is fastidiously long, boring and irritating. I think that pretty much does sum up the movie. Chase shots, over acting gets really irksome after the first 10 minutes and that’s pretty much what most of the film consists of – Actors either over act or run for their life. There are a few scenes which start off interesting way, but by then you are so beyond caring that they just seem to test your patience more. I cant even begin to start with the things that are wrong with this film. While the premise is different and could have been a crazy ride in a good way, it just turns out to be just the opposite. RGV seems at a loss as to what he wants to show in the movie and it all seems like a long tomfoolery fest for him to try out all that he could.

The character sketches are shacky and inspite of all that good actors’ present it still comes out as fake and amateurish. Take Vadde Naveen for example. While his character started off as someone who wants to prove his capability to his family and after few scenes he pens an attack on same family. For someone who is shown to be huffy, meekly following her family’s wishes doesn’t quite gel in. The other characters are pretty much off chart too. Trying to bring sense to this nonsense is hardwork and unfortunately none of the actors succeed. Manoj could have been rough gangster but the script let him down. Adding to that some jarring inconsistencies make it more difficult to connect with him – his bad slo-mo histrionics and the fake accent.

I have watched almost all of Jagapathy Babu’s films, which keeps me wondering what made him say yes to this one. To someone with good acting skills he seems to be making some really bad choices. His character has pretty much nothing to do.

Coming to other technicalities, Music by Ravi Shankar is too loud. Cinematography by Anji is too zig zag and makes one think what made him use this many of rogue shots. Editing of the film is not upto the mark, even 108 minutes runtime seems like a lengthy one due to over emotional sequences. Production Values of “C K Entertainments” are mediocre.

Survi Review: 0.5/5