Muthiah’s Rayudu (2016) Movie Review

Muthiah’s Rayudu (2016) Movie Review

Movie : Rayudu; Starring Vishal, Sri Divya, R K Suresh, Soori, ; Story–Screenplay–Direction by Muthiah; Music Composed by Imman;  Cinematography by Velraj; Editing by Praveen KL; Rated UA; 146 Minutes.

Rayudu (Vishal) plays a local toughie, who fights against the wrong doers and works as a load carrier in Ananthapur. While enjoying the pampering act of his grandmother Mangamma (Kolla Pulli Leela).  Meanwhile, Bhagya Lakshmi (Sri Divya) is the daughter of the virtuous and righteous Lawyer Narasimhulu. Though Bhagya is not very happy with Rayudu at first, Narasimhulu (Marimuthu) is happy with his noble heart and agrees to give him his daughter in marriage. On the other hand Gayathri’s family has hostility with Rolex Batchi (R K Suresh) as they barbarically murdered the Gayathri’s mother Bhanumathi. Now Bhagya Lakshmi goes against Rolex Batchi with her dad. Will they file the case? Would Rayudu help his love? Whats Rayudu’s connection with the murder? And whats the role of Mangamma in this forms the rest of the storyline.

Vishal Reddy gives a decent performance, and the brute contrast he shows when he is in romance and in conversation with Mangamma – two polarizing aspects of the character which he balances delicately to maintain the integrity of the character. Kolla Pulli Leela has played a shuttle character and she carries the role with ease.  Comedian Parotta Soori is in his element of providing the much needed comic relief, and it works in parts. Sri Divya has done a commendable job as a strong village girl. The sincere R K Suresh is well cast, but Aadhira Pandilakshmi, Marimuthu and Radha Ravi are wasted in pointless characters.

During the late 70’s, 80s with emergence of filmmakers like Dasari Narayan Rao, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao,  Kodi Rama Krishna the village based movies had a significance because of the emotions and relationships, which had gained more importance. But shifting to the early 2000s it’s a mere disappointment, as Industry paved way for commercial cinema. Rayudu carries an age old revenge point where it deals about the relationship between a grandmother and her son in law. Vishal plays the son in law, while Kolla Pulli Leela plays the grandmother role. It is quite unfortunate that two seasoned actors look blasé post the initial sequences and any special effort to portray their characters is completely missing here.

Even director Muthiah’s Rayudu plotline is quite similar to his earlier films Komban and Kutti Puli. His screenplay suffers minor contusions at a few important junctions due to some hurried changeover sequences. The scene where Vishal gets to know the back story of Pandilakshmi’s murder or the point where Vishal needs to go against R K Suresh happens almost instantaneously with not much of diligence. The simple reason behind the conflicts of what we see between the protagonist and antagonist is pretty stereotypical. Its been part and parcel of many rural revenge based films. To make things worse the plot point gets revealed almost midway through the film which makes it an absolute dampener. “Rayudu” more or less losses its drip on the audience in the first half itself, due to its heavy Tamil masala fare. It’s the faint hearted hope that there could be something interesting stack up in the second half keeps the audience stay put in the theatre. But once the second half starts rolling, it gets very clear that there is absolutely nothing different or interesting in the film that can possibly occur from on that. Even climax turns out to be deadening and the final  point failed to tie the situations with conviction.

Coming to other technical aspects D Imman’s music is mediocre while Velraj’s cinematography deserves a special mention. The background is enjoyable in the action episodes. In terms of editing, there are many scenes that doesn’t add value to the film and such scenes should have been kyboshed at the editing table itself. Telugu lyrics of the film are silly and cringe worthy in some places. Telugu translated Tamil Dialogues are fine. Production Values of Hari Venkateshwara Pictures are alright.

“Rayudu” is another attempt to make serious revenge cinema in a village pattern that has lost its charm with the Telugu audience, due to its rampant misuse. It’s pretentious to the core and tests the patience during its 146 minute duration. Now the choice is yours.

Survi Review: 1.5/5