Ram Gopal Varma has given Bollywood some of it's most famous movies. But may be he has given all he had, because in Rakht Charitra I he tries to stuff in all the elements he ever had in his kitty. What new he adds to it is sheer loudness. A grumpy,irritating voice-over unnecessarily explaining what we could otherwise easily see with our eyes and make out leaves not much for the audience to do - treating them like school children being dramatically read out a history lesson in class. And the overtly loud background music, with repeated,unnecessary,harsh chantings(whose meaning we couldn't often make out) tries to keep the audience engrossed in their 'lesson' and never miss the feel - but it fails miserably as it sounds simply ridiculous at times and doesn't go with the pace of the film. May be RGV was too afraid that his audience would not be able to relate to his story, like they couldn't in Agyat,Aag,Darling,Nishabd etc.
The director overdoes with some of his poor clichés which he should have done away with by this time, like trying to involve the family a bit too much and not transforming characters well with time. Women readying breakfast on the table while serious matters are dealt with a few hands away; the maid cleaning a candle-stand while state-level politics is being discussed in the room and with a transformed Vivek Oberoi his aides' wardrobes remain pretty much the same as before. Similar things we have seen and spared in hits like Company and Satya - but we expect the director not to repeat them emphatically, which he does here! May be all these to hide the bit jumbled up script.
In terms of acting is where the film does best - with a host of talented actors(a few too many, one may think) with bits of parts to play. Vivek has a little lesser screen-presence to my liking and does look a touch confused n shaky with his characterization right from his first scene where he strolls a scooter down the neighbourhood.(not a grand entry) But he does well to get into his character as the film progresses. And the topsy-turvy transformation journey he is set into is handled efficiently, showing glimpses of his earlier brilliance in the dying scenes of the film. May be RGV could have left a bit more on his shoulders since he is supposed to be the central character - hopefully we will see more of him in the 2nd part. Shatrughan Sinha is provided with the bulk of the smart dialogues which he does justice to. But the show is stolen by badman Abhimanyu Singh who gets lots of screen presence and intrigues some real fear in this otherwise hyped-to-be- violent movie. Almost all the violence is left to him alone and will be missed in the 2nd part. Radhika Apte and Subroto Sen deserve mention for their expressive characterization! The kind of violence didn't intrigue the nausea I had prepared for(prepared for a lot) but it's the music and voice-over which does the job instead! The Telegu version I guess is a better watch with a more suiting screenplay and better dialogues(don't know about the voice-over?)
Better can be expected of the 2nd part.
The director overdoes with some of his poor clichés which he should have done away with by this time, like trying to involve the family a bit too much and not transforming characters well with time. Women readying breakfast on the table while serious matters are dealt with a few hands away; the maid cleaning a candle-stand while state-level politics is being discussed in the room and with a transformed Vivek Oberoi his aides' wardrobes remain pretty much the same as before. Similar things we have seen and spared in hits like Company and Satya - but we expect the director not to repeat them emphatically, which he does here! May be all these to hide the bit jumbled up script.
In terms of acting is where the film does best - with a host of talented actors(a few too many, one may think) with bits of parts to play. Vivek has a little lesser screen-presence to my liking and does look a touch confused n shaky with his characterization right from his first scene where he strolls a scooter down the neighbourhood.(not a grand entry) But he does well to get into his character as the film progresses. And the topsy-turvy transformation journey he is set into is handled efficiently, showing glimpses of his earlier brilliance in the dying scenes of the film. May be RGV could have left a bit more on his shoulders since he is supposed to be the central character - hopefully we will see more of him in the 2nd part. Shatrughan Sinha is provided with the bulk of the smart dialogues which he does justice to. But the show is stolen by badman Abhimanyu Singh who gets lots of screen presence and intrigues some real fear in this otherwise hyped-to-be- violent movie. Almost all the violence is left to him alone and will be missed in the 2nd part. Radhika Apte and Subroto Sen deserve mention for their expressive characterization! The kind of violence didn't intrigue the nausea I had prepared for(prepared for a lot) but it's the music and voice-over which does the job instead! The Telegu version I guess is a better watch with a more suiting screenplay and better dialogues(don't know about the voice-over?)
Better can be expected of the 2nd part.