To be straight, the movie is A Big No for all the kids and even for the grown-ups having weak hearts. The extremely brutal killings shown freely in the film can really leave some disturbing marks on the innocent psyche of the kids. So the first rule of watching RAKTA CHARITRA is that you should not take your kids along to the theaters (and may be the ladies too).
The second revelation about this first part of RGVs sequel is that it is evidently not everyone's cup of tea in the literal sense. The viewers, who wish to have a good time and fun in the cinema, may find it unentertaining, meaningless, bloody and too hard hitting. But movie freaks, who are well familiar with the brand RGV and love to see some cunning, strong and realistic kind of cinema told with a fresh narrative, are sure going to love it in one manner or the other.
Returning to the movie itself, it is apparently made on the true story of famous gangster turned politician Paritala Ravi of Andhra Pradesh. Here I would like to add that if everything shown in the film is really true and is not glorified to a large extent, then it is really scary to know that it all actually happened in a city full of living human beings.
Apart from the storyline you may also complain about the similar RGV kind of camera angles, lightings and confrontations scenes in the film, reminding you the ones seen earlier in his SATYA, COMPANY, SARKAR, SARKAR-RAJ and many other underworld movies coming from the RGV factory. And for many the film might be a documentary focusing only on all the hardcore murders coming one after another on the screen without any basic storyline behind them. But still RAKTA CHARITRA works in a particular way for all the RGV fans and for the viewers who are game for something experimental tried by the gutsy director of Indian Film Industry.
Frankly what worked for me in RC is the attitude with which it is made fearlessly by the one & only RGV. The man dares to do what he feels like and with his every new film tries to make his own set of rules about film business. For instance, he simply doesn't care if his project gets deliberately avoided by groups of college going boys and girls, love couples, and families especially having small kids, even if this takes away a major part of his collections at the box office. He makes what he wishes to make and that too in a style which cannot even be thought by many other glossy film-makers of Bollywood churning out chocolate movies with big stars every year. Mahesh Bhatt was the one man who used to take up such kind of subjects earlier but then he too always decorated his projects with controversial scenes, loud emotional dramas and hit songs. Today, RGV moves way ahead in that direction with RAKTA CHARITRA and delivers a film which might be unbearable for many having his name written over every frame of the reels till the end.
Using hidden talented actors such as Abhimanyu Singh, Ashwini Kalsekar, Zarina Wahab and Rajendra Gupta, RGV transforms them into believable lively characters with his remarkable vision and skill. Now who could have thought to cast Shatrughan Sinha with a look without his famous moustache? And who could have thought of making a complete film of 4 hours and then releasing it in two parts at a gap of one month?
Only RGV showed these guts but honestly his sequel idea also looks like inspired from Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL series of movies. Tarantino's world famous classic is also a pure revenge action thriller which was initially made with a duration of 4 hours to do full justice with the script. With this extra length, Tarantino also decided to release it in two parts, but at a gap of 6 months. RGV seems to be following the same idea but the master moves one step ahead than Tarantino when he right away shows the trailer of his IInd part in the end of RAKTA CHARITRA and that too along with the date of its release written of the screen in red. (This he earlier vaguely tried in his AGYAAT too).
So, as a final verdict, I would like to recommend RC to the viewers who wish to see execution more than the content and don't mind blood thrown all over the screen right from the start. Its strictly for the movie freaks who get excited watching the slow motion sequences of terror accompanied by a haunting background score. And for the ones who get pumped up watching the real action on screen with the voice of "Rakta Charitra – Rakta Charitra" being played in the background constantly. Moreover, I would like you to watch RAKTA CHARITRA for three names alone and they are Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha and Vivek Oberoi in this particular order. The three excel themselves in the movie undoubtedly, but the surprise element is delivered by Abhimanyu Singh as Bhukha, who will get hatred in return for his role from every single viewer of the movie unconditionally. And that truly would be the real reward for his superb performance filled with terror.
Summing up, with RAKTA CHARITRA, RGV redefines the word REVENGE in BOLLYWOOD and makes all previous movies made on this topic look like dwarfs. It will not get appreciation from all but if you are real movie lover, then you got to see this pure example of a director's bloody vision of an old story. In clear words, its an RGV movie all the way with his famous attitude of "I WILL DO WHAT I WANT – If you don't like it then don't watch it".
The second revelation about this first part of RGVs sequel is that it is evidently not everyone's cup of tea in the literal sense. The viewers, who wish to have a good time and fun in the cinema, may find it unentertaining, meaningless, bloody and too hard hitting. But movie freaks, who are well familiar with the brand RGV and love to see some cunning, strong and realistic kind of cinema told with a fresh narrative, are sure going to love it in one manner or the other.
Returning to the movie itself, it is apparently made on the true story of famous gangster turned politician Paritala Ravi of Andhra Pradesh. Here I would like to add that if everything shown in the film is really true and is not glorified to a large extent, then it is really scary to know that it all actually happened in a city full of living human beings.
Apart from the storyline you may also complain about the similar RGV kind of camera angles, lightings and confrontations scenes in the film, reminding you the ones seen earlier in his SATYA, COMPANY, SARKAR, SARKAR-RAJ and many other underworld movies coming from the RGV factory. And for many the film might be a documentary focusing only on all the hardcore murders coming one after another on the screen without any basic storyline behind them. But still RAKTA CHARITRA works in a particular way for all the RGV fans and for the viewers who are game for something experimental tried by the gutsy director of Indian Film Industry.
Frankly what worked for me in RC is the attitude with which it is made fearlessly by the one & only RGV. The man dares to do what he feels like and with his every new film tries to make his own set of rules about film business. For instance, he simply doesn't care if his project gets deliberately avoided by groups of college going boys and girls, love couples, and families especially having small kids, even if this takes away a major part of his collections at the box office. He makes what he wishes to make and that too in a style which cannot even be thought by many other glossy film-makers of Bollywood churning out chocolate movies with big stars every year. Mahesh Bhatt was the one man who used to take up such kind of subjects earlier but then he too always decorated his projects with controversial scenes, loud emotional dramas and hit songs. Today, RGV moves way ahead in that direction with RAKTA CHARITRA and delivers a film which might be unbearable for many having his name written over every frame of the reels till the end.
Using hidden talented actors such as Abhimanyu Singh, Ashwini Kalsekar, Zarina Wahab and Rajendra Gupta, RGV transforms them into believable lively characters with his remarkable vision and skill. Now who could have thought to cast Shatrughan Sinha with a look without his famous moustache? And who could have thought of making a complete film of 4 hours and then releasing it in two parts at a gap of one month?
Only RGV showed these guts but honestly his sequel idea also looks like inspired from Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL series of movies. Tarantino's world famous classic is also a pure revenge action thriller which was initially made with a duration of 4 hours to do full justice with the script. With this extra length, Tarantino also decided to release it in two parts, but at a gap of 6 months. RGV seems to be following the same idea but the master moves one step ahead than Tarantino when he right away shows the trailer of his IInd part in the end of RAKTA CHARITRA and that too along with the date of its release written of the screen in red. (This he earlier vaguely tried in his AGYAAT too).
So, as a final verdict, I would like to recommend RC to the viewers who wish to see execution more than the content and don't mind blood thrown all over the screen right from the start. Its strictly for the movie freaks who get excited watching the slow motion sequences of terror accompanied by a haunting background score. And for the ones who get pumped up watching the real action on screen with the voice of "Rakta Charitra – Rakta Charitra" being played in the background constantly. Moreover, I would like you to watch RAKTA CHARITRA for three names alone and they are Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha and Vivek Oberoi in this particular order. The three excel themselves in the movie undoubtedly, but the surprise element is delivered by Abhimanyu Singh as Bhukha, who will get hatred in return for his role from every single viewer of the movie unconditionally. And that truly would be the real reward for his superb performance filled with terror.
Summing up, with RAKTA CHARITRA, RGV redefines the word REVENGE in BOLLYWOOD and makes all previous movies made on this topic look like dwarfs. It will not get appreciation from all but if you are real movie lover, then you got to see this pure example of a director's bloody vision of an old story. In clear words, its an RGV movie all the way with his famous attitude of "I WILL DO WHAT I WANT – If you don't like it then don't watch it".