'Rajanna' Review: An Emotional Treat

Rating: 3.25/5Banner: Annapurna Studios
Cast: Nagarjuna, Sneha, Annie, Shweta Menon and others
Music: M M Keeravani
Lyrics: Suddala Ashok Teja, K Shiva Dutta, Ananth Sriram, Chaitanya Prasad
Cinematography: Shyam K Naidu, Anil Bhandari and Poorna
Action director: S S Rajamouli
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Fights: Vijay, Ram Lakshman, Selva, Salomon
Visual Effects: Vensat, Firefly, EFX
Executive Producer: Supriya
Produced by: Nagarjuna Akkineni
Story, screenplay, direction: Vijayendra Prasad
Release date: Dec 22, 2011

Rajanna is the film that hit the screen when the expectations of people were set on reasonable levels. The main reason for the expectations are that Rajamouli is behind its action episodes. And even musically the film scored good points.

Story:
The movie is set on 1948 Nelakondapalli village in Adilabad district. Lakshmamma (Sneha) is the mother of an infant girl child Mallamma (Baby Annie) who leaves her into a river like Kunti did to Karna for the fear of Razakars chasing to kill. Lakshmamma gets killed. Mallamma is rescued by Sambayya, a village man who nurtures her like his grand daughter like Kanva did for Shakunthala.

Sambayya knows that Mallamma is the daughter of Lakshmamma and Rajanna(Nagarjuna) a great freedomn fighter against British and also the rescuer of them from unscrupulous doras of gadis.

The girl Mallamma is good at singing since childhood. But dorasani (Sweta Menon) hates that. She orders her not to sing and punishes severely. Then the girl goes to Delhi to complaint to PM Nehru. What happens from then has to be watched on screen.

Performances:
Nagarjuna is at his best. He deserves commendations for doing such inspiring role. He looked strong with toned up muscles. He is physically inspiring.

Sneha is homely and looked sensuous in a song.

Annie is the highlight. She deserves awards for sure.

Alapati Lakshmi and Telangana Shakuntala appeared in notable but short roles. Ajay, Pradeep Rawat and Supreet are also guests with reasonable roles. Model Sreedhar excelled surprisingly and even Sweta Menon is at her best. Ravi Kale who is widely seen in Bollywood films appeared in a local dora's role.

Music score top points.

Highlights

• Nagarjuna
• Annie
• Music
• Story
• Screenplay

Drawbacks:

• Commercial elements like heroine and glamour

Analysis:
The film takes us back into the Razakars’ era. Hearts melt and eyes spill tears, while we watch the first half. One has to appreciate the efforts put in by Rajamouli and his team in pumping in emotion in key sequences. Yes, the film might been directed by Vijayendra Prasad, father of Rajamouli, but the ace director’s deft handling of the project was clearly evident. Especially, the action sequences, the tyranny of feudal lords in Gadis and the atrocities perpetrated by the cronies of Nizam on the people of Telangana ignite the spirit of patriotism among the audience.

It is definitely a notable film in the career of Nagarjuna. Yes, after Annamayya and Sri Ramadasu, this is one film that he can boast of as yet another precious jewel in his crown.

Annie deserves a great commendation and there are many chances for her to score brownie points by the juries of several award committees. She portrayed the role up to the perfection beyond her age.

Except a few liberties taken by the director that are hard to be digested by the sane audience, rest of the film is a must watch for an experience and to know the cruel incidents happened on the land of Telugus a few decades ago.

The first half is shouldered by little girl Annie in the role of Mallamma and Nagarjuna enters the screen just a few moments before interval. His entry scene – with British chaining the hero like they had done for Katta Bommanna – might create a feeling of hackneyed screenplay, but as the story runs, his character gets elevated. He seldom fights but instigates people to fight against tyranny. That’s awesome. This is the character inspired from Suddala Hanumanthu who used to evoke fighting spirit among the people with his songs.

The film has enough material for the Telugu people to experience the history. As a matter of fact, the film hasn’t shown too much of the atrocities committed by the Razakars on native people but, it just shows the glimpses of them, like a few shocking scenes such as weighing the breasts of women with money. Kudos to the censor board for allowing such bold scenes on screen with due respect to history.

To sum up, the film deserves patronage from audience for its content rich songs, emotional RR and bold depiction of history.

Bottom Line: Watch it