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Rakta Charitra

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Rakta Charitra
Theatrical release poster of Hindi version
Directed byRam Gopal Varma
Screenplay byPrashant Pandey
Based onLife and times of Paritala Ravindra
Produced byMadhu Mantena
Chinna Vasudeva Reddy
Sheetal Vinod Talwar
StarringVivek Oberoi
Sudeep
Radhika Apte
Shatrughan Sinha
Kota Srinivasa Rao
Abhimanyu Singh
Sushant Singh
Narrated byChetan Sashital
Ram Gopal Varma
CinematographyAmol Rathod
Edited byNipun Ashok Gupta
Music byDharam-Sandeep
Distributed byVistaar Religare Film Fund
Release date
  • 22 October 2010 (2010-10-22)
Running time
123 minutes (Hindi)
CountryIndia
LanguagesTelugu
Hindi

Rakta Charitra (transl. History of Blood) is a 2010 Indian political action thriller film based on the life of Paritala Ravindra. The film was directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Prashant Pandey. Shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi, with the latter titled Rakht Charitra, the film stars Vivek Oberoi as Pratap Ravi, while Radhika Apte, Sudeep, Shatrughan Sinha, Abhimanyu Singh, Kota Srinivasa Rao, and Sushant Singh play supporting roles. The film marks Oberoi's acting debut in Telugu cinema.[1] The sequel to the film Rakta Charitra 2 (2010) was released later that year.

The film met with huge critical acclaim, with critics praising the screenplay, story, direction, cinematography, dialogues, and realistic approach. Oberoi's portrayal of Paritala Ravi was deemed one of the best performances in his filmography by critics and audiences.[2] This marks the third collaboration of Ram Gopal Varma with Vivek Oberoi after "Company" and "Road," both of which were decent hits, though "Company" was more successful.

Plot

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Narasimha Reddy (Kitty), a local politician, is a powerful man in the area. His close associate, Gajula Veerabhadra (Rajendra Gupta), is his trustworthy ally for his political work, to the extent that Narasimha Reddy gives him the freedom to contest Zilla Parishad polls with his men. Veerabhadra champions the causes of the poor and oppressed, and they look up to him as their leader.

Nagamani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao), who is the local MLA of the district and close to Narasimha Reddy, becomes jealous of the budding trust between Veerabhadra and Narasimha Reddy and starts poisoning Narasimha Reddy against Veerabhadra. Narasimha Reddy summons Veerabhadra and asks him not to contest the polls with his contestants but rather to support Nagamani Reddy. Veerabhadra lashes out at Narasimha Reddy for being unfair to the underprivileged communities and storms out. Nagamani Reddy calls for Mandha, a close follower of Veerabhadra, and manipulates him into killing Veerabhadra, giving him the assurance that if he does it, people will suspect the policies of Veerabhadra as his own follower killed him, and he will be the next in line as the leader of the poor people; otherwise, take his life. Mandha reluctantly agrees to it. Veerabhadra and his wife, Gajula Jayalakshmi (Zarina Wahab), travel by bus with 40 people to a wedding. Mandha and Nagamani Reddy's men stop the bus, kill Veerabhadra's guards, and tell him to step out of the bus or else he will be killed along with the other innocents on the bus. Veerabhadra comes out, looking at Mandha, and dares him to kill. Nagamani Reddy's henchman, Durga (Chetanya Adib), shoots at Veerabhadra, making it look like Mandha shot at him. Prompting Mandha about the deal he made with Nagamani Reddy, he tells him to kill him in front of everyone. Manda then kills Veerabhadra by crushing his skull with a boulder.

This results in an agitation led by Thota Shankar Ravi (Sushant Singh), who wants to avenge his father's murder by killing all the men of Nagamani Reddy and Narasimha Reddy. Enter Nagamani Reddy's son, Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh), a ruthless man who enjoys raping women and killing men in brutal ways. He starts killing Shankar's men in gory ways: drilling a hole into their skulls, chopping off their heads with a sugarcane chopper, burning them alive, and feeding them to ravenous rats.

Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi), who is in college in the city of Anantapur, gets the news of his father's murder and rushes to the village. Nagamani Reddy orders the local police inspector to kill Shankar in a fake encounter. When Pratap Ravi goes to the police station to ask about his brother, the inspector shows him Shankar's dead body and mocks him. Infuriated with his brother's murder, Pratap Ravi and Veerabhadra's men kill all the police officers and the inspector.

Pratap Ravi hides in the jungle with his father's associates and vows to kill Narsimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy, and Mandha one by one, instilling fear of death in each one of them. He starts by busting into the house of Narasimha Reddy, killing his guards, and finally killing him with a scythe in front of his wife as she looks on in horror. Next is Mandha; as he roams in the market, Pratap Ravi's men follow him, and before he can defend himself, they chop his hand off. Manda begs for his life, but Pratap Ravi stabs him in front of everyone. They plan to kill Nagamani Reddy, but they are cautious as there is heavy police security at his house. As Nagamani Reddy is sitting on his lawn conversing with a police officer, he is shot at by Pratap Ravi, who is dressed as the cop, and his men, dressed as cops as well, kill most of the policemen.

The story progresses as famed film star-turned-politician Konda Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha) targets Anantapur for contesting elections. The day he enters Anantapur for the rally, Bukka Reddy's men throw bombs, making Shivaji Rao get back inside the car and return. This insults him greatly, and he asks his secretary for the one who can stop Bukka Reddy. Immediately, his secretary mentions Pratap Ravi's name; Shivaji Rao sends for him and puts down a proposal to join his party and a ticket for contesting elections. On the other hand, Bukka Reddy makes his brother Puru Reddy (Vishwajeet Pradhan) contest elections and tries to sabotage the voting process by stealing the ballots. Pratap Ravi starts his rampage by eliminating, one by one, every rival of his party. Eventually, he comes across a man named Babu Qadri, who seeks Pratap Ravi's help to avenge his sister's death. Bukka Reddy had raped his 16-year-old sister, because of which she immolated herself, and Bukka Reddy had then broken Babu Qadri's leg. Pratap Ravi assures him of his vengeance but asks him to forget everything for some time.

As Bukka Reddy's men fail to rig the election process, Pratap Ravi wins by a majority. Immediately, Bukka Reddy is arrested. Puru Reddy gets him out on bail through Sirji's influence. Bukka Reddy inflamed with the desire to avenge his father's death, hides out in an apartment with his men and plots to kill Pratap Ravi. Pratap Ravi learns about his hideout and devises a plan to execute him. He immediately gathers his men and calls Babu Qadri, who had sought Pratap Ravi's help in avenging his sister, to lead the execution of Bukka Reddy. He calls for Bukka Reddy's servant and bribes him with 500,000 to aid in the execution. Babu Qadri and Pratap Ravi's men rush into the apartment, killing all of Bukka Reddy's men and then killing Bukka Reddy with an axe.

Cast

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Critical reception

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Vivek Oberoi's performance in the role of Paritala Ravi drew widespread praise, while Abhimanyu Singh's devious turn as Bukka Reddy, modeled on the real-life Obul Reddy, was regarded as one of the terrifying villainous[3] acts captured on celluloid in a long time. Renuka Rao of DNA India gave the movie 4 stars on a scale of 5, concluding that RGV has surprisingly thrown at the audience a film that could actually evoke some emotions in you. A must, must watch."[1] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 4 stars on a scale of 5, saying "On the whole, RAKHT CHARITRA is not for the faint-hearted or the lily-livered. The violence, the blood and gore depicted in the film will shock and disconcert you, which only goes to establish as to how proficiently the subject material has been treated."[4] Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, stating that "Rakta Charitra holds up a brutal mirror on the muck that masquerades as democracy in India."[5] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, noting that "Rakta Charitra is a bold, disturbing film that’s bursting with the kind of confidence we haven’t seen from the filmmaker recently. If the sight of blood doesn’t make you uncomfortable, chances are you’ll enjoy this film."[6] Kittu Singh of Rediff gave the movie 2.5 out of 5, writing that "Once the film is over you realise that all Rakta Charitra has been is a two-hour promotional fare for Rakta Charitra 2. Yes, there is more to come."[7] Anupama Chopra of NDTV gave the movie 2.5 stars on a scale of 5 stars.[8] Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "It is an interesting story, and Oberoi, re-united with RGV after Company does a good job as Ravi. But the blood overtakes it all: Rakta Charitra is not for the faint-hearted."[9]

Accolades

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2011 Screen Awards

Nominated[10]

2011 Stardust Awards

Nominated[11]

  • Best Film of the Year – Action / Thriller – Rakht Charitra
  • Best Director – Thriller/ Action – Ram Gopal Varma
  • Best Actor in an Ensemble Cast – Abhimanyu Singh
  • Best Actress in an Ensemble Cast – Zarina Wahab
2011 Zee Cine Awards

Nominated[12]

Soundtrack

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Rakta Charitra
Soundtrack album by
Imran-Vikram, Dharam-Sandeep, Bappi-Tutul, and Sukhwinder Singh
Released2010
Recorded2010
GenreFilm soundtrack
Length32:46
LabelT-Series
Hindi tracklist
No.TitleLyricsMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Khaul Khaul Ke"Sandeep SinghImran-VikramJojo, Ujwal4:29
2."Mila Toh Marega"Vayu ShrivastavDharam-SandeepRavindra Upadhyay, Vishvesh Parmar, Sandeep Patil3:40
3."Paisewala"Prashant PandeySukhwinder SinghSukhwinder Singh3:53
4."Maar De"Shabeer AhmedImran-VikramJojo4:17
5."Kaaton Se"Shyamraj DuttaBapi-TutulSuresh Wadkar4:12
6."Karma Dharma"Vayu ShrivastavDharam-SandeepVardan Singh, Aditi Kaur3:08
7."Har Jazbe Mein"Sarim MominSukhwinder Singh, Bapi-TutulSukhwinder Singh4:32
8."Paisa Mix"Prashant PandeySukhwinder SinghSukhwinder Singh, Sumitra Iyer4:35
Total length:32:46

Sequel

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Main article: Rakta Charitra 2

A sequel titled Rakta Charitra 2 was released in December 2010 and included Tamil actor Suriya as part of the main cast.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Review: Rakht Charitra is replete with violence, yet blows you away!". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  2. ^ Arikatla, Venkat (22 October 2010). "'Rakta Charitra' Review-2: Who Likes This?". greatandhra.com. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Terrifying Villains in Telugu Cinema: These are the unforgettable villain roles in Tollywood!". telugu.yousay.tv. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Rakht Charitra Review". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Rakta Charitra Times of India Review". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  6. ^ "'Rakta Charitra' is bold and disturbing". IBN. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Rakta Charitra: RGV's overkill". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  8. ^ "Review: Rakta Charitra". NDTV. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Rakta Charitra Indian Express Review". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Nominations for 17th Annual Star Screen Awards 2011". Oneindia. 3 January 2011. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  11. ^ "Nomination of Stardust Awards 2011". Bollywood Hungama. 22 January 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011.
  12. ^ "Nominations for Zee Cine Awards 2011". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
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