PremiumRavanasura on OTT: Ravi Teja’s attempt at an image makeover is a huge misfire
The Sudheer Varma directorial is a loose adaptation of the Bengali film Vinci Da
Last Updated: 05.37 PM, Apr 30, 2023
There were a lot of expectations riding on Ravanasura, especially after Ravi Teja scored two of the biggest hits in his career - Dhamaka, Waltair Veerayya - recently. The actor believed in the film so much that he decided to co-produce it with Abhishek Nama and extensively promoted it ahead of its release on April 7. Sushanth, Megha Akash, Faria Abdullah, Daksha Nagarkar, Pujita Ponnada and Anu Emmanuel played other important roles in the Sudheer Varma directorial.
While the film received mixed reviews upon release, it totally crashed at the box office in the opening weekend. Owing to its poor performance, the OTT deal was revisited and it premiered on Amazon Prime Video much in advance. The action thriller landed on OTT minus much hype earlier this weekend. Though Ravi Teja’s attempt to try the anti-hero avatar deserves praise at some level, it falls flat in terms of execution, thanks to the simplistic plot and the crass treatment.
Ravanasura is a simple redemption story but the director tries to give it a new twist with an unapologetic, ruthless protagonist who doesn’t mind going to any length to settle scores. The film borrows a leaf out of the Chiranjeevi, Lakshmi starrer in the 80s, Chattaniki Kallu Levu, where the protagonist avenges the murder of his parents by killing all the culprits one after the other without leaving any proof for the cops (his sister being one).
The motive and the modus operandi undergo a change in Ravanasura. The issue with the film isn’t the dark dimension of the protagonist but an extremely weak final act where the director tries to justify Ravindra’s acts. Why can’t a protagonist be a total badass? Why the desperation to prove that he’s resorting to crime for a larger good? It’s the same mistake that Mohana Krishna Indraganti’s V had committed.
In both cases (V and Ravanasura), the directors got too conscious that Nani and Ravi Teja were ‘heroes’. Though Ravanasura starts well, it feels like an aimless film beyond a point. The series of events don’t make much sense and by the time, the flashback arrives, you don’t care much for it. The issue isn’t only with the storytelling in Ravanasura but Ravi Teja too.
Since 4-5 years, Ravi Teja hasn’t bothered to offer anything new in terms of his performances in every film. Regardless of Ramarao on Duty, Waltair Veerayya, Khiladi or Dhamaka, his performances have remained the same. In situations where the films were hits, it’s the directors who deserve the credit.The star, taking his ‘mass maharaja’ image too seriously, hasn’t bothered to change his body language, dialogue delivery or look in most of his recent films.
Adding insult to injury, the crassness with which the lead character glorifies ‘rape’ as a form of revenge and the pointlessly raunchy lovemaking scenes turn out to be cheap efforts to titillate audiences. None of the other actors beyond Ravi Teja gets to prove their mettle. Most mainstream films in Telugu have one common issue - the supporting characters are written shabbily. Harshavardhan Rameshwar’s terrific background score salvages a few sequences.