Rangula Raatnam – Movie Review

When I saw the name of Shreeranjani in the trailer of “Rangula Raatnam”, I felt happy that another woman director is stepping in Tollywood as it would balance the gender disparity among the filmmakers. I also hoped that the story would have female-eye in telling the romantic drama. “Rangula Raatnam” indeed does have touch of a female director in one angle – the characterisation of Sithara, the mother. However, rest of the movie disappoints on the whole. This is too slapdash. 

Story is about Vishnu (Raj Tarun), a 25-years-old guy who draws 40k salary (inclusive of taxes) per month and Keerthy, an employee in an event management company. Vishnu’s mother (Sithara) wants him to get married immediately and she finds joy when she comes to know that he has fallen in love with Keerthy. 

Vishnu’s mother meets Keerthy secretly and informs her that her son is in love with her and asks her to accept the proposal whenever he makes. The next day, she dies. When Vishnu asks Keerthy to stay with him for the rest of life, she doesn’t respond immediately though she loves him. There is a reason why she is reluctant to accept that love. What happens next is the rest of the drama.  

“Rangula Raatnam” begins with boy trying to win the heart of a girl who is too strict in her lifestyle, by interval it turns out to be the story of a boy coming to terms with the sudden loss of his mother and then it moves to focus on the girl’s problem, when the issue gets solved, the story then turns into boy getting choked with this girl’s habit of neatness, being picky about hygiene. And finally ends in familiar manner.

Instead of reaching to Vizag from Hyderabad via Vijayawada and Rajamundry, what happens if one takes the route of Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Orissa and Vizag? Similarly, “Rangula Raatnam” goes in different directions to reach the “main idea” of the story.
Writing and direction, both are too trite. The film has low production and technical values. After the bad writing, it suffers with bad editing (strange that senior most editor Sreekar Prasad edited this). 

Raj Tarun is okay in his role. Chitra has shown her acting talent suitable for her character. Sithara as mother has got author-backed role and she has acted superbly. Priyadarshi has played typical comedian role. 

Bottom–line: The story of “Rangula Raatnam” is resolutely familiar and the narration is trite. Except for couple of moments, much of the movie has amateurish taking, and the editor seems to have forgotten to clip out the boring parts or speed up the pace that is slower than snail’s steps.