Ravanasura Movie Review: Ravi Teja's 'Breaking Bad' Turn Serves Up a Lukewarm, Highly Problematic Masala Potboiler (LatestLY Exclusive)

Ravanasura Movie Review: Ah, the Telugu masala potboilers and their love for the tried, tested and busted formula'! You can just smell it miles away and when you reach there, you realise the stink was totally on spot. In case of Ravanasura, Ravi Teja's latest entertainer, you can guess the turns from the trailer itself. No matter how criminal the protagonist may look throughout the majority of the film, he would be given a clean chit in the end by the film because he carries a social mission or a moralistic revenge tale. You may think that I am dropping SPOILERS here, and if you think so, you haven't watched much of these films, right? Ravanasura Movie: Review, Cast, Plot, Trailer, Release Date – All You Need to Know About Ravi Teja and Megha Akash’s Film!

So in Ravanasura, directed by Sudheer Varma, we see that the city is shocked by a gruesome murder, whose investigation is handled by ACP Hanumanth Rao (Jayaram). We then meet Ravindra (Ravi Teja), a criminal lawyer working for another lawyer Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Faria Abdullah). He is interested in taking up the case of Harika (Megha Akash), whose father (Sampath Raj) is arrested in the aforementioned murder as a suspect, and Ravindra is clearly infatuated with her.

However, more and more murders happen, and it doesn't take too much of your time to realise who the culprit is and how he carries out his modus operandus.

Watch the Trailer of Ravanasura:

Ravanasura showcases Ravi Teja first as a jocular, bumbling lawyer who cracks jokes with his subordinate (who disappears midway when the film has no use of him), dances finely to the remixed version of "Veyyinokka" and does some flirting. These portions are merely passable and are only there to pad up the runtime. It is only when the film unveils the 'Ravanasura' side of the character is when the film becomes more arresting. More arresting doesn't mean the film has gotten better, though.

I can see that the movie is totally besotted in marrying its protagonist into the idea of being the mythological demon king (the BG theme score is so infectious that it is still ringing in my head even after a couple of hours). The parallels are heavy-handed; some SPOILERS ahead. So Ravindra gets a girl kidnapped and her name is Janaki, and makes her boyfriend (Sushanth) do his bidding and he is called Saketh, which is what Ayodhya is called in Sanskrit. At one point, for some reason, Ravindra even refers to Saketh as 'Ram'. Also note that ACP trying to get hold of him has 'Hanuman' in his name. The heavy-handed metaphors go beyond Ramayana too. Like that still in that trailer where Ravindra imposes his face to that of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker face to imply he is a 'bad' guy. We get it, dudes; stop being so besotted with the parallels.

What Ravanasura is not besotted with is applying some modicum of logic to the proceedings and in Ravi's chain of operations. So he uses prosthetics to look like someone and carry out his plans, but you should not question how prosthetic masks can't transform the person's body mass as well. Conveniently for Ravindra, his targets always seem to have similar body mass as him. Hey, if it worked for Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible movies, then why not for our own Ravi Teja! Also we can't ignore the convenience in which he kills his targets and not even a 'one-take' scene of a murder and escape from the Commissioner's office can distract me for asking how he pulled that off unscathed. Dasara and Ravanasura in Single Frame! Nani and Ravi Teja Match Steps 'Cos ‘Bhai Se Miloge Tho Ek Step Toh Bantha Hai’ (Watch Video).

What's not acceptable is our protagonist's attitude towards women when he is in 'Ravana' mode. He nearly molests Janaki while trying to subdue and kidnap her. He actually rapes and murder another woman, though the film tries to justify it as something she deserves because she pulled off something like this to another woman. He also tells another female character something like when a man calls a woman for feeding and bedding, she should oblige. The censors muted the dialogue, but the subtitles gave away the context. Wonder when the reel heroes would wake up and realise that this problematic glamourisation of sexual violence should be done away with.

Look, I get it. The makers want to present Ravindra as an anti-hero, and that's not a bad idea. But why the need to elevate such a grey character with rousing BG score and mass punchlines, though I admit I did chuckle at "I am not in danger, I am the danger"? Also towards the end, you are also whitewashing all his wrongdoings because, hey, he is ticking off the bigger demons.

Yet, from a point of a reviewer, the portions where he is Ravana still grab hold of your attention. The movie, however, stumbles big time when the mandatory flashback arrives and we are show the purpose of Ravindra's murderous rampage. What follows next is an utterly predictable slog of a finale, that incorporates an item song, an illogically derived twist, an action setpiece borrowed from John Wick 3 and a 'Mass' conclusion for the 'Mass Maharaja'.

Ravi Teja seems to be having fun with his role, playing all around with the elements of his character and preening for the camera when needed. Jayaram as the ACP is just about okay. I had to groan when Ravi Teja's character tells Jayaram's character to take care of his grandkid, when in real life, Jayaram is merely two years older than Ravi Teja. The age factor also creeps up on me when we see Ravi Teja romance Anu Emmanuel and Megha Akash, both of whom are 23 years younger than him! The female actors don't have much to do. Megha Akash's character gets an interesting layer in the third act of the film, but the treatment given to her is pretty problematic. Sushanth is decent.

Final Thoughts

Mass Maharaja's Ravanasura is just another stretched-out problematic revenge thriller tailored for his fan that is feebly masked by the lead character's antagonistic persona. Ravi Teja's fans might enjoy his onscreen antics, but even then an illogical, predictable screenplay and a stretched runtime prove to be the Ravanas in this tale.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 07, 2023 08:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).