Movie Review - Rabhasa (Telugu) - The FORMULA Factor!!

If you dream to make a film with a star and an astronomical budget, you will run a double check on most of the things to get them in the right proportions. Many a time we see some old plots working big on screen; there might be umpteen reasons for that, or may be no reason. But if someone makes it a habit and calls it an industry benchmark of repetitive use of a formula with different set of actors and a minor tweaking, things may not come out glorified always. Rabhasa gets into the clutches of a time-tested template that’s deeply ingrained in the minds of audience and film-makers alike.

Rabhasa is a cinematic realization of dreams of many characters – a mother, a girl, a father, a son, two feuding families and the list is endless. But the catch here is, only our mighty hero struggles to the core to bring others close to their dreams. In this process, he never allows the dream machine of the audience to watch an engaging, entertaining cinema to take-off. He only feels his job is done if he makes the goons do a salsa in the air and shake a leg with two blistering beauties.

Director Santosh Srinivas delves into the story and characters without an iota of novelty. He never gave it a thought that audience might outsmart his narrative style and predict the so called plot twists. The campus comedy scenes in the first half remind you of Bunny with an unwarranted overdose of Attantiki Daredi. However, the scenes between Praneetha and Samantha don’t let any sparks to fly off and again it’s NTR’s show all the way. Raakasi song in this part comes as a relief.  

The second half rides high on the emotional quotient with immense and inevitable action sequences ruling the roost. Don’t be surprised to see a lavish spread of Brundavanam, Ready and Mirchi. There’s a bit of Brahmanandam added to the mundane offering to make it sugary and spicy, but that couldn’t thwart the yawn-worthy narration. NTR’s character breaks out the trauma he’s going through all these days and the sacrifices lined up in front of him, only in the pre-climax, but the audience never realizes this intense drama unfolding on the screen. The movie’s template is also home for many glaring flaws, which defy logic and make the proceedings way too far-fetched.

Rabhasa is a strange regression in the context of a-man-enters-the-mansion-to-change-its-residents kind of themes. There are some tokenistic attempts at making the hero a larger-than-life colossus and the heroine, just a showpiece. The movie never departs from stereotyping a female character where she is only present to fill the blank spaces with her glamour. The supporting cast never gets their due to display their acting prowess. They are invariably made dumb beyond their usual levels. All this has been done under the pretext of raising the hero above all. Is this character elevation or hero worship?

The music fails to create the much need zing for a commercial entertainer. S S Thaman recycles the leftovers from his inventory and does nothing earth-shattering. The same holds good for other technical departments. Though NTR’s performance is laudable, it is watching him reprise many of his past outings. You may watch Rabhasa if you can drink an old wine from an old bottle and never complain about it; or if song-and-dance numbers and overblown fight sequences are your cup of cinema, and painstakingly accept a long show-reel of the hero for a feature film.  

My Rating: Expectation - 7/10; Reality - 4/10

This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.