‘Perseverance is Stubbornness with a purpose’. Gunashekar after going through only downs with the last few of magnum opus movies, gets everything right at the right time with a right subject. Its definitely a great relief for him for the efforts he has been constantly keeping. One might feel after movies like Okkadu, Chudalani Vundi, Manorama kind of movies, why he chose this?
Its because Rudhramadevi in every way had a great potentiality as a script. Though Guna faltered in bits here and there, but it did manage to strike as a movie.
Starting with Marco Polo narrating this as an inspirational story, ‘Rudhramadevi’ is brought up as ‘Rudhradevudu’ under the guidance of Minister Shiva Devaiyya and father Ganapatidevudu in order to protect the the Kakatiya Dynasty from falling into greedy hands. Once her true identity is revealed that she is actually a girl and not a boy, through a spy and things get shabby for the Prince(ss), twists and turns keep arising throwing Rudhramadevi into a tangle of Power Struggle and handling the Kakatiya Kingdom with Mahadeva Nayakudu also attacking their kingdom. Now what Rudhramadevi will do in order to protect the kingdom and where does Gona Ganna Reddy, an awesome edged character in the film feature, you will have to watch it in the theatre.
As a general audience to the movie, the first and foremost person I feel happy for is Gunashekar. It is his belief in himself and perseverance that the movie’s result is reaping fruits now. I wouldn’t say its a path-breaking movie, but its like a nice History class you would like to sit through and know something interesting about. The fact that this is a true story keeps that excitement alive in the theatre, though there we few dull moments.
Special Mention:
Gona Ganna Reddy (Allu Arjun)
This was truly unexpected from Allu Arjun and he proves he is growing as an actor. That Telangana dialect and his mannerism in telling ‘Ganna Reddy kaadu Gona Ganna Reddy’ is simply super.
Ilayaraja’s BGM : Apart from the songs, maestro excelled in the war sequences and all through the movie one can feel the mood in the hall glued because of the BGM.
Special Effects and Art: Those arial shots of Eagle advancing towards the Snake is just one sample. Kudos to VFX team and equivalent credit should be given to the Art work by Thota Tharani.
Cinematography : Ajayan Vincent’s cinematography deserves applauds for some really good work.
And not the least, Chiru who gave a voice over. Hearing him through those speakers in a hall has been quite long.
If you want to get some bites from our History and know how things were then, take some time off and watch this. It was delayed for quite long and atlast released. It may not blow your mind but will definitely give your money’s worth because its definitely worth a watch.
Looks like being a great year for Telugu Film Industry so far.
Reviewed by KSS
