Rakta Charitra… now or never
Print“He will bounce back”… that’s what a few in the industry had very confidently mentioned to me in person during my visit to Bombay earlier this year.
I didn’t believe it. I thought he was done and out. I would only carry memories of some of those impactful hitting me right on the head stories and even trailers he’d made ever since I started watching his movies in 1990. I still can’t get over the long Shiva trailer (the first one) where he’d only followed the back of Zutshi as he was running from people chasing him to kill him. Just the back of the actor through out the length of the trailer, nothing else. I was hooked. Who was this guy?
Well maybe its time to reaffirm the faith… and if the stills of Rakta Charitra are anything to go by, I’m sold on it. Of course there’s the devil’s distance between mere pictures and the actual movie, but nevertheless I’ve got my blood pumping up again, for I haven’t been grabbed by stills of Ram Gopal Varma‘s movies since Company.
These pics were produced on Varma’s blog here, that he revealed today… damn impressed… will a new style of visuals and story telling emerge from him or this is just wishful thinking?
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Rahul Dholakia
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Varma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Sachin Kundalkar
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Looks great. Abhimanyu Singh seems like a true blue villain and the setting reminds one of Sholay.Hope the film does justice to the talent that Ramu has.
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Very interesting pics!!
I have a friend from Anantpur who used to talk about the blood shed that his town had witnessed due to caste wars which finally turned political wars.According to him, its not just Anantpur but whole of Andhra that has seen such wars. (I believe not just Andhra, but whole of India too) He recommended me a movie of cheeranjeevi, Indra, which deals with the story of his town. What a comedy it was, and back then we had a discussion that such a story can be told artistically by RGV. Good to see that RGV finally going back to his roots.
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Ramu never sounded so serious/sincere in his blog before this one about Rakta Charitra. The pictures are really building up to the excitement and even the first poster with just a boring pump and a blood soiled sickle was so damn original and bone chilling! Given the contents, I am not sure if this will have a U.S Release. For once, I am ready to watch his movie without caring for the reviews, thanks to his blog and these pictures. I am sure that he is going to serve one “delicious” potful of blood, gore and drama!
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What’s grabbing me in the stills is the Andhra environment and landscape. It’s unique hardly used in Hindi cinema and gives to me a strong dose of “freshness”…
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True. Even though I come from the same state, the landscape looks new to me as well. I am hoping RGV will take the regional relevance out of the plot and makes a universally appealing violent saga, that people can “relate” to.
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Oz, that is the Rayalaseema region, notorious for its faction fights. Most of the landlords their maintain their own private armies. I had friends from that area, and the tales they told me were quite often more chilling than any movie tale.
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Definetly exciting !!!
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Abhimanyu singh as obul reddy ( the most dreadful guy ever lived)…. n Vivek as Ravi confronting him in ramu’s style … This thought pumps my adrenalin… not sure wasss gonna happen whn we see suriya …… Guyz Guyz…. this is gonna be a epic….Hope Ramu doesnt ditch us again
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I HAVE BEEN A BELIEVER ALL THIS WHILE … AND GUESS ITS HOPEFULLY THE TIME FOR RESURRECTION :yahoo: !!!!
I am so definately hoping that RC and Rann hits the mark … have been rooting for RGV for all this while now… while I am totally excited about RC, Rann is the one that I am waiting for… the storyline, about the fading media and the affect on the society is something I totally relate and agree to…. hopefully both these movies will make their mark…. an advance booking has already happened for both the movies in my budgets…hopefully the man who paved the way is back!!! and in his usual full action of the sleepy zombie monster, who doesnt jump and do things over the top style but at his own laze and delivers the killing one again…
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Ahhhh!!! Finally the light of day- that’s already reassuring in an RGV movie- that could be the light from the end of the tunnel
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really looking fwd to this one. its about time, RGV starts making movies he’s definitely capable of making it. I dont think anyone doubts his talent and its about time he makes a killer movie and reboots his career.
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RGV and Tanikella Bharani (no matter, how minuscule a role it is) is a proposition worth salivating at. Let the “guru,” no matter how erratic he is, come back and teach the Puri Jagannadhs, the YVS Chowdarys, the Krisnavamsis, the VV Vinayaks, the Rajamoulis what “rawness” is.
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@ Santosh, all those guys are kiddos in front of the Guru.
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santhosh do think twice before you compare a director of his caliber to some people whom i heard once or twice in my life and everybody knows what telugu movies are. Allright
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I have to agree with you on this one..
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The film looks more amazing with new stills
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Honestly, these stills could be from any of the rural-based Tamil films that you can see. Dime a dozen. Very generic in their portrayal of hitmen and the weapons used.
Having said that, the portrayal of a south-based story in Hindi does sound intriguing. Putting Vivek Oberoi amidst it does add up. And a political-naxal connection takes it all up a notch.
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He never went anywhere, he has been kicking ass, no, asses through and through.
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i seriously hope he does (bounce back)
he is someone who initiated making indian cinema presentable globally.
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Your quote “he is someone who initiated making indian cinema presentable globally”
That may be a statement even RGV won’t agree to.
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not exactly in the same terms but definately his movies (if not for some inspirations) can definately be counted into the thriller genres from foreign aaram se as our enteries from India, and might have much more viewership than Namaste London…
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>>>> That may be a statement even RGV won’t agree to.
Oops … i missed “For me – ” before ” he is someone who initiated making indian cinema presentable globally.”
So it’s an opinion now, not a statement … and I stand by it.
I do see your point with the ‘statement’ ignoring the classy work by earlier geniuses.
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Not sure of Globally presentable, but one thing is for sure, three of his movies have changed the way Indian cinemas were made.
Shiva bought in more realistic action scenes, more gritty, more violent, at least down South. After Shiva was released, fights began to change, you had less of the endless dishoom-dishoom, hero doing acrobatics in the air. And many movies started to employ the same lighting effects, the same camera tracking the character style. Its another thing though that in this decade, Telugu cinema has gone back to the standard Masala style.
Satya revolutionized the Gangster genre in Indian cinema. The blonde wigs, Mona darlings, Scotch bottles, cigars gave way to a more coarse, foul mouthed, gruffy looking gangsters. And what’s more it introduced a new kinda gangster hero, some one who was in crime just to survive, no painful flashbacks of hero as a kid shining shoes and all.
Bhoot threw out all cannons of Indian horror movie making. The setting was the claustrophobic environment of a pent house apartment, the Bhoot here was not a lady in a white sari, it was a young female, and the terror was more through silence than shrieks and sounds. Though the ending was pretty much hookey, for a major part the movie scared. It also changed the way horror flicks were usually made in Bollywood.
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Agree on Shiva & Satya. Did not find Bhoot scary at all – yeah, better than the Ramsay stuff but that’s not saying much, is it?
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Kic, the ending of Bhoot was quite Hookey, but i found some of the initial scenes scary, especially the first appearance of the Ghost, another one where Urmi is on the beach alone, and the Ghost makes an appearance.
Matter of fact i liked some episodes of Darna Mana Haai also, the Vivek Oberoi-Nana Patekar one, and the Boman Irani-Saif segment, though again the ending was a let down.
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I am not saying there were no scary parts, just that it was not consistently so. I dont remember the beach scene but was spooked by the mirror scene. However, post Rekha’s entry, it was only her looks that scared me
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Bhoot, even I didn’t find it scary… though cannot say it wasnt because I went with my dad’s colleague’s son, and the next was silently reprimanded by the ‘uncle’ not to take his son (2 years elder to me) to such movies, that he does not appriciate his sons’ sudden love so muc hthat he made sure he slet next to his dad… (all of it is true
)….
Darna mana hai, though was never directed by RGV, I was never scared but excited all the way … I personally loved the movie… an erratic school teacher, one wierd cigarette stopping guy, vegetable seller selling,monster apples, A guy who can stop the world from being in motion, a new couple on an isolated trip, and of course the ghost who gives a lift to people… every bit was awesome erratic no connection points wale stories… it was a fun watch…
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and if we are talking of Darna Mana Hai, which was not directed by RGV then to mention another of his protege’s movies… ROAD… this one was kickass… Manoj Bajpai in this movie is possibly one of the most under rated villians in hindi cinema…, his menace is brilliant… and it feels like what if you do get stuck with a chrachter like him …. most of his dialogues were again a hit amongst my pals…. unnecessarily ask questions to people who would ve diagonally parked their bikes next to ours “yeh aise, Kaise?” …” woh sab theek hai lekin yeh aise, Kaise?” and they d know we are kidding…. “kutub minar pe malai marke laa” in how many restaurants we changed the items, mixed it with age old jokes (Gulab Jamun mei Jamun kidhar) but asked in the same context just get that stupid kick… and yessss… that song… “pehli bar mei dar gayi doosri mei bhi darr gayee re… thanks boli babu thanks boli…. ” as much as I enjoyed the song it somewhere still kept me at the edge of the seat of what next after the song….
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Bhoot was a decent film and one of the best thing I like in Bhoot was that bell… two-three minutes silence and then suddenly trringggg……..
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I still cant forget the scene – where urmi is sleeping , opens her eyes and sees the ghost watching her – chilling….
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I would include ‘Nishabdh” also in this category..no one even dared to make movie like this before in Indian cinema..
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I second ur thought… and would include Naach as well…. potential angst that a person suppreses within oneself is beautifully portraid in this one…
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Somehow never liked Nishabd, it was a good theme, but RGV made a mess out of it, where a more subtle treatment was needed, it became too In your face. Also too much focus on Jiah Khan’s legs, making it look more like a Lust story.
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It WAS a lust story
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Well if just daring is the criterion, Rajesh Khanna’s Wafaa takes away the bragging rights. Nishabdh was poorly executed in my view.
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Kic u actually saw Wafaa, agar dekha ho to aap sachmuch Mahaan hai.
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Haan maine bhi dekha hai….Was shown in cable last Sunday…Rajesh Khanna ke upar koi RIP ka post likho jaldi :rofl:
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Ajay Nair, :bow: :bow: :bow:
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In fact, on the subject of an old man falling in love with a much younger woman, Cheeni Kum was quite tastefully done for most part.
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Cheeni Kum worked because focus was more on the relationship between AB and Tabu, Nishabd focussed more on Ms.Khan’s legs, it was more like Poison Ivy for some time, but second half went somewhere else.
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What poor Ramu could have done..he thought jiah’s legs are more appealing than her acting!! and same thing he is doing with Nisha Kothari
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Nishabd suffered from not becoming a lust story all the way. It could have been a hard hitting American Beauty where it settled for a less dramatic, and bland Indian version.
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One can put Kaun there instead of Bhoot.
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Yes, Kaun was good. Not horror but a very good thriller in its own right.
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that’s my point , RGV might not be the sole reason for all these changes .. but he definately initiated better things, which others picked up.
>>> Shiva bought in more realistic action scenes (fully agree)
>>> Rangeela introduced a glamour minus vulgarity quotient in the ladies.
>>> The use of camera as the hero in his movies like Raat and Bhoot ….
>>> Satya presented The bhai logs as human (maybe not for the first time) but it still sort of started a change because RGV was able to make it a success . .and we all know that nothing succeeds like success.
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You can never write him off – the talent is evident. I enjoyed Sarkar in between all the duds that he came up with recently. Difficult to take a call based on pictures and this may disappoint yet – but I never miss watching an RGV movie, as I have seen what he is capable of in the past and there is always hope that it will come back at some point.
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I am hoping that RGV brings a fresh treatment to the Rayalaseema Genre, it had started off well with movies like Antahpuram, Sri Ramulayya, but later degenerated into a super hero caricature kinda series, post Samarasimha Reddy.
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For me the thing about RGV is the way some of his movies have actually impacted off screen.
Shiva was a major hit, when released, but the success was not just in terms of collections and days. It was the impact off it, guys started to dress up like Nag, kinda rebellious, denim shirt hanging loose, Jeans pants, many carrying chains.While yours truly did not carry a chain, for a major part of my college days, my dress was simple, jeans and denim shirts. The dialogues from Shiva became a cult favorite among campuses in Andhra, used in every situation imaginable.
“College ki chadukovadaniki vachi chala rojulu ayindi,edho konchem time pass, koncham canteen”- Trans( Been ages since we came to college to study, just some time pass, some canteen). True to it, most of the time we would spend bunking classes, to date have no idea how i got through my engg exams.
Again when Bhoot was released in 2003, was working in Bhubaneshwar, it was more of a small town kinda city, the movie was a big hit, and most important, after the movie was released,people were actually scared to go home alone, or even be in home alone. Also remember our boss was a real obnoxious asshole, and he promptly got the nickname of “Manjeet”. In fact that became the nickname of some one you detested.
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Maybe Azaghiri also saw Shiva when he was young. I heard he is called “cycle chain Azhagiri”
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Hmm in certain pictures VO looks like the company ka Chandu… reportedly (Mid Day) RGV and Manoj Bajpai are friends again… also reportedly RGV and Ajay Devgan are back being buddies, Chakravarthy and RGV have patched up, RGV has shaken hands with southern superstar Surya and superstar Sudeep, RGV has also decided to take a little more mainstream actors yet away like Mohnish Behl as a leading character in Rann and also kept Ritiesh Deshmukh… RGV has also roped in Ashish Vidhyarthi and his ever favorite Sushant Singh, who also seems to give at least a scene stealing look only in RGV movies… Nisha Kothari, Mohit Ahlawat, Randeep Hooda and KK Menon’s wife in Sarkaar are in the camps with Antara mali… god knows where now if he is planning to do some sessions with Anurag Kashyap (and sorry manish sir, but not with you..
) and Saurabh Shukla, we have an amazing pool of talent BACK!!! NOW… I hope they get their business back!!
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Is it true that Surya is playing some character in Raktha Charithra?
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Supposedly Surya plays the role of the head of rival fraction, however the story from his point of view would make the 2nd part or the second installement of RC… MY bet, this will have quite a bit of VO as memories and flashbacks, though maybe another 3rd would raise some severe firepower between the 2 ‘angare’ actors… but then again, that might be too much to ask for…
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Surya is playing role of Maddela Cheruvu Suri, Paritala Ravi’s rival.
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Oh,excellent,Surya’s a very subtle and classy actor,So we can be assured that he won’t ham his way through the role……
Btw,we’re all discussing Vivek Oberoi,Abhimanyu Singh etc….We are forgetting the real surprise of the movie,Shatrughan Sinha as NT Rama Rao…
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Sudeep had earlier acted in Phoonk, and i believe in Rann, he has a leading role. Fortunately this movie does not seem to have Nisha Kothari.
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Oh..what a relief…Nisha Kothari is not in Rakta Charita..ab jake rahat pahunchi…
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And thankfully the movie does not seem to have any “Item Number” stuff, that have been a staple in recent RGV flicks.
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Actually liked Daud, it was fun all the way, though many hated it when the movie was first released.
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I dont know why ppl deslike Daud…for me it will always remain a treat..& the best part is Chako and PINKI the great..PINKI was superb…
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YUP, who can forget Pinki
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When will Ramu & Rahman work….They were magical in Rangeela…Bring them on together
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Ramu and Rahman will again work if Rahman works for free! Ramu’s films are made on shoe string budget and every single paisa is tightly controlled. That is how he is able to finance his films inspite of multiple failures. Commercially, they never left a big hole in producer’s pocket (RGV Ki Aaag might be an exception). He casts regional superstars/good actors like Sudeep and Surya and pay them pittance in return for their getting exposure to Hindi Audience. Fardeen Khan is rumored to have financed the movie Jungle (in other words paid back) in order to act in Jungle. Nothing wrong with that in fact, if the end product turns out good. He picks up talent like Shimit Amin, our very own AK and rarely repeats them as they become too expensive for his budgets when they are popular. At the risk of playing a psycho analyst here, he has a classic middle class syndrome (financial aspects) like millions of us! Stay with in budget, make minimal losses, any any profit is a bonus
OK…I may be crossing over that “line” now.
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does anyone find the last two stills offensive. and kinda throwback to b grade movies. i find that boring.
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The girls hands seem to be tied behind her back. That makes it terrifying in a way.
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yup … the pictures look chilling… even the one where somebody has been tied and is being burnt, looks equally chilling enough…
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RGV’z blog mentioned that even though the factions maintained their own armies, they cared two hoots about the law. And they went about it, even though the police were sincere. Stuff that would evoke wars.
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RGV had released earlier pics of Vivek on why he had chosen him. In fact I guess the casting had to be compromised by the fact that he had to choose most actors who could speak two languages.
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Yeah the pictures look very very promising. In fact RGV is confident that his life would be divided as Pre-Rakta Charitra and post. Lets see. Maybe A. Singh would do the best job of predicting beforehand like he did for Paa.
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Though i regularly read the blogs on PFC, have never posted or commented. just 2 points i want to make
1. RaktaCharithra looks very promising. I hope this brings VO back in the reckoning. mainstream hindi cinema has serious dearth of talented actors, and can do with actors like VO. now before PFCites(?), jump on me; lets be fair to VO. I think the man’s talent is unquestionable – hope tht the failure and ostricization ( post the salamn khan press conf) has put some sense into him.
2. my more imporatnt point is RGV’s blog. my verdict is – OUTSTANDING!!! as a cine lover, u gotta admit. he picks and talks about a lotta very relevant and interesting topics.
he should be blogging in PFC – his passion for cinema is unquestionable?? Administrators, are u reading? what needs to be done to get him to have a featured blog here?
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Just as an aside, I read this, thought I should share…
http://www.telugudesamblog.com/2007/01/paritala-ravi-second-death-anniversary.html
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Interesting observations on the ‘economics’ of RGV movies.
But Sarkar and Sarkar Raj with their high-profile actors don’t seem to fit into this ‘economy-class filmmaking’ theory. Do you think the three ABs (Amitabh, Abhishek, Aishwarya) would have been paid lesser than their market prices for those movies?
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Going by RGV’s writings in his blog, he doesn’t seem to have the middle class mentality towards money. He talks of how he went against his grandfather’s advice of putting his earnings from Shiva in fixed deposit and spent 2 lacs on renovating his office, which he already knew he would be abandoning in four months’ time.
He also talks of keeping money ‘kinetic’ and not saving for the future.
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One reason why RGV and Rahman may never come together again would be because RGV’s movies are conceived and completed in a jiffy and he wouldn’t have the patience to plan ahead and adjust his work according to Rahman’s available dates.
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The above comment is directed @ Siva Somayajula.
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I am well impressed by the name RAKHTACHARITRA…this name sound so hard that any person(cinema lover)can easily fascinates by it..
i love watching RGV movies becz they are simply unique..just different from other filmmakers and i hope that rgv sir finally comes back like satya.compant etc…
jai raktacharitra…
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I think Ramu is playing with fire (people emotions).I am saying this because I am from ground zero of this story’s location.In case if he shows Ravi in any small bad light, He must be extra careful to survive?? Ravi name itself can boil the blood of many of his followers.Currently most of them are living under ground.Most of the poor people at that area treat Ravi at par with god,they won’t hesitate to do anything to safeguard his name.So careful…
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