Make no mistake, most of our heroes are invincible, and a majority of them are do-gooders to a fault. Even when they loot, maim, murder, and even sexually assault someone, it is ingrained in us that there will be a solid reason that will make sense of it all. Probably why in Ravanasura, when a police officer says the protagonist is not a criminal lawyer but a criminal who knows the law, we do succumb to the peer pressure of whistling and hooting, however, we can’t help but think if our mass masala heroes can ever be truly fallible.
Director: Sudheer Varma
Cast: Ravi Teja, Jayaram, Faria Abdullah, Megha Akash, Srikanth
Ravanasura begins with a gruesome murder that happens in front of scores of witnesses. The killer and his victim are both high-profile people, and incidentally, the defendant’s daughter (Megha Akash) brings the case to noted advocate Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Faria Abdullah), and her junior lawyer Ravindran (Ravi Teja). Although Ravanasura begins on a grim note, the film follows a tried-and-tested template of a hero falling in love with a heroine at first sight, and breaking into songs at inappropriate moments. Just in case we had any doubt if this was love or just infatuation, Ravindran directly says her physical attributes are a major attraction. At one point, Ravindran says, “Life is boring with loads of violence, and no romance…” and to counter that he has three romantic affiliations with varying results. One is with a happily married senior colleague. One is with a grieving daughter. Finally, there is one relationship where we don’t know anything except she constantly asks for marriage after spending an intimate night with him. While it offers almost nothing to the three women in the film, it does allow Ravi Teja to shake a leg, and bring out his innate comic timing, and that holds the film in good stead… till Ravanasura becomes a tepid revenge thriller.
The murder spree is investigated by a determined ACP Hanumanth Rao (Jayaram), who gives it his all to get to the bottom of the murders where each of the accused has no recollection of the event, and believes they were framed. Hanumanth understands there is a conspiracy and no point for guessing who is the mastermind. While it is fascinating to see how the mastermind goes about exacting revenge, even if it pushes the limits of decency expected out of our heroes, it isn’t really a novel method. Something similar was seen in a pre-pandemic Srijit Mukerji film and even has its antecedents in a much-loved Tom Cruise franchise. Inspiration aside, the writing of these portions is one-note and monotonous that even the semblance of novelty wears off soon enough. While the music by Harshavardhan Rameswar and Bheems Ceciroleo is catchy, the songs drown the pace of the film leaving us disengaged with the film on one too many occasions.
With multiple layers being woven into the narrative, the makers have no doubt that Ravanasura is ultimately a Ravi Teja star vehicle. The actor owns every scene in the film by acing multiple shades. Interestingly, this is an aspect he has always explored, especially in his recent films like Waltair Veerayya, Dhamaka, and Khiladi. It is almost like his characters have an unknown side to them, which will be explored at a later time. There is a no-holds-barred personality that goes along with a happy-go-lucky character. But Ravi Teja delivers a top performance that allows him to feed into the Mass Maharaja title, and yet showcase his histrionics too.
One of the highlights of Ravanasura is its superior technical quality, brought forth by the cinematography of Vijay Kartik Kannan, who plays well within the boundaries of a star-elevation film, and manages to leave his stamp. A sense of opulence is balanced by the lighting in many of the fight sequences that are set within confined spaces. Points to the makers for staging the action sequences with freshness, and keeping them crisp without extending their welcome. However, many scenes of Ravanasura leave a bitter aftertaste, and these are not restricted to just the revenge sequences. The writing in comedy too leaves a lot to be desired because some of the scenes are crass, and the same can be said of the dialogues uttered in the garb of showcasing the badassery of Ravindran. Many of these scenes feel so out of place and unnecessary, but what truly is pleasantly surprising is how there are moments of sincerity that manage to find their way through all the template scenes. Nifty touches like the commentary on extra-judicial killings are soon offset by the usual scenes of an honest police officer supporting a criminal just because the intentions are in the right place. When we are at a place where films that have their heart in the right place are not encouraged just for it anymore, why bother doing the same for a ‘criminal’ and less said about the whitewashing that happens in the name of exposition the better?
As the credits roll, we see Ravi Teja’s Ravindran being juxtaposed next to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker with the tagline, ‘We are all bad in someone’s story.’ In retrospect, the film is just another attempt at exploring what it takes for a person to be pushed off the edge. But, for all its imagery about Ravanas and Asuras, Ravanasura is neither a monster nor a joker and falls somewhere in the middle of it all.
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