'Rebel' (Telugu)
Director: Raghava Lawrence
Cast: Prabhas, Tamannah, Deeksha Seth, Krishnam Raju, Brahmanandam, Kovai Sarla, Ali, MS Narayana
Some movies make you want to go back to school and unlearn everything you learnt! 'Rebel' is one of those. Physics, Biology, Geometry and even Geography sound, feel and look ‘different’. Your grey matter evaporates. Mana hero attempts the impossible, accomplishes it without a scratch (give or take a few drops of tomato ketch up).
He is just not a hero..err! he is a superhero sans the mask and the queer spidey wear. Yes, Prabhas, the freakingly tall and muscular star, has decided that it is time to join the likes of Vijaykanth. There’s a Rebel for you in short.
Going into the story, Rishi (Prabhas), who calls himself a rebel like his papa Bhupati (Krishnam Raju), is not rebellious in any way. Prabhas’ father, a don for the baddies, a god for the good, sends his son to another place, to keep him away from the bloodshed. But, since it’s in his blood, he grows up to be like his father.
The baddies, including his uncle and cousin, kill the noble father and the son avenges his death.
While Tammanah is a hip-hop dance teacher-cum-pawn, Deeksha Seth is an orphan-cum-love interest. The rest of the characters need no specific mention.
Fairly predictable.
Director Raghava Lawrence has created a good screenplay, but what upsets is the fact that there is absolutely nothing new about the movie, except for a few fight scenes.
If you watch the movie on mute, you wouldn't know the difference between 'Rebel' and 'Billa'.
A budget of Rs 40 crore on the movie sounds meaningless. The amount of glass articles, windows, tables, vases and doors destroyed in the movie, will be enough to make another movie.
And two hours and 50 minutes for this insipid stuff is unpardonable.
Comedians Brahmanandam, Kovai Sarla, Ali and MS Narayana are the saving grace. Action sequences are really violent and give you a bad headache after a point of time. Mukesh Rushi and Pradeep Rawat carry off the ‘new-age villain’ tag in the movie. And looks like the producers ran out of ‘firang’ guys for the movie. Instead, there are model-like girl fighters this time.
The directors are still obsessed with white suits and shoes for the hero and black for villain. It’s time they move on! Come on Prabhas! It’s no time to wear whites! Ever seen superheroes in whites?? The dance and songs are fine, but nothing as expected from Lawrence.
Talking about positive aspects, the cinematography is excellent with the colour scheme pleasant for the eyes, Tamannah is the sunshine corner of the movie (minus her overaction), Deeksha Seth looks equally good.
The side characters have quite a few dialogues and Prabhas takes on the burden of the whole film on his shoulders and anchors it till the end.
Verdict: Do not even contemplate buying tickets. For Prabhas fans, Ganesh Nimarjan plan over the weekend is a better option.