'Ratha Sarithiram' (Tamil, Gangster, 2010)
Director: Ramgopal Varma
Cast: Suriya, Vivek Oberoi, Priyamani, Shatrughan Sinha, Sudeep
Inspired by real life characters and incidents, Ramgopal Varma had woven an exciting tale of factional feuds, political power play, and vendetta- driven men in the Hindi 'Raktha Charithra'. And now Varma returns with its sequel. This time it’s a trilingual, in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. While the Hindi version is straight, the Tamil version is partly dubbed, and partly re-shot.
Titled 'Ratha Sarithiram' in Tamil, the first 20 minutes capsule the happenings of the prequel. It traces the rise of Pratap Ravi (Oberoi), a simple college student, who takes up arms to avenge his father’s death. Ravi’s foray into politics, and his using his power to eliminate his enemies, all form this part. The sequel that follows, tracks the rise of Surya (Suriya) another young man, whose life almost follows that of Ravi’s.
Leading a quiet life with his wife and baby, Surya had consciously kept away from the mad violence of his native village. But when Ravi kills his father, Surya is forced into that very world of violence. He plots revenge, his first ambush ending in failure. It’s a vicious circle, where the hunter becomes the hunted, Surya’s life almost following the track of Ravi’s, his bête noire.
Varma’s part one was a riveting film, the characters and incidents finely tuned. Oberoi had given his career’s best performance. But here, the narration is lacklustre, unevenly paced, the characters barely making any impact.
There are a lot of slow motion shots and camera gimmicks, heavy breathing noises when characters are in agony, and a background score that resounds in a noisy frenzy. All of it, repeated, becoming a tad tiresome after a time.
But there are some brilliant moments too. The one where a killer disguised as a woman assaults Surya in the courtroom is thrilling.
The character and performance that stands out is that of Suriya’s. The actor plays with quiet assurance and perfect understanding (it’s his debut in Bollywood), holding his own against known talents. Priyamani, playing his wife, leaves her mark. It’s the Suriya-related scenes that have been shot in the three languages, the rest dubbed from Hindi.
If Varma’s prequel was a brilliant depiction of faction-driven feuds and the warlord-politician nexus, this one lacks that punch, polish and consistency.