Too long by at least twenty-five minutes, Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga is the kind of over-familiar romantic drama that might have felt less of a slog, had it not been peppered with a cliche-ridden screenplay that borrows its plotline heavily from Ninne Pelladatha (1996), Nuvve Kavali (2000) and Pawan Kalyan-starrer Kushi (2001).
It all starts with a scene, where our lead pair — Rishi (Panjaa Vaisshnav Tej) and Radha (Ketika Sharma) — were born at the same time on the same day, but over a course of time, they begin to detest each other. Since they are not on talking terms due to their egos, neither of the two articulates their feelings for the other, although everyone from their family and you in the audience can see exactly where this story is heading.
The film’s first hour is bursting as it seems with every romantic entertainer stereotype you can possibly think of. Director Gireesaaya resorts to using tired cliches as key conflicts between the film’s characters. Yet, it’s sitting through the film’s post-intermission sequences that require a lot of patience.
It is evident that the director has run out of ideas as much of the footage is wasted on secondary characters like Satya, Doctor Babu (Nirupam Paritala), and Arjun (Naveen Chandra), an aspiring politician and Radha’s brother, who also end up as the conflict between the two leads or their families. In fact, Satya’s comedy that has been forced into the story is nerve-wracking.
The screenplay falters haphazardly through a series of contrived family drama moments between the protagonists, and the characters spew so much relationship Gyan that you feel like you are inside a gifting shop looking at a gift card phrase. By the time Rishi and Radha realise the mistake of their ways and get back together, you feel completely exhausted.
The songs come in at regular intervals but hardly add value to the story. It looks obvious that Gireesaaya used a rulebook for film making little realising that there need to be no rules to storytelling, and all that one needs to do is stretch the imagination a little far and get a bit innovative.
Vaisshnav Tej and Ketika Sharma go through their portions with flimsy enthusiasm, their performance always coming off as a ‘performance’. The rest of the cast are inconsequential and old, familiar faces who go about their job, albeit mechanically. The film has a message but that is lost in the insipid narration. The only bright spot is the film’s breezy soundtrack composed by the classy Devi Sri Prasad. A couple of songs — Kothaga Lendenti and Telusa Telusa — are a delight to watch.
Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga is a dated film that is devoid of any insight or emotional wallop, forget the dialogues there is nothing that is compelling about this 143-minute ordeal.
Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga
Cast: Panja Vaisshnav Tej, Ketika Sharma, Naveen Chandra
Director: Basil Joseph