Ravanasura Movie Review: Ravi Teja shines in this feeble attempt at a thriller

Story: Junior lawyer Ravindra (Ravi Teja) is a goof whom no one seems to take seriously. But there seems more to him beneath the surface.

Review: With Ravanasura, Sudheer Varma attempts to make an “entertainer” that begins as your run-of-the-mill commercial drama, phases into being a thriller, but ends up being a film that doesn’t leave you satisfied either way. The director seems to meander on things that don’t need to be explained in depth and rush through key points of the story, making this film one hot mess. The saving grace? It’s Ravi Teja.

Junior lawyer Ravindra (Ravi Teja) works under his ex-crush Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Faria Abdullah) but is seemingly not very good at his job. He goofs up a lot and still retains his job because – you guessed it right, he’s the hero in a commercial film. And true to the heroes before him, he likes to annoy his boss because she’s a woman and happens to be his ex-crush too. She’s now happily married to Sekhar (Sriram).

One fine day, Harika (Megha Akash) walks into his life and office both. Even as he swoons at her, she tells him her father Vijay Talwar (Sampath) is wanted for murder. The issue? He can’t seem to remember committing the crime. Like any sane man, Ravindra doesn’t believe him but he takes up the case because he’d like to help his future father-in-law. Harika isn’t in on this plan but that doesn’t matter.

Then there are characters like a police officer called Ruhana (Pujita Ponnada), a mysterious guy called Saketh (Sushanth A), Jaanu (Daksha Nagarkar), Keethana (Anu Emmanuel) and a few others who come and go from the film as the script pleases. Then there’s ACP Hanumanth Rao (Jayaram) who’s about to retire but is tasked with an important case involving multiple murders.

Ravanasura starts off as any other Ravi Teja-starrer with some song and dance, apart from silly jokes thanks to Hyper Aadi playing advocate Babji. The film however does pick up when things take a turn. As the layers are peeled back you begin to see how all these people that Ravindra is surrounded with might just be connected to each other. And while Sudheer had initially taken his own sweet time joking about Ravindra and Mahalakshmi’s relationship, he rushes through some key points here.

Some of the scenes leading up to the interval seem both rushed yet nauseating at the same time. You want to know more, but you don’t necessarily want to see more either. When the second half picks up, things continue in the same vein till a very predictable flashback is brought in, again rushed through before you can emotionally connect to anything and an attempt at whitewashing certain heinous acts is made in the name of “justice.” When you’re told why all the above plot points were important to the film so far, it borderline laughable.

While cinematic liberty is expected, Sudheer expects you to not just suspend disbelief a little a too much, he also wants you to not think of any chinks in the logic at all it seems like. A Ram-Sita-Ravanasura angle is brought in to justify the film’s title. The whole thing reeks of a 90s thriller gone bad and by the end of it all, you just wonder where this is all heading. But, of course, Sudheer has another ace up his sleeve that’s a little too silly to comprehend.

Ravanasura is saved marginally due to Ravi Teja’s performance. He might enjoy doing the whole masala routine but he seems to truly come unto his own when a certain side to his character is unveiled. He oozes menace and seems so unpredictable for a hot minute there, you don’t really know what he’s going to do next. And while Sudheer does push the character to its limit, he doesn’t back it up with strong enough reasoning. While the film is filled chock-a-block with characters, the rest of the actors seem wasted in their roles, which is a shame. Sushanth’s character is a little better comparatively and he manages to hold his own.

Harshavardhan Rameshwar’s background score adds well to the proceedings, it’s even impressive in parts. Bheems Ceciroleo’s music doesn’t offer anything fresh and the songs just act as a hinderance, seemingly force-fitted there. Vijay Karthik Kannan’s cinematography is good, so is Naveen Nooli’s editing. The writing however is the biggest let down of the film.

Ravanasura has moments where it feels like it could be much more than a lukewarm attempt at a thriller. But those moments are so few and far in between, that alone doesn’t make this worth a watch.