Starring : Ashwin, Chetan Cheenu, Poorna, Dhanya Balakrishna.
Director : Ohmkar
Music : Sai Karthik
Producer : Praveen and Divakaran
Anchor Ohmkar, who made his directional debut with Genius, is desperate to make a mark for himself on the silver screen. His latest offering Raju Gari Gadhi, touted to be a suspense horror thriller, has hit the screens today. Let’s find out if the film is able to meet the expectations or not.
Plot :
The story of the film is set against the backdrop of a mysterious haunted Mahal in Nandigam. One room in the Mahal is Raju Gari Gadhi and it has a lot of scary stories behind it. A lot of people who venture into this haunted place end up dead.
To cash in on the interesting story behind this Mahal, a popular media outlet announces a reality show to dare and find out the mystery behind this Mahal. The whopping cash prize for this reality show draws a lot of contestants and seven people Ashwin (Ashwin), Nandu (Chetan), Barbie (Eshanya), Sundari (Dhanya Balakrishnan), Shivudu (Dhanraj), M Y Danam (Shankar) and Bujjimma (Vidyulekka) are selected to participate in the show.
Twist in the plot arises when it is revealed that all the set-up is a fabrication to find out the real reason behind the mysterious happenings at the Mahal. Interestingly, two of selected participants have a strong connection with the Mahal. Who planned this deliberate set-up ? Who are the two persons with strong connections to the Mahal ? Watch the film to solve this mystery!
Positive Points :
Entertainment is the key for this film. From the get-go till the pre-climax, the movie is filled with plenty of humour and rib-tickling comedy scenes. Jabardasth fame comedians Dhanraj and Shakala Shankar have done their best to bring laughs with their funny antics. Sapthagiri, in his cameo role, also does a fair job.
The pre-climax episode is the major asset for the film. This is the crucial juncture of the film, where the entire set-up unravels and the twists are revealed one after the other. Ohmkar’s brother Ashwin and Cheetan Cheenu did a decent job in their roles and as did Dhanya Balakrishna.
The first half of the film has decent entertainment and the second half is packed with thrilling scenes. Raghu Babu and Prabhas Seenu are OK in their roles. Rajeev Kanakala, despite a very short screen time, makes an impression.
Negative Points :
Despite being touted as a horror thriller, the film lacks scenes scary enough to send chills down the audience’s spine. A lot of horror scenes turn out to be ludicrous and fail to make any impact whatsoever.
A few scenes are exaggerated to such an extent that the over the top comedy just looks cheap and senseless. Poosani Krishna Murali and Poorna are underutilized.
Many scenes lack clarity as they end abruptly with no rhyme or reason. In spite of the hype created, there are no scenes to provide the audience an insight into what’s so intriguing about the Gadhi.
Although the premise is OK, the narration is haphazard and the film loses its momentum due to a multitude of unnecessary scenes, added purely for the entertainment factor.
Technical Departments :
Director Ohmkar made a decent effort in his direction. Although the premise looks good on paper, the narration is weak. Dialogues penned by Sai Madhav Burra are OK, particularly the ones spoken by Rajeev Kanakala and Aswin are very impressive. Artwork by Sahi Suresh is neat and Sai Kartheek did a good job with the background score.
Cinematography by Gnanam is neat and while the editing by Nagaraju could have been better had he trimmed the extraneous scenes which do not flow with the film. The production design is perfect as they managed to have completed it with a shoestring budget.
Verdict :
Raju Gari Gadhi is conceptually good but the mediocre attempt at exectution makes it a lackluster suspense drama. The entertainment and the interesting twists will play to the gallery, but the poor narration doesn’t help the film to meet the expectations.
