Young and energetic hero Raj Tharun back in his first hit Uyyala Jampala’s home compound of Annapurna Studios makes Rangula Ratnam in Sri Ranjani direction something special. Starring Chitra Shukla and Sitara in other leads, let us see what is this roller coaster ride all about?
Vishnu (Raj Tharun) is a typical middle class guy working in a software company lives happily with mother (Sitara) and close childhood buddy (Priyadarshi). Very much affectionate towards mother, for the first time in life Vishnu falls in love at first sight with Keerthi (Chitra Shukla). With all the support from mother, finally Vishnu wins his love only to face biggest tragedy of life. On the other side, Vishnu distances himself from only hope of life Keerthi for some silly reasons. How Vishnu wins back Keerthi is rest.
To be precise, story of this film can be divided into two lines. One is mother-son emotional sentiment on Raj Tharun-Sitara and second is the romantic thread between Raj Tharun-Chitra Shukla. Screenplay hasn’t offered anything new and follows a rather known pattern. But what comes as a sweet surprise is, debutant director Sree Ranjani succeeded to ripe the sentiment and emotions making the film weighted high on melodrama. On the other side, she has also got wise knack in playing the comedy to galleries as seen on Priyadarshi. In total, Sree Ranjani has done a fair job at execution within the limitations of budget and artists. Technically, Vijay’s camera work is definitely acceptable while Sreekar Prasad’s editing may need some definite chopping in first half early portions. Music by Sree Charan Pakala neither had haunting numbers nor an exceptional background score. Production standards from Annapurna are very average.
About performances, this is a new cup of tea for Raj Tharun. Rather than flamboyant with spill of energy throughout in past films, he appeared very much settled in this flick. Most importantly, in emotional scenes he was brilliant. Chitra Shukla though looks wise is elder to Raj Tharun but was impressive. Sitara connects well with every mother. Priydarshi comedy entertained to an extent. Rest, there is none.
Raj Tharun
Interval
Second Half
Uninteresting Screenplay
Slow Narration
Boredom
Production Values
Uyyala Jampala was a decent hit because of liveliness in content and the fresh pairing of Raj Tharun, Avika Gor lived into beautifully etched roles. Repeating UJ can’t be possible all the time, so Annapurna Studios wisely tried their hand at robust mother-son emotion blended in a breakup- patch up youth love story. However, with a weak conflict and not-so-engaging narrative on a lethargic pace, Rangula Ratnam needs lots of patience to sit throughout.
First half kick starts very simply elaborating Raj Tharun and Sitara characters setting the mood for mother-son sentiment connectivity with audience. Entry of Chitra Shukla and tricks from Raj Tharun to impress her with Sitara’s inputs are easily a time pass. Chitra Shukla’s characterization went over board at times with a set of strict principles. Interval is very painful at heart and Raj Tharun shined.
Into second half, a little with the sustenance of emotional pain, the film diverts onto love story. Over possessive and over caring attitude of Chitra Shukla leading to breakup may not be cent-percent logical but very soon Priyadarshi’s comedy track relieves. Towards climax, a simple strategy from hero to get back Chitra is well handled.
In final, Rangula Ratnam is a roller coaster ride of plain sentiment and simple love with no tight turns and no inversions. Barring the snail paced narrative and zero novelty in storyline, the show is absorbing at times just due to Raj Tharun. With a very low budget invested, this can be a sure shot profitable project in festival season. CJ goes with 2.5 stars.