Ravanasura review: Ravi Teja’s magic works, but little else does

The Telugu film Ravanasura is now playing in cinemas across the UAE. It is directed by Sudheer Varma and stars Ravi Teja, Sushanth, Anu Emmanuel, Faria Abdullah, Megha Akash, Daksha Nagarkar, Poojitha Ponnada, Sriram, Rao Ramesh, Jayaram, Murali Sharma, Sampath Raj.

Telugu film Ravanasura review

The beauty of the Indian epic Ramayana is that it allows for varied readings. The characters are not one-shaded. Take, for example, Ravana, generally seen as a dark villain, has multi-redeeming qualities. He was otherwise a pious Shiv bhakt, a remarkable musician and an able and just ruler.

The title of Ravanasura does seem inspired, for this Ravi Teja film plays a character with opposing aspects within. The problem for Ravanasura, save for this twist in the character, is that the film offers too few organic thrills. What it does offer, are typical formulaic masala moments that you expect in a Ravi Teja starrer. The first half is filled with mostly fun mass elements that you have seen in many of his movies, but they are also the ones you walk into theatre playing his movie.  

Ravindra (Ravi Teja) is a flirtatious and fun-loving advocate who works in a law firm under the popular criminal lawyer Kanaka Mahalaxmi (Faria Abdullah). As it happens, she is his ex-lover, and he is a kind of bumbling lawyer. This setup may seem silly to some. But this sets off the film on a breezy note before things turn a bit serious with the arrival of Harika (Megha Akash). She asks Kanaka to appear on her dad’s (Sampath Raj) behalf in the court in a murder case in which he is the main accused. Harika alleges that some vested interests at play have framed her father in the case. 

Ravindra shows interest in the case and wants Kanaka to take up the matter. Alongside, a few other suspicious murders also take place and the police are caught in a tizzy. Who is committing these murders and why? And why is Ravindra keen on Harika’s father’s case?  ACP Hanumanth Rao (Jayaram) has to crack the case.

The first half which ends with a twist is all fine and passable. In the second half, things take a leap of unimaginable faith as many characters and complex twists happen in frenzied profusion. It is all typically over-the-top Telugu masala stuff.

Ravi Teja, in a dapper look, is as ever full of energy and entertainment. The man’s screen presence and his ability to turn even the most ludicrous situation believable is what holds the film together. And there is another side to his character where he has to ooze menace, and he pulls that off too in style.

Faria Abdullah and Megha Akash have roles that are typical and limiting. But they get decent screen time, something which is unavailable to the likes of Daksha Nagarkar and Anu Emmanuel, who flit in and out of the screen without registering anything worthwhile. The veteran Jayaram as the cop goes through the motions. Sampath Raj as a murder accused who doesn’t seem to remember much has no big role.

Director Sudheer’s eagerness to build an interesting script around some usual masala trope is understandable. But for that to work, the story and its treatment have to be grounded in realistic elements. The film ends up being neither one thing nor the other in ways that it didn’t intend.