‘Raju Weds Rambai’ movie review: This rural romance does not rise above shock value

Cinema is perpetually connected a quest for earthy endowment that breaks existing norms, pushes boundaries, and offers thing caller to audiences. Yet, endowment tin beryllium 1 untamed beast which, erstwhile not channelled efficiently, tin spell haywire. Raju Weds Rambai, a agrarian romance enactment unneurotic by a young team, presents an unfiltered regard connected a gruesome real-life incidental from the precocious 2000s, unaware of its ain toxicity.

Debutant Saailu Kaampati’s movie opens with an arresting ocular motif, a drum utilized by a colony euphony band. It is personified arsenic a sole witnesser (voice implicit by Manoj Manchu) to cardinal events successful a mortal’s beingness — birth, matrimony and decease — indicative of the gloom ahead. The communicative is centred connected a doomed romance betwixt a set owner, Raju (Akhil Uddemari), and a college-going girl, Rambai (Tejaswi Rao).

While Raju and Rambai are caput implicit heels successful emotion with 1 another, absorption comes successful from the latter’s father, Venkanna (Chaitu Jonnalagadda), a physically challenged antheral who works arsenic a compounder successful the village’s authorities hospital. He masks his insecurities with his aggression, ever provoking uncalled-for confrontations, astatine home, enactment and everyplace successful between.

Both men, Raju and Venkanna, autumn prey to their anger, needlessly complicating elemental situations, which person catastrophic repercussions. The women (Raju’s mother, Rambai and her mother) are either hapless victims of the men’s actions oregon willingly judge their decision. This trope takes rather a problematic crook successful the second portion of the film, causing irreparable harm to their lives.

What works for Raju Weds Rambai? Very little, but successful its finest moments, it takes a peek astatine the elemental dreams, conflicts of the mean villager — the obsession to get a authorities job, a akin unit to wed a miss to a authorities occupation holder, the temptation to determination to a metropolis successful quest of greener pastures, the eventual tussle betwixt self-respect and livelihood demands.

Raju Weds Rambai may person borrowed inspiration from existent events, but what it lacks is the introspective lens of a filmmaker. It seems an effort made by, of and for men, struggling to supply a multi-dimensional presumption of a tragedy. The climax repulses you for its daze worth and astir makes a saint retired of Raju for his ‘bravura’ act, forgetting each his erstwhile follies conveniently. As the movie battles a larger societal malaise, it points a digit astatine the evident atrocious guy, not looking within.

Like galore mainstream films, it stretches the elastic excessively acold successful sexualising the mode a antheral comes of property and normalises it arsenic humour. Raju and his friends salivate astatine the imaginable of watching a soft-porn movie successful 1 of their houses. It could person been conscionable different straightforward depiction of antheral fantasy, but the code is excessively crass to telephone ‘true to life’.

Later, different series has Raju admitting to Rambai astir watching big films and promises to discontinue it lone if helium gets to buss her. Even arsenic the men get to clasp their archetypal mobile telephone (the movie is acceptable successful and astir 2010), they wage a store proprietor to download the latest big videos. In a ‘contest’ betwixt 2 drunk men, Raju is asked to bushed his thorax (till the different tires) and outcry ‘I emotion Rambai’ arsenic a proclamation of his ‘sincere’ love.

The euphony set backdrop gives the licence to pump successful movie (and song) references from the 90s, 2000s and beyond — from Peda Rayudu to Chitram, 6 Teens, Kotha Bangaru Lokam and Falguni Pathak’s popular numbers. The film, successful fact, opens with a framework crediting a big of 2000s actors — Tarun, Uday Kiran, Rohit, Arjan Bajwa and others — arsenic men who taught a procreation astir love.

Both the pb actors, Akhil Uddemari and Tejaswi Rao, are aptly formed successful relatable characters successful their precocious teens/early 20s. Akhil is much astatine easiness successful the comic segments (the uncommon ones that work), sharing a bully camaraderie with his on-screen friends. Shivaji Raja gets his sympathetic-father enactment right, portion Anita Chowdary isn’t near with overmuch to do. 

There are nary doubts astir Chaitu Jonnalagadda’s promise. The information that helium tin propulsion disconnected the massy, comic dada successful Bubblegum arsenic effortlessly arsenic the no-nonsense serviceman Diwakar successful Hit 3 says enough. Raju Weds Rambai pictures him arsenic a toxic begetter 1 would emotion to hate, though the show would’ve worked amended if the relation had much nutrient (beyond his insecurity and rage).

Suresh Bobbili continues to impressment successful his comfortableness portion — rooted agrarian drama, but helium could bash much to diversify himself without succumbing to marketplace demands. The cinematography leaves a batch to beryllium desired, peculiarly the intent with which a fewer sequences are filmed. The dialogues deficiency absorption and precision, sometimes astatine the outgo of crushing a scene’s spirit.

Raju Weds Rambai’s tone-deaf, crass attraction is the superior antagonist for a calamity that demanded a much cautious, nuanced filmmaking approach.