Rudhramadevi Review
Director: Gunasekhar
Cast: Anushka, Rana, Allu Arjun
Anushka Shetty’s Rudhramadevi is an ambitious attempt to register the history of a brave queen on celluloid. The film definitely falls short in terms of CG work but it can’t be written off either, thanks to the solid research work done by director Gunashekar and the way he has depicted women.
Kakatiya dynasty’s king Ganapatideva (Krishnam Raju) is anxious that his new born baby is a girl. According to the ancient rules, a woman can’t rule the country and hence enemies are waiting to know whether the baby is a boy or girl. But Shiva Deviah (Prakash Raj), the clever minister of Ganapatideva, gives an idea to make a false announcement that the new born is a boy and also trains her as a true warrior.
Years later, there comes a situation where Shiva Deviah is forced to reveal the secret and eventually, enemies announce war on the kingdom. The rest of the film tells us whether Rudhramadevi is brave and intelligent enough to save her dynasty or not?
Rudhramadevi must be appreciated for two reasons-one is Anushka Shetty who gives her career best performance and the dialogues glorifying women, which is very rare in Indian cinema these days.
If only Gunashekar had enough budget and a competant technical team, he would have made Rudhramadevi a cult classic but now, to be frank, the film has too many gravity defying stunts, which are unintentionally hilarious and the amateurish VFX work too brings down the effect of a solid story-line.
Performance wise, Anushka looks stunning in the film, both as beautiful queen and a brave warrior. Her costumes and styling is worth mentioning. Allu Arjun, who comes as Kottai Sandiyar and Prakash Raj as the shrewd minister steals the show. Rana Daggubatti, who plays the role of Chalukya Veerabadhra doesn’t have much to score while others are just adequate.
Technically, Ajayan Vincent’s cinematography is scintillating that the color tone gives the exact period backdrop while Ilaiyaraaja’s music and his usual magic in the background score.is not up to the mark.
Overall, Rudhramadevi is not a flawless film but it can be watched once to know about the life history of a great queen, especially for the ones who rarely read history.
