'Raju Yadav', produced by Rajesh Kallepalli and Prashanth Reddy, was released in theatres today. In this section, we are going to review the latest box-office release.
Plot:
Raju Yadav (Getup Srinu) suffers from a facial deformity because of which he comes across as someone who is always smiling. The corrective surgery needs Rs 3 lakh, which his poor father can't afford. He waits for nothing less than a lottery, which comes in the form of a rich woman named Sweetie (Ankita Kharat), with whom he falls in love. The love story takes an unexpected turn. What is the turn? Will Raju have a happy ending at all?
Performances:
Getup Srinu dabbles in a poignant role that has a vivid tragicomic element. His performance is decent. In the absence of nuanced writing, however, his character feels half-baked. The male protagonist feels incomplete because of how Ankita Kharat's character is designed. The actress portraying Sweetie should have evoked a sense of friendliness. The audience can almost foresee her trajectory. Ananda Chakrapani plays Raju's ever-so-frustrated father.
Mirchi Hemanth (as an RMP), 'Jabardasth' Sunny and several others play forgettable characters/cameos.
Technical aspects:
Harshavardhan Rameshwar's music is pretty average with no memorable tunes. The songs are ordinary. Suresh Bobbili's background music is underwhelming and sometimes annoying owing to its monotonous nature. The cinematography by SaiRam Uday works in the portions where the intention is to lend the scenes a deliberately sleepy mood. Bonthala Nageswara Reddy's editing is not random. The production designer by Sri Nagendra Tangela is... wait.. does this film have a design in the first place?
Post-Mortem:
Writer-director Krishnamachary K comes up with a plot that is admittedly based on true incidents. There was only one way to narrate 'Raju Yadav'. And that one way was to balance the tragicomic nature of the story with the desire for entertainment.
The film constantly attempts to scream for sympathy from the audience. Every single scene involves or revolves around Raju Yadav, who meets with the face-deforming accident right within the first 5-10 minutes. This robs his character of an essence and a life beyond the accident. Every single scene he has with his flustered father has him at the receiving end of admonition.
Once Raju bumps into Sweetie, the mood of the film undergoes a superficial shift. The change is not brought about by nuanced characterizations/scenes. Rather, the lazy route of music is used. The dialogues are sketchy because the script is not clear about the emotions it wants to evoke in the audience.
Closing Remarks:
'Raju Yadav' is hollow despite its misery-heavy climax. The characterizations, the plot-turns, and the narrative fall flat.
