Release date : October 22, 2015
123telugu.com Rating : 3/5
Director : Omkar
Producer : R.Divakaran,s.Praveen
Music Director : Sai Karthik
Starring : Ashwin Babu, Dhanya Balakrishna
Anchor turned director, Ohmkar didn’t see much luck with his debut film Genius. He has now changed gears and is back with a horror comedy Raju Gari Gadhi. The promotions of the film have clicked big time and created a good buzz for the film which has released today. Let’s see how it is.
Story:-
The story is set amidst the dangerous Raju Gari Mahal in Nandima. All those who try to find out about its mystery are killed meticulously. To cash in on this hot topic, a popular television channel plans a reality show in the dreaded bungalow.
The channel selects a group of youngsters and challenges them to spend a week in the dreaded house and win a whopping prize money of 3 crores. Rest of the story is as to how this group manages to survive this challenge and finds out what is actually inside this Raju Gari Gadhi.
Plus Points:-
Major asset of the film is the humorous content in the film. Credit should completely go to Shakalaka Shankar and Dhanraj for their hilarious roles. Both these comedians are the main stay and generate superb comedy in the first half. While Shakala Shankar evokes superb laughs with his accent and religious satires, Dhanraj is superb as the village buff Shivudu.
Omkar’s brother, Ashwin looks ok in his role and so was Dhanya Balakrishna. Chetan Cheenu gets a meaty role and does his best. First half of the film is a laugh riot and has some hilarious comedy episodes.
Second half gets into a thriller mode and has a few engaging moments. Some thrills and spooky moments have been handled well. Vidyu Raman is pretty good and showcases good comedy alongside Dhanraj and Shankar.
Minus Points:-
After setting up a superb first half, second half gets bogged down a bit. It is not that the film is bad during this time but the audience are so eager to find out what is actually this Raju Gari Gadhi, the proceedings are deviated and wrapped up in a simple way.
Ohmkar should have taken care to reveal the facts behind the Raju Gari Gadhi. However, he takes the film in a complete different direction and makes it serious. Certain logics go missing and Saptagiri’s character does not work out well. Instead, it makes the film silly and deviates the attention.
Technical Aspects:-
The Mahal set is quite impressive and credit should go to art director Sahi Suresh for creating a pretty enticing premise. Songs of the film are ok but Sai Karthik’s background score is quite good. Screenplay is decent as Ohmkar manages to evoke decent entertainment and manages a suspense factor in the second part.
Coming to the director Omkar, he has done a superb job with the first half but could have handled the second part in a better way. One can say that his second attempt as a director is impressive and he has a long way to go ahead.
Verdict:-
On the whole, Ragu Gari Gadhi surprises you with some decent entertainment. A hilarious first half, superb performances by Shakalaka Shankar and Dhanraj are major assets. If you manage to sit through the bogged down and mediocre second half, you can easily give this film a shot this weekend.
123telugu.com Rating : 3/5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team