Review : Rathnam – Disappointing Action Drama

Hari, who has a knack for mass films, has now teamed up with Vishal for an action-packed entertainer titled Rathnam. The duo previously delivered two superhits in the form of Bharani and Pooja. Let’s see if Rathnam can be their hat trick.

 

Story:

Rathnam (Vishal) is a close aide of Chittoor MLA Panneer Swamy (Samuthirakani). He always involves in one conflict or the other. One day he sees Mallika (Priya Bhavani Shankar) and starts following her. Rathnam soon realizes that some goons are trying to kill Mallika. Rathnam goes all out to protect Mallika. Who are these goons? Why do they want to kill Mallika? Why did Rathnam risk his life for Mallika? This is what Rathnam is about.

 

Plus Points:

Vishal is the kind of actor who never goes wrong with his performance. In Rathnam, too he delivered an impactful performance with complete conviction. He is stunning in all the action sequences. Vishal’s body language is pretty good, and he carries the film on his shoulders.

The movie has some good action episodes that are neatly conceived, and a few might appeal to the mass audience. Priya Bhavani Shankar and Samuthirakani are decent in their roles. Devi Sri Prasad showed his vintage mark through Rathnam. A couple of songs are superbly composed, and they will remind us of his initial days.

 

Minus Points:

Films by Hari usually have a standard template, but his core strength is narration. Even with routine stories he delivered entertaining films in the past. Also, they were fast-paced, which helped us overlook the routine nature of the scripts. But this is where Rathnam falters. The director’s magic is missing big time, as the narration doesn’t hook us. The movie has many boring moments, and things get slow at multiple times.

As the entertainment is missing one can’t help but find the issues. The second half is completely filled with action without much drama and this becomes tiresome after a certain point. The movie gets prolonged over the end and the editing team could have shortened the length.

The director tried a different emotion involving the main leads but it isn’t told convincingly. As the whole film runs on this particular emotion, it is difficult to connect. The humor worked in a couple of sequences but Yogi Babu isn’t utilised properly. Murali Sharma doesn’t have much to do.

 

Technical Aspects:

Devi Sri Prasad did complete justice to the film both with songs and background score. Cinematography by Sukumar is neat and the five minute single shot action sequence is nearly picturized. The production design is good too. The editing is below-par as the film looks overstretched.

Director Hari did a disappointing job with Rathnam. He didn’t succeed in crafting entertaining moments and this takes the film down in many scenes. An action film without a good emotion is similar to a body without a soul. This is the exact problem with Rathnam.

 

Verdict:

On the whole Rathnam is a disappointing action drama that lacks proper emotions. Vishal is solid in his mass avatar and the film has some well conceived action sequences. The core emotion which drives the film is not at all convincing and this is the biggest problem with Rathnam. Also the entertainment factor and fast paced narration which used to be Hari’s strengths are missing. The climax portions are prolonged needlessly and after a certain point it becomes exhausting. Hence it is suggested to look for other options this weekend.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.25/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

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