Ratsasan was hailed as one of the best Tamil movies in recent times. It’s a taut thriller with engaging screenplay and excellently executed by director Ram Kumar. Telugu remake of Ratsasan is almost a frame to frame copy of the original. Rakshasudu has its share of flaws, but it engages nevertheless.

What is it about?

Arun (Bellamkonda Srinivas) is a wannabe director, who lands a police job. He uses his research done on serial killers to solve a serial murder mystery happening in the city. A psycho is on the loose who is brutally killing innocent schoolgirls. All that he leaves is the head of a smashed doll as the clue. Arun puts piece by piece together to solve the case.

Performances:

Bellamkonda Srinivas finally gives up on masala elements and action. He takes up a content driven script where he has to play a subdued cop unlike his previous larger than life characters. It is arguably the best character of his career so far and Srinivas has shown signs of an actor who is slowly evolving. He did well in emotional scenes, but still needs to work on his acting skills. Anupama has a very little role to play and she did okay within her limitations. The little girl who played Anupama’s niece is cute. Rajiv Kanakala got a meaty role and he has made the most of it. Saravanan as the villain is good.

Technicalities:

Director Ramesh Varma didn’t try to alter at least a frame in Ratsasan. Remakes can’t get faithful than this. Despite making a frame to frame remake of Ratsasan, the director could only deliver an average film as far as technicalities are concerned. He didn’t have that special eye for technical aspects and therefore Rakshasudu pales in comparison to the original.

Ghibran’s score is repeated from the original and it is top class. Probably the best in recent times. Cinematography is decent and the editing could have been better. Production values are average.

Thumbs Up:

Screenplay

Nail biting sequences

Background score

Thumbs Down:

Stretched climax

Excessive Runtime

Analysis:

Ratsasan has solid content that can stand on its own even with subpar filmmaking. The original was executed superbly and all that the remake director had to do is to copy paste it scene by scene. Ramesh Varma didn’t try to make the slightest of the changes to the original movie, which might not please the viewers that had seen the Tamil version of it. Rakshasudu is inferior to Ratsasan in all departments except the background score which is reused here.

Despite being an inferior product to the original, Rakshasudu will still engage its viewers because of its engaging screenplay and well paced narrative. It never goes off track and doesn’t play down on the violence portrayed on screen. It is not a film for faint-hearted. The crime scenes are not shown in detail, but we get the effect of it. Even the subplots like a perverse schoolteacher are shown in a shockingly disturbing yet effective manner.

The thrill factor is always alive and there are some intelligent twists and turns that keeps the audiences on the edge of their seats. However, there is a downside to it. The motive of the villain is shown before the climax and it wasn’t so effective. Also the film runs for too long after the villain is revealed. These are the minus points in the original film and the makers of Rakshasudu didn’t have the courage to alter the highly successful and acclaimed original film.

All in all, Rakshasudu would be an engaging watch for those who haven’t seen the original. It will thrill the genre lovers with its taut and engaging screenplay. But it will seem like a poor copy for those who had watched it in Tamil. All said and done, Rakshasudu is a far more better project from Bellamkonda compared to his recent outings. Would this be enough to fetch him that long-awaited success has to be seen.

Verdict: Carbon Copy!