Rakta Charitra

Rakht Charitra
File:Rakth Charitra Poster.jpg Theatrical poster
Directed by	Ram Gopal Varma
Written by	Prashant Pandey
Produced by	Madhu Mantena Sheetal Vinod Talwar Chinna Vasudeva Reddy Rajkumar
Starring	Vivek Oberoi Suriya Sudeep Shatrughan Sinha Kota Srinivasa Rao Abhimanyu Singh Priyamani Radhika Apte
Cinematography	Amol Rathod
Edited by	Nipun Ashok Gupta
Music by	Imran-Vikram Dharam-Sandeep Bappi-Tutul Sukhwinder Singh
Production company	Cinergy Pictures
Distributed by	Vistaar Religare
Release dates	Part 1: 22 October 2010 (2010-10-22) Part 2: 3 December 2010 (2010-12-03)
Country	Template:Film India
Languages	Telugu, Hindi, Tamil
Budget	₹30 crore

Rakht Charitra (English: A History of Blood) is a two-part Indian biographical film based on the life of Paritala Ravindra, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film features Vivek Oberoi as Ravindra in the lead role, whilst Suriya as Suri, appears predominantly in the second part. Shatrughan Sinha, Sudeep, Abhimanyu Singh, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Sushant Singh, Priyamani and Radhika Apte play other supporting roles. The film was shot predominantly in Hindi, with some scenes being re-shot in Telugu and Tamil. The Hindi and Telugu versions were released in two parts, six weeks apart, while the Tamil version was released in one film.

The film is partially based on the life of Paritala Ravindra, a factionist and political leader from Andhra Pradesh who was assassinated by his rivals in 2005.

Cast

• Suriya as Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy
• Vivek Oberoi as Pratap Ravi (Paritala Ravindra)
• Abhimanyu Singh as Bukka Reddy
• Sudeep as Special Officer DCP Mohan Prasad
• Shatrughan Sinha as Shivaji Rao (N. T. Rama Rao)
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Nagamani Reddy (Sane Chenna Reddy)
• Raja Krishnamoorthy (Kitty) as Narasimha Deva Reddy (Gangula Narayana Reddy)
• Tanikella Bharani as Rama Moorthy
• Priyamani as Bhawani (Gangula Bhanumati)
• Radhika Apte as Nandini
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Manda (Sayanna)
• Ashwini Kalsekar as Anjana Sinha IPS
• Vishwajeet Pradhan as Puru Reddy
• Sushmita Mukherjee as Gomathi
• Sushant Singh as Pratap Shankar
• Rajendra Gupta as Veera Bhadra
• Zarina Wahab as Nari

Reception

The film opened to mostly positive reviews from critics, garnering particular praise for its technical brilliance, Ram Gopal Varma's direction and powerful performances from the ensemble cast. On the review-aggregation website ReviewGang, the film scored 5.0/10 based on 6 reviews. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama claimed that Varma "handled a number of sequences brilliantly", drawing comparison with the filmmaker's previous successful ventures including Satya and Sarkar. He also went on to praise the performances, labelling Vivek Oberoi as "super efficient", and gave the film a rating of three stars. Rediff.com wrote: "Ram Gopal Varma doles out another concoction of outlaw politics with all his favorite ingredients — an intense ensemble cast, new south Indian baddies, edgy wide angle camerawork and a trademark theme track." Moviebuzz wrote that the film was "a feast for serious moviegoers".Daily News and Analysis and Filmfare gave the film a 4/5 rating and Midday Mirror gave it 3.5/5.

Part 1

Plot

The film starts with a narration about politics and gangs in Anandapur district, Andhra Pradesh. The opening scene of a murder in broad daylight, which the narrator calls "rakta politics", sets the tone of the movie. Narasimha Reddy, a local politician, is a powerful man in the area. His close associate Veera Bhadra (Rajendra Gupta) is his trustwothy ally for his political work, to the extent that Narasimha Reddy gives him freedom to contest Jilla Parishad polls with his men. Veera Bhadra champions the causes of the poor and oppressed and they look up to him like their leader.

Nagamuni Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao), who is the local MLA of the district and close to Narasimha Reddy, becomes jealous of the budding trust between Veera Bhadra and Narasimha Reddy, and starts poisoning Narasimha Reddy against Veera Bhadra. Narasimha summons Veera Bhadra and asks him not to contest the polls with his contestants, but rather support Nagamuni Reddy's. Veera Bhadra lashes out at Narasimha Reddy for being unfair to the lower castes and storms out. Nagamuni Reddy calls for Manda (Ashish Vidyarthi), a close follower of Veera Bhadra, and manipulates him into killing Veera Bhadra, giving him the assurance that if he does it, people will suspect the policies of Veera Bhadra as his own follower killed him and he will be the next in line as the leader of the poor people, else take his life. Manda reluctantly agrees to it. Veera Bhadra and his wife (Zarina Wahab) travel in a bus with 40 people to a wedding. Manda and Nagamuni's men stop the bus, kill Veera Bhadra's guards, and tell him to step out of the bus or else he will be killed along with the other innocents on the bus. Veera Bhadra comes out, looking at Manda, and dares him to kill. Nagamuni's henchman Durga shoots at Veera Bhadra, making it look like Manda shot at him; prompting Manda about the deal he made with Nagamuni, he tells him to kill him in front of everyone. Manda takes a boulder and crushes Veera Bhadra's skull and killing him.

This results in an agitation led by Shankar, who wants to avenge his father's murder by killing all the men of Nagamuni and Narasimha Reddy. Enter Nagamuni's son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh), described as a ruthless man who enjoys raping women and killing men in brutal ways. He starts killing Shankar's men in gory ways: drilling a hole into their skull, chopping off their heads with a sugarcane chopper, burning them alive and feeding them to ravenous rats.

Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi), who is in college in the city, gets the news of his father's murder and rushes to the village. Nagamani Reddy orders local police inspector to kill Shankar in a fake encounter. When Pratap goes to the police station to ask about his brother, the inspector shows him Shankar's dead body and mocks him. Infuriated with this brother's murder, Pratap and Veera Bhadra's men kill all the police officers and the inspector.

Pratap Ravi swears revenge while hiding in the jungle with his father's associates and vows that he will kill Narsimha Reddy, Nagamuni Reddy and Manda one by one, instilling fear of death in each one of them. He starts by busting in the house of Narasimha Reddy, killing his guards and finally killing him with a scythe in front of his wife as she looks on in horror. Next is Manda; as he roams in the market, Pratap's men follow him, and before he can defend himself, they chop his hand off. Manda begs for his life but Pratap stabs him in front of everyone. They plan to kill Nagamuni Reddy, but they are cautious as there is heavy police security in his house. As Nagamuni Reddy is sitting on his lawn conversing with a police officer, he is shot at by Pratap, who is dressed as the cop, and his men, dressed as cops as well, kill most of the policemen.

As Bukka Reddy and his brother Puru Reddy see their father's dead body, Bukka becomes enraged to the extent that he slaps the policewoman (Ashwini Khalsekar) who has come to take the body for postmortem. The story progresses as famed filmstar-turned-politician Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha) targets Anandpur for contesting elections. The day he enters Anandpur for the rally, Bukka's men throw bombs, which makes Shivaji Rao get back inside the car and go back. This insults him greatly and he asks his secretary for the one who can stop Bukka. Immediately, his secretary mentions Pratap's name; Shivaji Rao sends for him and puts down a proposal of joining his party and ticket for contesting elections. On the other hand, Bukka Reddy makes his brother Puru Reddy contest for elections and tries to sabotage the voting process by stealing the ballots. Pratap starts his rampage by eliminating, one by one, every rival of his party. Eventually, he comes across a man named Babu Qadri who seeks Pratap's help in avenging his sister's death. Bukka Reddy had raped his 16-year-old sister, because of which she immolated herself, and Bukka had then broken Babu Qadri's leg. Pratap assures him his vengeance but asks him to forget everything for some time.

As Bukka's men fail in rigging the election process, Pratap wins by a majority. Immediately, Bukka Reddy is arrested. Puru Reddy seeks the help of opposition leader Sethji's help in influencing the release of Bukka on bail. As soon as Pratap learns of this news, he looks out for the location where Bukka is hiding underground. Bukka, inflamed with the desire to avenge his father's death, hides out in an apartment with his men, planning to kill Pratap Ravi. As Pratap comes to know about his hideout he devises a plan to execute him. He immediately gathers his men and calls Babu Qadri, who had sought Pratap's help in avenging his sister, to lead the execution of Bukka Reddy. He calls for the servant of Bukka Reddy and bribes him with 5 lakhs to aid in the execution. Babu Qadri and Pratap's men rush into the apartment, killing all Bukka's men; Babu shoots at Bukka but he escapes the bullets and runs to the back door's balcony, where Babu shoots him from behind, cuts him in pieces with his axe and keeps on cutting him, fuelled by revenge vented out in satisfaction. Pratap Ravi, being at the peak of his power with Shivaji Rao's full support, invites all the gangsters of the state to his place for lunch; after lunch he orders everyone to stop their illegal activities or face the music, emphasizing the power that he has in the state now.

Part 2

The first few minutes show a recap of part 1, such as the events of how Prathap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi) takes revenge on the murder of his father and brother as well as how he came to power. When no one in Andhra has the courage to stand up against Ravi, a man comes into light by seeking revenge on Prathap. Surya Narayanareddy (Suriya Sivakumar) is seen waiting in the woods near the main road waiting for Prathap Ravi and hurls a bomb in his convoy. Unfortunately for Surya, Prathap Ravi escapes from the bomb blast. Prathap Ravi's henchmen attempt to kill Surya but he manages to escape.

Surya informs his wife that he missed the chance of killing Prathap Ravi. Meanwhile the media ask Prathap whether this attempt is a revenge by Surya for the TV bomb placed in Surya's home by Prathap himself. Prathap Ravi denies the charge. Shivaji Rao questioned Prathap to stop this vengeance but Prathap insists on wanting to kill Surya. Prathap orders his action team to kill each and every one who opposes. DCP Mohan Prasad starts to investigate this case and he finds Bhavani (Priyamani), wife of Surya, and he demands Surya to surrender otherwise he will harm his wife and baby son Arya. Surya thinks that he has missed a great chance and another chance will not come so easily and decides to surrender for protection and make a plot to kill Prathap Ravi. DCP Mohan Prasad decide to produce Surya in court for legal conviction. Prathap Ravi send a henchmen to kill Surya in court itself, but Surya manages to fight against him and kills the henchman in front of judge. Surya is sent to prison.

Prathap Ravi decides to kill Surya inside the jail, while planning carefully, he decides someone from outside their camp should do this, in order for the police to not suspect them. In prison Surya befriends Muddu Krishna by revealing his flashback. The flashback shows that after Prathap Ravi's attempt of killing Narasimha Reddy (Kitty), Surya's brother wants to revenge Ravi. Surya, on the other hand, doesn't want to take revenge straight away, and tells him to be patient and to leave the matter as it is, as he doesn't want to put his mother and sister in any danger. Within few months Surya total family is killed in the TV bomb blast. After hearing the flashback, Muddu Krishna decides to be with Surya in killing Ravi. The henchmen in prison try to kill surya but Surya assaults them back. After this failure Prathap Ravi is warned by Shivaji Rao. As a result, Prathap Ravi decides that he wants to stop this revenge and he meets Surya. In jail, Ravi tells Surya to stop this bloodshed, when Surya promptly replies "I'll surely stop - after killing you". Prathap thinks he can't do anything because he is in jail, which makes him defenceless.

Enters Krishnaswamy, the opposite Party leader, who decides to meet Surya. He says that to kill Ravi, Surya has to become a bigger name in Anantpur than Ravi. Krishnaswamy requests Surya to ask his wife to stand in election. Surya convinces Bhavani to stand in election. This made Ravi to fear for his life and also for his ministry post, consequently his henchmen want to eliminate Bhavani but Nandhini(Radhika Apte) pleads Ravi not to kill Bhavani, causing Ravi to cancel the plan. However, already one of Ravi's closest gang member, Umapathy, is sent to kill bavani. Muddu Krishna kills Umapathy and saves Bhavani. Krishnaswamy comes to prison to thank Surya, and Surya replies that he also needs to say thank you.

A feared Prathap organises a meeting involving the leaders of all the states of India. Knowing this, Surya designs a plan to kill Prathap. He recalls that in the meeting, all the leaders will participate with their bodyguards. He orders Muddu Krishna to dress like a bodyguard since no one would be able to identify whose bodyguard belongs to whoever. Using this ambiguity Surya's henchmen can kill Ravi. After the meeting comes to end, Ravi plans to leave. As he was leaving, he saw a familiar face and was struck. He sees Surya, standing in front of him with his handgun. Surya fires at Prathap until he dies in a pool of blood. Surya's friends put teargas and creates panic and invisibility, and using this, Surya escapes from the scene and returns to the prison. Nandhini cries by hugging her dead husband Prathap Ravi.

Muddu Krishna takes the blame for killing Prathap Ravi for Surya. DCP Mohan Prasad comes to meet Surya in jail and justifies why Ravi became a factionist. It was the circumstances that made Ravi as a factionist. He addes to Surya that the same circumstances will change him into a Ravi. Surya finally says "Thank you, but I wont be change into another Ravi". The movie ends with the birth of Prathap Ravi's child. This shows at least the factionism must end in this generation else it will be an uncontrolled chain reaction.

The main message in Rakht Charitra is "An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind" "Mahatma Gandhi.

Soundtrack

Part 1

Untitled

Hindi

Title	Singers	Length (m:ss)
"Khaul Khaul Ke"	Jojo, Ujwal	4:29
"Mila Toh Marega"	Ravindra Upadhyay, Vishvesh Parmar, Sandeep Patil	3:40
"Paisewala"	Sukhwinder Singh	3:53
"Maar De"	Jojo	4:17
"Kaaton Se"	Suresh Wadkar	4:12
"Karma Dharma"	Vardan Singh, Aditi Kaur	3:08
"Har Jazbe Mein"	Sukhwinder Singh	4:32
"Paisa Mix"	Sukhwinder Singh, Sumitra Iyer	4:35

Part 2

Hindi

Title	Singers	Length (m:ss)
"Patthar Ko"	Sukhwinder Singh	3:09
"Khel Shuroo"	Armaan Malik, Shree Kumar	4:03
"Nagendra Haraya"	Sukhwinder Singh, Viveka	4:02
"Maar Da (Remix)"	Jojo	6:04
"Mila Toh Marega (Electro Mix)"	Sandeep Patil, Ravindra Upadhay	3:48
"Patthar Ko (Theme Music)"	Instrumental	2:04

Telugu

Title	Singers	Length (m:ss)
"Gundello"	Armaan Malik, Shree Kumar	4:31
"Dorikithe Chastavu"	Ravindra Upadhay, Vishvesh Subramanian, Sandeep Patil	3:50
"Thudilenidhi"	Bommali Ravi Shankar	4:26
"Dabbunnoda"	Vandemataram Srinivas	3:55
"Champaraa"	Jo Jo	5:48
"Karma Dharma"	Vardan Singh, Aditi Kaur	3:12
"Katthula Toh"	Ram Gopal Varma	4:35
"Thudilenidhi"	Arun Ingle, Manishankar lyer, Bapi Tuttul	4:18

External links

• Rakht Charitra I at IMDb
• Rakht Charitra II at IMDb
• Official website Template:Hi icon
• Official website Template:Te icon