Cast: Ashwin Babu, Dhanya Balakrishna, Chethan Cheeru, Poorna
Banner: OAK Entertainments
Music: Sai Karteek
Cinematography: S Gnanam
Editor: Nagaraj
Producer: OAK Entertainments
Director: Omkar
Tagline: Raju Gari Gadhi.. Theatre Khali!
Plot:
There existed a haunted house in which whoever visits it turn dead in the well present there. Police department finds this case quite mysterious and strange. In order to stop further crimes to happen, they seize the house. A popular media channel plans a reality show surrounding this haunted house. They plan to award 3 crores for the person who proves that there is no ghost in that house. For that prize money, seven people enter the house. The house is under electronic surveillance. During the midnight, sounds of a woman’s anklets, weird voices scare these seven folks. They find a book which speaks about the history of this peculiar house. The book says that there are in fact two ghosts in that house. Who are those two ghosts? What else will happen in that house? Who will get hold of the prize money?- Forms the rest of the film’s story.
Performances:
Ashwin Babu: He looks good and danced well. But he fails in the expressions department. With his mediocre performance, we are forced to believe that he got the chance just because he is Omkar’s brother.
Chetan: He is in a pivotal role in the film and acted decently well.
Dhanya Balakrishnan, Eeshanya: Dhanya looks quite good and acted alright. She excelled in the Telangana accent and does in a novel manner. But Eeshanya is confined to only glamor.
Shakalaka Shankar, Dhanraj, Saptagiri: This particular gang are the part of main comedy scenes. Though there is no brilliance in the scenes or dialogues, the actors managed to tickle few funny bones with their body language. Shakalaka Shankar’s reactions in fear act like a great comedy relief throughout. Saptagiri arrives during the end and bores the viewer with his routine comedy and dialogues. Comedy in this film is more confined to loudness. However, Rajeev Kanakala impresses with his appearance after long time. His role is quite crucial for the film. Raghu Babu’s comedy is stale and boring.
Analysis:
This is the second film for Omkar. His first film exceeded budget and resulted in losses. That is why he planned to play a safe game this time. He managed to execute the story in the confined budget. But he failed to impress with his regular stamp. This film is based on Horror Comedy genre which should balance these two contrasting genres in equal proportion But Omkar’ attempts to create laughter is quite irritating. The selection of seven contestants for reality show goes in a very boring manner. The “bomb” comedy featuring Dhanraj and Shakalaka Shankar is quite bad. The viewer decides to watch a horror film for getting scared but not to see a comedy flick. This sort of comedy is totally off the scale. The film doesn’t attempt to show fear until interval. It manages to generate fear with re-recording and scary pictures but because the scenes have no interesting features, this attempt fails. Second half did have some twists but they were handled badly. Those twists are so disappointing that it looks like a waste of anticipation. Even the little respect left for the film is lost because of this. Second half progresses in snail pace and very few scenes engage the audience in thrill.
Merits:
- Interesting concept
- Background score
- Some scary revelation of twists
Demerits:
- Lack of punch in horror
- Slow second half
- Actor's medicore performances
Merits:
- Interesting concept
- Background score
- Some scary revelation of twists
Demerits:
- Lack of punch in horror
- Slow second half
- Actor's medicore performances
Dialogues: Burra Sai Madhav gave some phenomenal dialogues in films like Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, Gopala Gopala, Malli Malli Idhi Raani Roju and Kanche. But he couldn’t get good scope to show his prowess for this flick. Even the funny lines failed to impress.
Music:
Sai Karthik’s music is alright. The background score is quite scary. Though there is no fear in the scene, but the sounding is scary.
Others:
Camerawork is quite good. Despite less budget, the quality is decent. Normally, there is no need of songs for Horror flicks but Omkar seems to be determined to extend the film’s duration for two hours and he injected needless songs. These songs could have been easily clipped off.
Verdict:
Raaju Gari Gadhi makes a very pale impact in both Horror and Comedy. The director completely fails in the area of logic. Hence, whoever wishes to watch the film with anticipation would end up disappointed.
