Ravanasura review: Ravi Teja’s vigilante thriller is a tiring exercise in misogyny

Ravi Teja is able to play Jekyll and Hyde with Ravindra’s character well, but the problem is that the script is hopelessly unconvincing. (Image: Screen grab/Abhishek Pictures)

Some films may sound great on paper but suffer badly in execution. And then there are some films that couldn’t possibly have sounded great in any form. As in, the idea is so bad that the minute it occurred in someone’s mind, they should have had a bracing cup of coffee and expunged it immediately in the interest of protecting other people’s brain cells. Ravanasura, written by Srikanth Vissa and directed by Sudheer Varma, is one such example.

This Telugu thriller has Ravi Teja playing Ravindra, a vigilante lawyer who goes around staging the rape and murder of several people. Revealing this isn’t a spoiler because all this information was part of the promos, and Ravi Teja essaying a negative character was supposed to be one of the film’s highlights.

So, yes, Ravindra exhibits all the traits of a psychopath but…there has to be a ‘but’, isn’t it? Because there’s always a righteous reason behind the hero’s frankly nauseating actions. By the time the film gets down to this righteous reason, though, you end up questioning all the life choices you made that brought you to your seat in the theatre.

Ravanasura begins with a murder. Sampath Raj plays a businessman who kills an acquaintance in the presence of several witnesses and CCTV cameras but denies that he committed the crime. His desperate daughter Harika (Megha Akash) goes to lawyer Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Faria Abdullah), but the latter is reluctant to take the case. Her junior, the seemingly goofy and flirtatious Ravindra, however, persuades her to say yes.

You get a flashback song that has a drunk Ravindra dancing at Kanakam’s wedding, implying that she was his ex-girlfriend. Why is this song there? No reason. There are lots of things in Ravanasura that happen for no reason – my favourite is the climax where a goon decides to use a mini cannon to kill someone when a humble gun would have sufficed. Teja and Hyper Aadi produce some feeble comedy that quickly becomes grating considering its repetitive nature – oh haha, Ravindra likes to hit on everything female around him, haha.

The screenplay doesn’t take too much time to reveal that Ravindra is actually the cold-blooded killer behind several murders. A hapless Jayaram plays Hanumantha Rao, a senior cop who is called to investigate these crimes. The actor hams his way through the terrible script, and the dubbing sounds strange and stilted. Perhaps he was trying not to explode into giggles at the stupidity of the lines he has to say.

I suppose the makers were hoping to add some weight to the story by drawing from mythology – so if there’s a Hanumantha Rao, there is a Janaki who is abducted and held hostage. Ravindra refers to himself as Ravanasura, but that’s the end of the inspired parallels. Like everything else in Ravanasura, it’s a gimmick that amounts to nothing.

Teja is able to play Jekyll and Hyde with Ravindra’s character well, but the problem is that the script is hopelessly unconvincing. His character says things like, “Yes, I raped her before murdering her, but it was only because I didn’t want to just murder her and waste all that beauty”. There is also an extended assault scene that is shot with a hugely triggering and insensitive gaze. The woman is pushed into bed by the leery Ravindra who is telling her how much he’s enjoying it, and then the camera focuses on three Buddha figurines that stand for ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’. In another scene, Ravindra lists his plans for one of his victims thus: “A. Murder, B. Rape, C. Rape and Murder”. Of course, all of this is “justified” at the end but only a complete misogynist could buy the explanation and clap for the “HEROES DO EXIST” line that appears on screen.

The film doesn’t even attempt to be a police procedural, though a series of murders is at the centre of the plot. Hanumantha Rao alternates between looking puzzled and amazed, without really investigating anything. What we get instead are flashy action sequences that remind us why the film is called Ravanasura. One of these involves Teja sporting Ravana-like horns and goring people. A+ for unintentional comedy.

Ravanasura tries desperately to be a smart, sophisticated thriller with “mass” moments. It even dares to compare its hero with everyone’s favourite bad guy, the Joker. And, the joke is certainly on us for enduring it.