Raa Raa

Story: Raj Kiran (Sreekanth) is a film director, who is the son of a very successful filmmaker played by Giri Babu. Raj Kiran decides to follow his father’s footsteps but all his films end up as disasters. Finally, his father invests his entire savings in one of his directorial ventures and dies of a heart break when that film flops as well. His mother is hospitalised as well and the doctor says that she will recover only if Raj Kiran makes a successful film. A producer comes forward to make a horror film with him on the condition that he directs it entirely in a desolate bungalow in a forest on the outskirts of the city. What they are not prepared for is the actual presence of ghosts in the bungalow. Will Raj Kiran and his team make it out of the bungalow? Does he realise his dream of making a successful film?

Review: The concept of a haunted house in a forest and the entire drama taking place there is not new to Tollywood. In that sense, there is nothing new about the plot. But the makers chose to pepper the film with a generous dose of comedy and there is a bevy of comedians in the film. The first half of 'Raa Raa' presents a scenario where the ghosts in the bungalow are scared of humans and try to evacuate them. The storyline is very much similar to the recent flick 'Anando Brahma'. In all fairness to 'Raa Raa', they were probably the first to conceive of the idea of ghosts being scared of humans, but with the film taking a long time to make, 'Anando Brahma' beat them to it. However, the humour is forced and does not evoke any laughs. The interval bang promises more serious drama and thrills, but the second half does not impress either. It all eventually comes down to the question of whether Raj Kiran will honour his promise to a ghost (Naziya) that has fallen in love with him and thereby compromise the safety of his unit. At no stage does the film manage to engage the audience seriously.

A major part of the film was shot by a director who left the project after differing with the producers and another senior director completed the film. Given this pedigree, it is tough to expect a quality output from the makers. Raghu Babu, Posani Krishna Murali, Hema, Shakalaka Shankar, Pruthvi Raj and a host of other comedians fail to tickle your funny bones for lack of a proper script. The occasional horror episodes intended to scare the viewer are sadly, amusing. 'Ra Ra' is not exactly a film that is high on production values either. The entire film is shot indoors which means the screenplay has to be gripping, which is not the case. Sreekanth is a seasoned actor mostly into character roles in big-ticket films nowadays. So, when he gets the opportunity as a solo hero again, naturally, one would expect him to be more judicious in his choice of script selection. Unfortunately, 'Ra Ra' has been plagued by problems right since it went on floors and the end result reflects on screen. Suffice to say that 'Raa Raa' is one film to which you can safely say Raanu.