Raahu

Story: Bhanu (Kriti Garg) is an automobile engineer who suffers from a rare conversion disorder. She goes absolutely blind when under stress and is a haemophobic. When she falls for Sesh (AbeRaam) and wants to get hitched, there’s a ‘raahu gandam’ her father warns her about. How does she overcome it?

Review: Looks like thrillers seem to be Tollywood’s new favourite genre if the movies being churned by the industry are anything to go by. But most of the films under the genre are awfully reminiscent of content from other languages. The good news is that Raahu differs, because the script is completely fresh. Unfortunately, it fails to translate well on-screen.

Bhanu is an automobile engineer struggling to cope with her disorder, wherein she goes blind at the sight of blood due to a past trauma. She falls in love with aspiring police Sesh, with their love track kicked off in a strange manner. She wants to marry him but there’s a ‘gandam’ in his astrology that will put her in danger, her father, an ACP (Subbu Vedula) warns her. But paying no heed, the duo elopes and gets married. How Bhanu overcomes the danger she’s now in forms the tale.

Bhanu and Sesh’s love track is weak and a drag. The chemistry between the lead pair is more fizzle than bang and the ‘kaam dev baba’ comedy track will make you lose your calm. While the film’s first half ends with many questions left unanswered, it does not make you curious enough to know the second half, where the story truly unfolds after Bhanu gets abducted. The second half is where the slumber the film seems to be in is awakened. There’s also a gangster called Nagaraju (Kalakeya Prabhakar) who runs illegal operations thrown into the mix.

Raahu is filled with twists and turns that impress after the pale first half but are not particularly novel. The pre-climax is draggy too. However, Subbu’s sincere work shows on-screen when he gives his characters names like Nagaraju, Sesh, Phanindra, all names that mean snake, or ‘raahu’. The climax is gory and will be a little hard to watch for those who don’t expect it. The music is plain okay and doesn’t help engage the audience with the film.

Kriti Garg’s character bleeds through the film and creates a mood of panic whenever she’s on-screen. AbeRaam looks charming, but cannot emote. He has enough scope to perform but fails at creating an impression. The other actors are watchable.

The execution and production values are a major issue with Raahu. Director Subbu should’ve worked a little more on the way he narrated the story because he squandered away a good opportunity. Raahu is sincere and hard work that unfortunately goes in vain!