Rebel

Synopsis: Rishi (Prabhas) is out to get his father’s killers. But to get at them he first needs to befriend Nandini (Tamannaah,) a ‘hip-hop dancer’ based in Bangkok. And Rishi will not stop at anything to get his revenge.

Movie Review: The movie pushes the limits of the term ‘stylized action’. In one episode you have Prabhas (in an all black ensemble) walking down the road puffing on a cigarette with the baddies flying all around him and the Dolby Stereo on full blast! In the climax, you have a bunch of smoking hot ‘firang’ ladies in red business suits and stilettos having a go at Prabhas, who himself is dressed in a white designer suit to boot!

It doesn’t stay ‘slick’ and ‘chic’ all the way though. We have Prabhas pitted against 100 sari-clad men as well. Clearly director Raghava Lawrence was in no mood to hold back and he’s given it the proverbial ‘everything but the kitchen sink’, never mind the stink! It’s a mass action entertainer after all.

Just in case you are wondering what the whole deal is about, well it’s a typical revenge story. The movie is about Rishi (Prabhas), an angry young man who is out to avenge his father’s murder. His dad, Bhupathi (Krishnam Raju) was a good-natured don who wore white suits, black shades, had a posse of henchmen and was the messiah for the downtrodden of Visakhapatnam. But Bhupathi gets killed by his own brother (Mukesh Rishi) who had his axe to grind against him. Mukesh Rishi collaborates with Stephen, a hired assassin, to do the job. Rishi’s girlfriend Deepali (Deksha), also gets killed in the bargain. Thereafter they take on aliases and go underground.

Our man is on their trail and that leads him to Nandini, a ‘hip-hop dancer’ who lives in Bangkok. Rishi heads to Bangkok with Narasaraju (Brahmanandam) in tow. The plan is to woo Nandini and coax out of her the whereabouts of his father’s killers. Needless to say everything goes to plan. However, you can’t say the same about the movie.

Clocking a shade less than three hours, the movie just seems to just go on and on. The film sticks to the formula pretty much and has Prabhas doing everything his fans would expect him to do on screen. He’s even pulled out some fancy dance moves. Tamannaah is in her element playing the sexy dancer babe and glams-up the proceedings with her presence.

The comedy tracks in the first-half evoke some laughs although they do raise questions of taste. If you are the type who would crack up watching Kovai Sarala and Brahmanadam gyrating to hip-hop music and Ali dancing to classical music then you will enjoy it. It’s an A rated movie after all.

There is a surfeit of elaborate action episodes but they fail to add any value to the overall experience. The music is another big let-down. The screenplay and writing is, well, amateurish at best. Looks like the formula failed to come together this time around. There is plenty of Prabhas though and we will have to see whether his presence alone can salvage this one. There is very little else.

Tip-Off: It’s a standard edition action entertainer made for the ‘mass’ fans. Don’t go to the theater expecting finesse.