Racha

Starring: Ram Charan Tej, Tamanna, Mukesh Rishi
Directed by Sampath Nandi
Music: Mani Sharma
Rating: **

f Ram Charan’s Orange felt like flaccid candy, Racha is like a spicy mirchi bajji. It sticks to the time-tested Telugu formula of a mass entertainer. Lots of action, mainly involving Ram Charan taking on a number of goons, jeeps and cars blowing up and high-energy dance numbers with “milky white” Tamanna. Ram Charan plays Betting Raj, whose punchline aadmi kam, risk zyaada tells you this is an all-testosterone show. Raj, who loves to tease death, will go to any extent for a bet. So when his dad contracts liver cancer, Raj agrees to a bet to get rich gal Chaitra (Tamanna) to fall in love with him in a month. The cash will get his dad a new liver, never mind the girl’s heart. Chaitra’s dad is the wicked Bellary (spot the reference to jailed mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy). Iron ore is his business and iron is in his soul. Bellary has more cars and gunmen than the President of the United States, but Raj shrugs them all off with pure muscle. He whisks Chaitra away to the Srisailam forests and his heart does a tiny flip-flop when she gets under a waterfall. Vana Vana Velluvayi, a reprisal of the hit number from Chiranjeevi’s Gangleader, is va va voom and has Tamanna showing off her dangerous curves. A couple of twists later, the story completes its masala movie circle. Ram Charan spouts plenty of Hindi in the film, probably in preparation for Zanjeer. And in more instances than one, he reminds us of his “Megastar” dad Chiru. That makes Racha a safe bet.