Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Palaest recommended

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

magow-01 A girl is born to the queen of the Kakatiya dynasty, and because women cannot rule - even palaces, apparently, have a glass ceiling - the king raises the child as a boy, a warrior. He's worried that his vassals will revolt at the prospect of serving a queen, and with good reason. One of them (Suman) declares that women were put on this earth solely to serve men and quench their desires.But such a secret can only remain secret for so long, and the rest of the film is about Rudhramadevi (Anushka) fulfilling her destiny and proving that she deserves that crown. It's a great story, and it needs to be told. Even Amar Chitra Katha, which chronicled the lives of Rani Abbakka and Ahilyabai Holkar and the Rani of Jhansi, seems to have missed out on Rudhramadevi .

jsataluri Gunashekhar's Rudhramadevi is one such film that desperately tries to be revered as one of Indian cinema's finest and most memorable mythical movies like Maya Bazaar, Pataala Bhairavi (NTR version), Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and the recently hyped up Baahubali part 1. It wants to entertain and amaze while providing an engaging story line. Yes, we can see the hard work put forth into this feature and we are intrigued by the main character that is forced to shed her feminine identity and assume a role of a man in a domain ruled by manly men.However, the film does not nearly entertain us as much as we want, nor does the film provide us with spectacular moments of what Rudhramadevi was all about. Instead, it glosses over her conquests and her importance in history and focuses more on her conflicted identity as the female heir to the Kakitiya throne, her so-called rivalry with Gona Ganna Reddy (which may not be true from what I have read) and her love for Chalukya Veerabhadra (which is very weak). We are only given short glimpses narrated by Chiranjeevi of what she accomplished and nothing more, which is disappointing. Perhaps if Gunashekhar split it into 2 films: the first about Rudhramadevi and how she was able to conceal her feminine side from the public, and the second about her conquests, her rule and accomplishments, while stressing the main message that a woman can be equal to a man, this would be his magnum opus and he would be respected as one of the best storytellers in Indian Cinema.Visually, the film is unimpressive. Like Baahubali, it suffers from an overdose of numerous commercial aspects such as high flying stunts, horrid villainy, ostentatious animation and odious VFX that mar the narrative. Its main goal is to culminate into an enormous mind blowing battle sequence towards the end and even that doesn't register. One would be better off reading a comic book as the special effects look no better than a children's animation show.It pains me to say this, but Ilaiyaraja's music is a downer. Though some of his background score is nice, the Midas touch which produced such heartfelt and mind blowing melodies is not there. The songs are unnecessary and hinder the narrative.The dialogues feel as if they have been written in the wrong century. They sound phony and exaggerated. Many scenes are drawn out too long including some of the feminine ones and battle ones. There are too many events happening at once in the climax and the editing makes it excruciatingly worse.There are many worthless characters who do not contribute to the narrative. Most of the supporting characters are awful, especially the females who have nothing to do except look glamorous. The villains are ghastly especially Suman, a talented character actor who is given one of the worst roles of his career. Even a veteran like Krishnamraju is given a weak role as Ganapathydevaraya and cannot summon his acting abilities which were greatly evident during his stardom days. Rana is better in his quieter, love struck moments alongside his horse and convinces as the fierce, dependable Chalukya Veerabhadra, but the movie wastes his screen time by not showing his valor on the battlefield. His chemistry with Anushka is flimsy.Yet, the story and screenplay kept me interested and gets better during the second half when the true identity of Rudramadevi is revealed. And Anushka is the only actress worthy enough to essay the character with a strong performance which will be remembered as one of her most memorable roles. She brilliantly alternates between the tough as nails, sword yielding prince and the vulnerable, but ravishing princess. She does not falter and lets her actions do the talking. Allu Arjun pretty much lives the role of Gona Ganna Reddy. His Telangana accent, poker faced approach and captivating presence successfully shifts the attention from Anushka to himself and he does not let his hero image get in the way of some of the finest acting he has done in his career. Prakash Raj is wonderful as Minister Shivadevaiah and his dialogue delivery is delightful. Nithya Menon is irresistible as the happy go lucky Muktamba and provides great comic relief. Her enchanting eyes and charming character speak volumes and it's impossible not to pay attention to her.History may not be kind to Rudhramadevi because of the many flaws mentioned and it is certainly over-hyped due to its comparison to Baahubali part 1 and its burning desire to be remembered as one of the best Indian mythological films of all time. Don't expect a major history lesson or first-class entertainment as it provides neither. But do watch it for the story line and the fine performances by Anushka, Allu, Prakash Raj and Nithya.6.5 out of 10.

Chiranjiv Santhosh Malla When Gunasekhar had announced that he will be make a biopic on Legendary ruler "Rudramadevi", people had a feeling that at least now he chose a safe project. Because its been almost 11 years he didn't have a proper hit in the industry as all previous outings were utter disasters. Coming to the story plot: The film starts off well, how Marco Polo explains to his king about our Rudramadevi's reign. It is all about how Rudramadevi successfully ruled Kakatiya Kingdom in 13th Century.While choosing this well known subject wise, Gunasekhar is quite successful but when it comes to on paper execution he failed it big time. Very bad music by Ilayaraja and he also failed big time. It is better not to talk about VFX CG work actually, I would say Cartoon network or childhood Ramayana or Mahabharata TV series had better graphics than this movie. All war sequences are so awry and they have been choreographed so hastily. Dialogues are the ones which are decent in the movie.Only highlights in the movie are Good story, Anuskha and Allu Arjun's roles. Anushka poured her soul into the movie. Hats off for her hardwork and dedication. Allu Arjun has got an amazing role, be it his attitude, telangana dialect and dressing, he just nailed it in Gona Ganna Reddy's role. People will definitely remember his role forever. Rest all star cast has got adequate runtime. It is really sad to see having all such a huge star cast and all things in place, still he couldn't give a good product to us. But if you are choosing well known story about a great warrior and that too with a high budget in the hands, it has to be made sure that Graphic work should be a key point in the movie, there itself Gunasekhar failed it big time.It is quite obvious that people start comparing it with Bahubali but It is no way compared to it. In Bahubali story may be weak but the presentation is simply splendid, where as story is very strong here and presentation has got exacerbated. Gunasekhar lost his credibility totally. God only knows whether he gets table profit at least with the opening collections. Had it been taken up by Rajamouli, this film would have gone to a different zone. Overall Rudramadevi is a Half baked product which doesn't please you at all.

crisvamc It is easy to travel with an unknown story because much of the best mind resources are utilized in getting along with it and enjoying it simultaneously. But if you take up a well known story of this kind to justify the accuracy of the story along with meeting the expectations of the spectators with the best available resources within the stipulated time .... It's a Gunasekhar taskThe film shows the might of our beloved yet forgotten ruler of whom shall us be proud of. It's a pride watching the film. It's an Honor we still have someone who tells us whom we are.