Gangs of Godavari review: Vishwak Sen, Neha Sshetty, Anjali’s film falls short of being compelling

Gangs of Godavari review: Vishwak Sen, Neha Sshetty, Anjali’s film falls short of being compelling.

Gangs of Godavari review: Krishna Chaitanya tries to tell the tale of a man who finds out how lonely it can be on top, the hard way.

Review of Gangs of Godavari: Gangs of Godavari, starring Krishna Chaitanya, is the kind of movie that keeps you glued to the screen, but you can’t help but feel like something’s missing. The film becomes soulless when Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music overwhelms certain scenes, giving away emotional cues.

The film explores the power dynamics of Godavari, where a select group of men value power above all else. It stars Vishwak Sen, Neha Sshetty, and Anjali in the lead roles. (See Also: Vishwak Sen says, “It’s my best,” regarding his role in Gangs of Godavari.)

Gangs of Godavari story

Rathna (Vishwak) is a street-smart man who wants to claw his way to the top, no matter what it takes. MLA Dora Saami Raju (Goparaju Ramana) and Nanaji (Nassar) are the men unknowingly aiding Rathna in becoming a force of nature, aka Tiger Rathnakar. The film explores themes of ambition, power, and the price one pays for success. Everything and everyone in Rathna’s way seems to be a pawn in his game. But he soon learns how lonely having the power he craves can be.

Gangs of Godavari review

Krishna narrates the story of Rathna, his rise to becoming Tiger Rathnakar and, soon, both the most dreaded and most wanted man in Godavari at breakneck speed. While this helps to hold your attention for 2-hours-26-minutes, it doesn’t allow you to feel for Rathna when his eventual downfall comes around. His confidante Rathnamala (Anjali) and wife Bujji (Neha) are his grounding forces, but the man admittedly remains a mystery even to them, let alone the audience. The film also touches on caste politics in certain scenes but falls short of going all in.

Rathna, played by Vishwak
It has been Vishwak’s career to play the aggressive, troubled protagonist with a painful past. As the movie goes on, it’s interesting to see him shed his Telangana twang in favor of a more neutral Andhra dialect, but the performance starts to seem monotonous.

You only have to witness him swearing or stabbing people a few times before you start to question whether Rathna really cares about anyone but himself. The shoddy attempts to redeem his character with a weepy flashback and a random scene in which he shows emotion for a dead orphan don’t work.

Unintentionally humorous exchanges
You want more from a movie that depends so heavily on dialogue because it’s the only way you can sympathize with these horrible characters. Worse still, they give you the giggles. Aadadi, dabbu, ye gadi loki aina vellagalav (Women and money can go into any room) is a scene in which Rathna declares.

With the words, “Mee to paddhati ga pelli cheskovali ani undi,” Bujji declares her love for Rathna. Mee to paddhati ga pillalu kanali ani undi (I desire a lawful marriage with you). I wish to genuinely become pregnant with you). You understand the gist.

Gangs of Godavari” is essentially a narrative that follows the journey of an ambitious person who aspires to attain power and renown in a region where his own father met his demise.

This is a quintessential tale of a leader’s ascent and subsequent redemption, a narrative that has been portrayed in numerous Hollywood and Indian films. But the primary issue with “Gangs of Godavari” is that neither the protagonist’s journey nor his character arc, nor the final message, manages to establish a strong connection with the audience.

Lankala Rathnakar (Vishwak Sen) hails from the islets in the Godavari delta region and leads a gang with the ambition of attaining wealth and influence.

He forms a friendship with the local MLA Doraswamy Raju (Goparaju Ramana), but also strikes a deal with MLA’s opponent Nanaji (Nasser). His duplicity proves advantageous, leading to his swift election as an MLA.

In conclusion

After all that, Krishna almost gives you a justifiable ending before pulling the rug from under you. Given how polarising Rathna’s character is, one thing that works for the film is seeing how his paranoia gets the best of him. While he has made enemies out of friends, too, it is ultimately his own doing that turns his world to dust. But a leopard never changes its spots, and while Rathna might get the forgiveness he has wanted for years, you can’t help but feel he might not exactly deserve it.