Film: ‘Ranga The Donga’; Cast: Srikant, Vimala Raman, Sakshi Shivanand, Ramya Krishna, Nagendra Babu, Telangana Shakuntala, Jayaprakash Reddy, GV and others; Director: G.V. Sudhakar Naidu; Producer: C.R. Manohar; Music Director: Chakri; Camera: Poorna; Rating: *
‘Ranga The Donga’ is the second misadventure of director G.V. Sudhakar Naidu as it ends up as a tedious watch.
His first film ‘Hero’ starring Nithin and Bhavana was another horror of sorts from the actor-director. Sudhakar Naidu is supposed to be a practicing advocate, but certainly he shows his limited knowledge and myopic views on things happening around. For the film’s hero Srikanth, who plays double role, ‘Ranga The Donga’ provides an opportunity to show some energy and liveliness in the thief’s role, otherwise it is a forgettable film of his career.
Really a sad twist for an actor who has completed over hundred films in his career.
Sudhakara Naidu felt by giving a twist in the story with an extremely outdated story in the form of a Rayalaseema faction fights may ensure success. Many films with Rayalaseema faction fights as the focal point like ‘Indra’, ‘Narasimha Naidu’, ‘Samara Simha Reddy’, ‘Simhadri’ and ‘Tulasi’ have been successful.
Many sequences in ‘Ranga The Donga’ look fresh but background is the most dragging part in the whole narrative.
Most of the sequences are just a repetition of what has been seen in many films. The director is so shoddy in his work that even an item song picturised on Sakshi Shivanand looks like a work of an amateur.
There is not even an iota of a fresh concept.
Ranga is a thief brought up by his grandmother. He steals cash and valuables from the corrupt police officers who are afraid to report the incident. He likes to be a faction leader of Rayalaseema as he has been impressed with the performance of Jayaprakash Reddy. He comes across a female police officer Mangamma who falls for him.
He gets caught by police when he tries to barge into the house of a police commissioner.
While he is being produced in court, his look-alike Bhavani Prasad, a factionist from Rayalaseema, is assassinated by his rivals.
Bhavani Prasad’s wife is surprised to see Ranga who looks just like her dead husband. She helps Ranga escapes from the police and takes him to the Seema area and tells them that her husband is still alive. How Ranga kills the villains forms the rest of the story.
Srikanth plays a double role, no space for mask shots as the two characters do not meet other. Srikanth, who is a part of the Telugu film industry for long, tries his best to salvage the film with his neat performance. His comedy timing as thief is good and he tries to look dignified as the faction leader. But bad script provides very little opportunity for Vimala Raman to showcase her talent.
In the second half, she is seen very little. Her looks in the film are atrocious – she wears a police uniform but ties her long hair and wears Jasmine flowers in them.
Ramya Krishna as faction leader’s wife just screams and gives menacing looks. Telangana Shakuntala fills in the role.
Technically, the film is very poor. Even Chakri’s music is below average.
‘Ranga the Donga’ does not have elements that satisfy any class of the audience.
