The cast and set of Raakaasaa by Manasa Sharma are those that should have made their performance a lot of fun, Sangeeth Shobhan as the lead in a horror-comedy, Nayan Sarika as the support, Vennela Kishore in the wings, and the music by Anudeep Dev in the background attempting to make the whole performance a piece. On paper, it has that unattainable village-meets-fort-meets-demon catch, the kind of arrangement that ought to appeal to you and hold your grinning face even in the face of the terror.
But the film still falters in its aspirations. The humor is not as evenly distributed, the VFX does not enhance the fantasy, and the first half is stretched. Only in the second half does it begin to feel some beat, thanks to some more comic beats and greater energy. Even there it never quite lost its wobbily written and slow pace.
Fundamentally, the storyline is cliched. One of the villages is in the shadow of a fort that contains a demon, and every now and then, a human sacrifice is dispatched to soothe it. In this instance, the protagonist finds himself confined in this sinister space and the story develops as he tries to manoeuvre about and survive. Paperwise, this is a serviceable structure that would have provided tension, humour and stakes. But on screen, it is too commonplace and too predictable.
The first half was especially draining to me. It meanders without apparent urgency, with scenes that are more like filler than part of the story. The movie continues to give hints on the developments but postpones it to the extent that I start to lose interest. Major storylines which ought to have come up early, come in very late and the story comes out as farfetched.
Humour is an evident pillar in the film but it is rarely executed successfully. The makers wrote scenes as they thought they would be funny, and shot them with the same confidence, but the final result lacks timing and impact. Sangeeth Shobhan works so hard and I could feel that he is struggling to take the material to a higher level, but the writing fails him accordingly. At some point, I thought of Khaleja where Mahesh Babu was playing like that, but rather than coming out as a tribute, it feels out of place.
The production values of Raakaasaa is one of my greatest worries. A particular technical norm is mandatory when a movie opts to adopt a fantasy setting, which entails use of supernatural aspects. In this case, the VFX and computer graphics are not good enough to the point of disrupting immersion. I know how limited budget can be, however, there are certain genres that require minimum amount of quality. In its absence the illusion falls down, and that is what occurs here.
In the village parts, the casting is also misaligned. I did not feel like being transported to that world, partly due to the lack of authenticity of supporting characters. The village does not seem like a place where people live but looks staged and artificial, which dilutes the emotional and narrative interest.
The music by Anudeep Dev is more suited to be heard separately. The songs and the background score are both good and I might have liked the work that went into it. Yet, they do not fit into the movie, particularly in the first half, when they seem to be one song after another and further drag the storyline down.
Another area that required more focus was editing. Along with the general length, some of the sequences are loosely related and they seem to have been put together without a sense of strong rhythmicity. Pacing and engagement would have greatly been enhanced with a tight edit.
What struck me was the change of energy when the film moves to the fort setting. The second half gives us a glimpse of what the movie might have been. The friendship that develops between Sangeeth Shobhan and Vennela Kishore comes as a refreshing breeze and humour which finally begins to pay off in some areas. The horror-comedy tone starts to emerge and I was more engaged in these intervals.
The appearance of Getup Srinu in combination scenes contribute to the entertainment value, and not all of the set pieces are less involving and better timed. These scenes made me think about the way the movie would have been more effective in case of this tonal balance throughout.
The movie is only starting to get a foothold when it falls back in the climax. The bid to provide an emotional closure is obtruded, and unrelated to the journey toward it. Rather than creating a lasting impression, the ending is abrupt, seemingly as though the story has lost its way and is left unresolved on its arcs.
The text does not go any higher than its hackneyed base. The demon idea and the haunted fort, I have already watched it much better in movies such as The Mummy which was able to balance adventure, tension and spectacle with the confidence it had. In the year 2026, when I watched Raakaasaa, I could not but think that it is even at a worse stage of execution and imagination than the old.
The female heroine Nayan Sarika has little to play. Her character is underwritten and acts more as a plot device, instead of a well-developed character, which is unfortunate.
In general, Raakaasaa is a film that seems to be constructed of fragmented concepts that are lacking a vision to unite them. The second half gives us glimpses of potential, but not to the extent that can be used to offset the slow and uneven first half. The film does not work together because of poor production values, a clichéd plot, a lack of coherent humour and a lack of emotional payoff, which does not resonate.
There are a few points that I laughed, but these are too few to make the whole experience any better.
These are my thoughts about the movie Raakaasaa. You see it and make up your mind.
Rating: 1.5/5
