Super Good Films' 'Ragalai' is Ram Charan Teja's second film, which got dubbed in Tamil after 'Maaveeran' got a good response last year. Nice strategy by the team to include many known faces of Tamil film industry like Parthiban, Tamannah and Ajmal, which made it look like a straight Tamil film.

What's it about?

Like any typical commercial film, the film opens in a village with local bigwig planning to distribute free land for work to all the poor people living there. On the day of the distribution function, all villagers are killed in an accident except one boy, who is the son of village officer (Parthiban). Cut to the present, the lead character, Raja (Ram Charan) is introduced jumping from one train to another and title flashes in the centre of the screen along with 'Mega Power Star' tag amidst whistles and claps. By now, it's pretty clear that the film is targeted only for the actor's die-hard mass audience.

Moving on, 'Betting' Raja's (as the hero calls himself) job is to participate in all bets happening in the city and he is ready to risk his life to win the same. One day, his father falls ill and needs a huge sum of money for a liver transplant surgery. Knowing this, Surya Narayana (Ajmal Ameer) makes a bet with Raja. He has to win the love of the local thug's daughter, Chaitra (Tamannah) within 30 days. Surya promises to pay the money for the surgery if Raja wins. Raja agrees immediately and goes all out to woo Chaitra. Though initially reluctant, she falls for him eventually. The story takes a twist at this point with a new villain emerging from within the family. From here, how Raja wins back his love after facing all challenges, are narrated with more twists and turns.

The first half has few enjoyable moments like Ram's innovative proposal in a shopping mall and which he later terms as a reality show. Rest of the film drags a lot even with endless twists. Logic goes for a toss in many scenes. Added to this, long fight sequences and wrong song placements tests your patience further. Director Sampath Nandi fails to make good use of production values and powerful cast.

It's Ram Charan's show all the way. He plays the character of 'Raja' with finesse and carries the film on his shoulders. He entertains with punchy dialogues and quick dance movements and has a good comic timing too. Tamannah comes in as a glam doll and has nothing much to do apart from sharing screen space with Ram in song sequences. Also, it's surprising to see a potential actor like Ajmal who showed promise in recently released 'Ko' selecting a minuscule role in a typical mass film. Mukesh Rishi as the bad guy fails to impress. Veterans Parthiban, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Nasser are also wasted in tiny roles.

Technically, the film scores to some extent. Sameer Reddy's camera work deserves special mention particularly for capturing the beautiful locales in the song sequences. Mani Sharma's background music adds strength to the film but the film's songs are very mediocre. Raju Sundaram's choreography is noteworthy with some fast paced and stylish movements. Gautam Raju's editing is not up to the mark and he would have definitely made the film slick, if he had cut the extended fight sequences especially in the second half.

Overall, the film fails big time because of the no-brainy, usual masala story which is very much predictable from the start. It would have worked if it released some ten years back, but definitely not now.

What to do?

Give the film a miss! Don't even care to watch it on TV.

Rating - 1/5