Bengal Tiger Strictly for Ravi Teja fans

Blood, muck, fights, flying cars, family, relationships and capitol Ravi Teja. You know what exactly to look, for it is not just a formula it is a manifesto delivered. The filmmaker (Sampath Nandi) has it all in the script. Now the question is whether he has got the proportions right.

It is strange that while we could be critical of the genre and its consistent execution it is benumbing to realise (and resigned to) the fact that it has takers in big numbers. Entertainment here is a euphemism to tickle the voyeur's delight to 'heroics'. The guys are branded and marketed as super human's avatars. Fans ensure that the idol they worship is larger in size, mightier in muscle and chirper in persona.

Our protagonist Aakash (Ravi Teja) has this huge family – elder matriarch (Ramaprabha), widowed mother (Prabha), inconsequential bros, overzealous sisters-in–law et al. Stationed in a village with good for nothing friends this good at everything hero, when challenged by a prospective suitor to make it to newspapers headlines and social media hits, finds himself, even before you can say Bengal Tiger.

His first ticket to the fame is literally at a stone’s throw. He pelts one at minister Sambu (Shayaji Shinde) and gets employed in the process. However, he soon chucks his job for a better career option and joins the kitchen cabinet of Minister Nagappa (Rao Ramesh). He also plays saviour and gets the latest daughter Shrradha (Raashi Khanna) saved from the clutches, the earliest set of goons in the show. Shrradha, understandably, loses her heart for the guy.

She now has time and space for imaginative duets with inelegant but efficient bodyguard-cum-lover Aakash. While initially dad Nagappa refuses the idea he soon falls for the date. Aakash has other plans; he inches his way up the ladder and now announces his intent to marry Meera (Tamannaah) who is the daughter of the Chief Minister Ashok Gajapathi (Boman Irani). This is at half time.

From here the filmmaker completely looses grip on the narration and his twists are insipid and lacking in punch which is everything in a Ravi Teja film. Comedy characters: Celebrity Shastri (Posani Krishna Murali), future star Siddappa (Pruthvi) and media magnet Amala Paul (Brahmanandam) come in and walk out the script at regular intervals. The two heroines who have managed to get the attention of the hero share romantic and listless song and dance space with the hero.

The family gathers for photo sessions. The story then unfurls that it was not just headline space that our protagonist was itching for and has some old skeletons in the cupboard. There is then the customary violence when the guy beats up army loads of villains who come in turns and get converted to pulp at the whim and fancy of the hero.

The heroines are too lacklustre and are competing inadequacies. Both are unrealistic and achingly cosmetic. The humour is contrived. Even Brahmanandam is acting from memory and is steadily losing his charm- unless I have got my tenses wrong. This is thus all about Ravi Teja who in the process of exaggeration has come to lampoon the status of the hero.

As a case study of a parody he is superb and hopefully that is the idea and the image. Watch the film if you are his fan. Anyway his films are generally a handout in a very defined sphere and in all fairness that is where this film is struck.

Film Name : Bengal Tiger

Cast : Ravi Teja, Tamannaah, Raashi Khanna and Boman Irani

Direction : Sampath Nandi

Genre : Action-comedy

Likes : Ravi Teja

Dislikes : Star cast reduced to extras

Rating : **

By L Ravichander