Rakta Charitra 2

Rakta Charitra 2 (“History of Blood 2”) is a 2010 political action thriller directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Prashant Pandey, the direct sequel to Rakta Charitra, which came out two months earlier. Based on the life of Paritala Ravindra, it stars Vivek Oberoi and Suriya, with Sudeep, Shatrughan Sinha, Priyamani and Radhika Apte. Shot simultaneously in Telugu and in Hindi (as Rakht Charitra 2), it was released on 3 December 2010. It was a flop in cinemas but has since gained a cult following.

What the story is about

After a recap of how Pratap Ravi avenged his father and brother and rose to power with the backing of Chief Minister Shivaji, the sequel opens with a bomb attack on Pratap’s convoy. He survives, injured, and the attacker is revealed to be Suryabhan “Surya” Reddy, whose family was wiped out by a bomb hidden in a television set while Pratap was out campaigning. Surya surrenders to the police to keep his wife Bhavani and their child safe, and the film becomes a duel between a powerful politician and a man who wants only one thing, conducted largely from inside a prison. We will leave the outcome for the film.

Cast and crew

• Vivek Oberoi as Pratap Ravi, based on Paritala Ravindra
• Suriya as Suryabhan “Surya” Reddy, based on Maddelacheruvu Suri
• Sudeep as DCP Mohan Prasad
• Shatrughan Sinha as Chief Minister Shivaji Rao
• Priyamani as Bhavani
• Radhika Apte as Nandini, Pratap’s wife
• Zarina Wahab as Nari, Pratap’s mother
• Tanikella Bharani as Ram Moorthy and Subhalekha Sudhakar as Swami
• Kota Srinivasa Rao and Abhimanyu Singh in cameo appearances

Director: Ram Gopal Varma. Writer: Prashant Pandey. Runtime: 116 minutes.

Reviews

Reviews, most of them of the Hindi version, were mixed to positive, with comparisons to the first part and the repetitive story the usual complaints, and Suriya the usual point of praise. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it three and a half out of five, calling it a powerful, fast-paced and intensely violent sequel. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India (three out of five) said it “doesn’t break new ground like Satya and Company” but remained “a must-see film for Ramu fans”. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express (two and a half out of five) felt the film was more interested in choreographing death than in Andhra politics, but added that “you cannot, at any point, bypass Suriya: he has eyes that speak”. NDTV (two out of five) wrote that Suriya “saves the film from being a total loss”, while Rediff (one and a half out of five) found too few high points to stay engaged.

Box office and legacy

The film flopped on release, but it has since come to be regarded as one of Varma’s best works, and Suriya’s performance, his debut in both Telugu and Hindi cinema, is widely remembered. The two parts were later dubbed into Tamil and released together as Raththa Sarithiram in March 2011, with the whole first film condensed into a half-hour prologue, as The New Indian Express noted in its review.

Where to watch Rakta Charitra 2

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Rakta Charitra 2 on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Rakta Charitra 2 and the reviews it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.