Rating: 4.5/10 (No Veduka) 

Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Rakul Preet Singh, Jagapathi Babu, Sampath Raj, Chalapathi Rao, Vennela Kishore, Annapurna

Story-Dialogues-Direction: Kalyan Krishna Kurasala

Producer: Akkineni Nagarjuna

Banner: Annapurna Studios

Naga Chaitanya got a decent hit in the form of Premam, the Telugu remake of the Malayalam classic back in 2016. He is back with his latest offering Ra Randoi Veduka Chuddam directed by Soggade Chinni Nayana fame Kalyan Krishna? How does the movie fare? Let's find out.

Plot: When Shiva (Naga Chaitanya) falls in love with Brahmaramba (Rakul Preet), he finds out that his father (Jagapathi Babu) and her father (Sampath Raj) used to be best friends and they probably can't get married without his consent. What happened between the two friends and whether or not Siva marries Brahmaramba is what this movie is all about.

Performances: Naga Chaitanya is improving with each film and gives a good performance as Shiva. His styling and haristyle is trendy and will go along well with the young folks.

It's Rakul Preet who steals the show. She gives her career best performance as Brahmaramba and finally gets a role that gets to showcase her acting prowess rather just being eye-candy in the songs or playing a dumb heroine who gives into stalking halfway through the first half.

Jagapathi Babu and Sampath Raj deliver their usual powerhouse performances emoting anger and compassion flawlessly throughout the film.

Vennela Kishore entertains as Shiva's cousin who is abused by his wife.

Last but not the least, Chalapathi Rao is flawless as one of the family members and he is the reason for half of the collections for this film (This is a joke on the controversy he stirred up before the film released).

Direction: It's always hard to deliver after a massive success and it's clearly evident that Kalyan Krishna felt the same way. After making a sensational debut with Soggade Chinni Nayana, Kalyan krishna seems to have taken the safe route and gone the family entertainer way for his 2nd movie and one can clearly see the vast difference in quality of filmmaking from his 1st film to his 2nd. It's evident that Nagarjuna must have pressured him to concoct a story like this so Naga Chaitanya would get closer to the family audience and get a good, clean hit. But the viewing experience is very different. Besides etching a superb character in Brahmaramba for Rakul, Kalyan Krishna delivers a disappointing and at times boring product with no creativity or entertainment. This film features the cliches of every Telugu family entertainer ever made and the film barely has any memorable scenes besides the excellent break up scene in the 2nd half. Without that scene, it's scary to imagine what the fate of the movie would have been. Overall, Kalyan Krishna's direction is sluggish which results in a below average product with meager entertainment.

Technicalities: Music and BGM by DSP are decent. Brahmaramba ki Nachesanu is good to watch on screen. Cinematography by SV Visweshwar is excellent. The film is filled with vibrant colors and settings which gives the movie a feel good look. Art by Sahi Suresh is excellent. The house set in particular for the wedding episodes is rich and colorful. Editing by Gautam Raju is ok. Some parts could have easily been trimmed to make the movie have a smoother flow in the narrative. Fights by Ram-Lakshman are ok. Dialogues by Kalyan Krishna are decent. Production Values by Nagarjuna are grand and sumptuous.

Positives: 

+ Rakul

+ Breakup Scene

Negatives:

- Entertainment

- 1st half

- Story

Analysis and Final Verdict: There was a Nagarjuna film called Ninne Pelladatha starring Tabu and Nagarjuna back in the 90's. Apparently this film is nothing but a rehash of the same film. The only difference is the hero is now Nagarjuna's son and the heroine is Rakul. I have not seen Ninne Pelladatha so I will give my own view on the movie.

In Telugu, we have two types of family entertainers. One, where the hero's mother, father, brother, sister, cousin sister, uncle, uncle's uncle, etc. has been shunned from the family and they express their depressed state to the hero and he enters their house as a nobody, falls in love his maradalu or the heroine at that house, then finally reveals his identity int he climax, gives a huge lecture and then all ends happy.

Two, we have two warring families who can't see eye to eye and they keep hacking each other until the women are too old to bear kids anymore and there are no more offspring to hack. The hero belongs to one family and the heroine the other and they can never be together because of their families enmity towards one another. The hero fights agasint all the odds and wins her family over through fighting 100 goons all armed with sickles and knifes, or defeating a common enemy of the families.

Ra Randoi Veduka Chuddam falls into the 2nd type of family entertainer. The story is as old as the hills and one really wonders what Nagarjuna told Kalyan krishna to write when making this film. You know exactly what's going to happen before it even happens.

Talking about the film, the film starts off with some childhood scenes of Brahmaramba and her family. She wants to get married to a very good guy. Naga Chaitanya is then introduced as the groom's friend or whatever. It's instant love for him and Rakul. They start flirting and pulling each other's leg and in the midst, there are some "entertainment" scenes involving a snake and how a bunch of drunk guys take it away.

The only thing that is different in the first half is the setting of the romance between the leads. Instead of the village, it's set in the city. Another kudos to his film is that it shows romance naturally and not as stalking or harassment as most Telugu movies do. The interval bang is decent and will go well with the youth.

The highlight of the movie and the only worthy part of it is the excellently written break up scene between the leads that comes before the climax in the 2nd half. The actors give their best performances and walk away with all the honors. The climax is routine and once the twist is revealed about the incident, it's anybody's guess as to how the movie ends.

Rakul tries to her best to save the movie but one person alone can't do much.

Had Kalyan Krishna picked a fresh story and narrated it with more entertainment and creativity, this movie would have been a bonafide blockbuster.

Overall, Rarandoi Veduka Chuddam has no Veduka to watch. The movie is bland, features a routine story, and has little entertainment value. Despite excellent performances from the lead cast and outstanding production values, this family entertainer doesn't have enough content to make you feel it's a good film.

Watch it only if you're a sucker for family entertainers or if you like Naga Chaitanya.