Righta Thappa-A message for the youth

Intro-

Righta Thappa is scripted and directed by the producer and director of many teleserials R Buvana.I must admit I havent seen any of her ventures before, but I have always been an avid expectant of any debut director in what they may offer for the tam movie world .Janaki Vishwananthan the only other female directors name I have heard of in the recent past in tam movies gave us some truly memorable experiences of movie watching with "kutti" and "kanavu meipada vendum"(truly awesome,if u havent gotten round to watching both these you should).So it was with a great deal of hope that I began to watch this movie;However it neither enthralled me nor left me disappointed..It just gave me a feeling of could have done better.

The Story-For those who have nothing better to do

A simple story line centred around a youth,the lead actor Ramana who is the son of a school teacher played by erstwhile actress Seetha.Hes your normal topper guy in college,with respect for elders and no bad habits.However his acquitances with his no good friends ,soon leads to an eve teasing incident which causes the death of the 4 young girls.Ramana however has no clear picture of whether he was involved in the incident beacause the images of the incident always remain a blur to him since his actions were done in a case of drunken stupor.The story then is,did Ramana create the crime and how it affects everyone around him.Uma plays the lead actors love interest,the lady clearly thrown in to add to the commercial element of an otherwise preachy message for youth movie.

My views-

The only strong point of this entire movie is the message for youth and what it can lead to if one has got bad acquitances.The rest direction,screenplay is quite average with nothing spectacular.Sound Tracks though are passable.Performances are quite strong although Ramanas squeaky voice could have been dubbed to be more machoistic,but I guess that was mainly to emphasise the soft nature of the hero.(Else he would have gone around bashing the rowdies ..thankfully none of which were there).Some of the reviews I read on other sites claimed this to be a family entertainer!!It certainly has no unpleasant scenes but very clearly the story line should suggest to you that this is not a family entertainer but a message oriented movie.

And surely what was ramana(or for that matter the director) thinking when he never says a word about the chances of him being innocent to his mother until he has been sentenced..Duhh..I just couldnt digest the logic.The screenplay could have been made quicker and the movie given a quick ending.Just too many dragging scenes.!


Performance:

Standout performance for me was very clearly Seetha as Ramanas mom,the ever encouraging and dutiful school teacher , and the chirpy lass who plays the role of Ramanas sister.She was especially quite outstanding and played her part without any melodrama.The entire supporting cast has done a good job with very small roles being given to each of them.The heroine surprisingly has almost no role in the entire movie.The honest police officers role(played by a familiar face,but couldnt recollect his name) is wasted.The director could have done something about it.


Climax:--SPOILER dont read if you havent seen and are planning to see

Obviously a feel good ending climax,I always thought that the friends are going to accept that they were the culprits and the hero would be set free just before he was going to be put to the gallows.Well it is done with a slight twist that 2 of the three friends decide to admit and the third guy who refuses to accept the blame dies in an unfortunate accident.Maybe the director was just giving us a feeling of how dire the consequences are for some insensible acts.!!