'Rebels Of Thupakulagudem' hit the screens today. In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Story:
In a hamlet in Telangana, the district police department plans to arrange a surrender parade of fake Maoists. A young, well-meaning man is assigned the job of enlisting as many as one hundred youths who can pose as Naxals, surrender before the district administration, serve a short jail term, and eventually get a posting in the police department as a reward for 'giving up' armed rebellion.
The plan goes haywire when the Union Home Minister announces a 'zero tolerance' policy to end Naxalism after a carnage in Chattisgarh. The paramilitary that has been deployed to handle Maoists is seething with rage, wanting to kill Maoists at the first opportunity in the Dandakaranya.
The political and security-related developments trap the one hundred villagers who voluntarily got into the 'surrender parade' Ponzi scheme out of greed. It's a struggle for survival for them now.
Analysis:
The film is inspired by the UPA government's Operation Green Hunt which was launched to stamp out Maoism. States like Chattisgarh were hotbeds of Naxalism during the 2000s, especially after Andhra Pradesh dealt with the menace effectively in the early 2000s. Then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram pioneered a ruthless mission. The film under review takes inspiration from a scandal that took place at that time. Even the Home Minister comes across as Chidambaram in the film.
Director Jaideep Vishnu's film doesn't even try to expose the social fault lines in backward villages. There is this problem of urban gaze, where the villagers are shown to be juveniles even while facing existential issues. They look hardly paranoid and are seemingly adept at navigating a forest like trained jawans.
While the storyline is curious and at times engaging, this film doesn't work as an elaborate story. The comedy is a huge distraction. And what makes it all the more bothersome is the fact that the humour becomes a stand-in for a plot.
A running time of more than two hours was not required. The film would have done with a tight 120-minute narration that doesn't overdo the backstory and the cat-and-mouse chase.
The narration spun around the Jawans is also too cinematic. The paramilitary forces are shown to lack a solid strategy and they behave as though they are driven only by emotions. The intelligence department goes on holiday. When a hundred villagers are on the loose, the police department would get some tip-off, right?
One character that is unpredictable is the one played by Praveen Kandela. His backstory is interesting. The film also features Shivram Reddy, Shrikant Rathod, Jaiyetri Makana, Vamsi Vutukuru, Sharath Barigela, Vineeth Kumar, and Vijay Macha.
The cinematography and background score are reasonably good.
Verdict:
'Rebels Of Thupakulagudem' lacks nuanced and tight storytelling. The narration is meandering.
