Plot: Captain Rajaram is a retired army officer who leads the righteous way and want a society rid of all negative things. When his cook’s son is caught in a drug racket, he ends up seeing more problems than he imagines. What does he do?
Review: The first release of 2021 sees Raghavendra Rajkumar, who is in his second innings as an actor, take centrestage in a role that seems to have been written especially for him. It is a powerful character with a story of a Good Samaritan trying to weed out all unnecessary elements. While the intent was right, the execution and the narrative lags behind, making the film a rather tedious watch.
The film begins with the introduction of Captain Rajaram, the do-gooder and retired army officer, who leads a principled life, encountering a problem in his cook’s household. He tries to help her son out, when he realises the problem is rooted deeper and he has to take on the entire system.
The filmmaker has written the story keeping in mind Raghavendra Rajkumar’s personality. While the story might seem good on paper, the film doesn’t even translate into a patch of what it could have been on screen. There are some veteran performers who do an earnest job, but the rest of the cast don’t live up to the veterans. Raghavendra Rajkumar, too, looks uncomfortable in some scenes, especially the one that requires him to do some action.
Rajatantra, with its idea of talking about the nexus between politics, businessmen, drug mafia and innocent youth trapped in the trade, could have been a compelling tale, especially since 2020 saw drug mafia being spoken like never before. But, the film ends up only being an amateurish attempt.
