Aakasa Ramanna

Aakasa Ramanna comes with an eerie idea of the philosophy of Karma.  Though its understanding of karma is twisted and middle class, the film, thankfully, doesn't rest on the concept.  It belongs to the genre of suspense thriller.  It all takes place in a span of 40 minutes, but when it comes to a pleasing narration, it seems just there.

The best part is that Naresh, Gauri Pandit, Meera Jasmine and Naga Babu put in good performances, while Rajiv Kanakala and Shivaji come a cropper.  Though it is not a standard practice to speak about the performances even before the film's subject, here an exception has been made because the film seems to suggest that it has great actors as its biggest strength who can take a gripping film, with a philosophical undertone, on their shoulders.

To begin with, Akasa Ramanna, the narrator who doesn't appear in front of us all throughout, starts with the interesting story of Teja (Rajiv), Raana (Naresh) and Jai (Shivaji), not to forget that of Thimothy P (Venu Madhav) and his lecherous friends.  Two murders and a wily lady (Gauri Pandit), scheming her way through the 40 minutes are thrown in - the ingredients that manage to spice up this 'suspense thriller.'

Teja is introduced to the concept of the inescapable trap of 'karma' by a fake 'bhagawan' (Krishna Bhagawan), in the local bar.  In some minutes, the 'godman' is punished with death by 'karma,' so goes the interpretation of the voiceover.

At the other end of the spectrum are, Raana and Jai, who will soon be taken for a ride by a treacherous woman.  Raana is in dire need of Rs. 5 lacs, while Jai mysteriously needs the same amount.

Thimothy and gang are on their way to spend the night with their favourite whore.  They mow down a woman and the curtain is raised for a hell lot of troubles.  Below the flyover, Teja knocks down another.  There is a terrible link between the two and the director takes us on a bumpy ride in the process of revealing the suspense.

The film has done well by adapting the famous Hollywoodian screenplay style of Babel et al.  The director shows some promise in conceiving some scenes, here and there.  Naresh, who is already enjoying good amount of success, gets a lion's share here.  Ditto with Gauri Pandit, who plays a lengthy character.  Comedy could have been much better.  Dialogues are so-so.

Ashok has not infused the song and dance interludes, but the absence is not felt.  Though the run time seems over the board (140 minutes), censuring by 20 minutes would augur well for the movie.

Aakasa Ramanna is watchable if you do not expect much edge-of-the-seat moments from a suspense thriller.  The tragedy is that, none goes to a suspense flick with this zero hope.

Released on: 12th March, 2010