Ranga Mārthānda - all the world's a stage

Ranga Marthānda

2023, Telugu

Directed by Vamsy Krishna 

Stars Prakash Raj, Ramya Krishnan, Brahmanandam, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Shivatmika Rajasekhar

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐

It feels like an eternity since I have seen them, the Tam Brahm globetrotters. Rich and confident, these couples enjoyed their retirement years flying Business Class between Season in Madras to the humid summers in Pittsburgh, relishing their much deserved pensions and the joys of watching their children building upon their success. 

Across the border, there is Ranga Marthanda Raghava Rao. A once famous thespian, he is now retired to much deserved R&R with his wife and adult children. In a drunken stupor, he decides to hands over all that he earned to his children.  And...I think you can predict the rest.  

Indeed there is little more than this to offer the inevitable tragedy of money over the intangibles, except for Brahmanandam. The record setting actor is surprisingly convincing as the serious, philosophical, and sentimental who sees all the more the tragedy of a career ended. 

But. It is living out each moment as tragedy where the movie fails. Prakash Raj's histrionic only augments the idea that money blinds us to the point where familial bonds become collateral damage. This leads us to the existentialist question - is life just a series of roles we play to one another?  Both a frightening thought and a terrible plot. It drives Raghava Rao insane, and makes us race back to the other side of the border. 

 kulam tharum selvam thandhiDum * aDiyAr paDu thuyar Ayina ellAm * 

nalam tharum sollai nAn kaNDu koNDEn * nArAyaNA ennum nAmam!