Vishal's Rathnam boring, mindless action flick

Cast: Vishal, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Samuthrakani, Tulasi and Yogi Babu

Direction: Hari

Ratings: 1/5 stars

Kollywood actor Vishal tries to salvage a poorly-etched story by flexing his muscles and also with emotional scenes, but fails to make an impact.

Tamil actor Vishal teams up with director Hari, who is known for action-driven movies like ‘Saamy’ and ‘Singham’, and who seems to have lost his midas touch. He just weaves a contrived story of a young girl (Priya Bhavani Shankar), who aspires to become a doctor, is being chased to death for her property and makes the hero turn her savior.

Vishal has disturbed childhood and lost his mother but he is determined to save the girl since she looks similar to his mother. This emotion is not enough to sustain audience interest as it slips into routine action drama between the fearless hero and land mafia led by Murali Sharma.

Hence the girl's love for Vishal goes for a toss and the songs from her viewpoint fail to enthrall viewers. Less said the better it is about Yogi Babu’s jokes which fall flat on its face. What remains for the audience is multiple fight sequences at regular intervals in the process of saving the girl and Vishal hitting out thugs mercilessly and chopping their heads and limbs.

Kollywood star Vishal came close to Telugu audience with his dubbed movies like ‘Pandem Kodi’, ‘Samanyudu’ and ‘Detective’. Even his film against cyber crimes ‘Abhimanyudu’ won him some appreciation, while his films like ‘Action’ bombed.

The film begins with Vishal's childhood where his mother is wandering around with him and finally gets a menial job in a market. The young Vishal kills a woman who comes to kill Samuthrakani and he goes to jail. Later, Samuthrakani who is now an MLA, takes care of him and Vishal fights for his rights. But one day, he begins to fight for a girl(Priya Bhavani) who has come to write her NEET exam and thereafter he becomes her savior. When he comes to know their land has been taken over by the land mafia, he takes up cudgels against them.

Vishal is good in action sequences but he couldn’t draw much sympathy for his self-piteous role. Priya Bhavani Shankar looks pretty and performs well as a fearful girl who has unknowingly opposed a big mafia gang. Yogi Babu as a friend of Vishal evokes a few laughs but other jokes go unnoticed. Samuthirakani is just ok, while Murali Sharma plays a dreaded baddy.