Film: "Rebel"; Cast: Prabhas, Tamannah Bhatia, Deeksha Seth, Krishnam Raju, Brahmanandam and Kovai Sarla; Director: Ragava Lawrencce; Rating: *
Sitting through the almost three-hour long "Rebel" is like putting yourself through torture in spite of being warned about the film by well-wishers. After back to back hits like "Darling" and "Mr. Perfect" and a blockbuster like "Kanchana", Prabhas and Ragava Lawrencce, have joined hands to make an action revenge drama that screams boredom and sucks life out of the audience.
The story follows the life of Rishi, son of local don Bhupathi, played by Krishnam Raju. Rishi is happily in love with Deepali (played by Deeksha Seth), until his father is killed and he swears to avenge his death. He moves to Hyderabad in search of Roberts and Stefen. However, he comes to learn that they're in Bangkok and hence, moves there. In Bangkok, Rishi meets Nandini, a hip hop dancer, and uses her services in the name of love to get closer to the villain.
Lawrencce gives the audience an outright commercial entertainer will all elements neatly wrapped together and served in a plate. "Rebel" is exactly the kind of film Prabhas' fans will devour happily without worrying much about the story, but if you're not one of his fans, then you may kindly ignore this film.
For the infinite time, viewers are made to sit through a story that's been told and retold over the years. The filmmakers are either adamant or lazy to innovate and proof to that is Lawrencce's "Rebel", which besides being extremely lengthy, is also cliched and tiresome. Expectations were high from the director after his surprise hit "Kanchana", which unlike this film, was interesting in handling a sensitive subject intelligently, with adequate proportion of mass appealing elements as well.
Performances by Prabhas and Tamannahare are rewarding, but the former should definitely say no to cheesy one-liners and pick lines that are liked by one and all instead. Tamannah sizzles in her role with some breathtaking dance moves. The idea to cast two heroines was merely to impress the audience with a sleaze fest. Deeksha barely has any role to play, while Krishnam Raju's presence doesn't make much of a difference. Scenes between Brahmanadam and Kovai Sarla are old fashioned and doesn't impress comically.
Choreographer-turned-director Lawrencce desperately tries his hand at all departments to be called an all-rounder, but fails miserably. The best of the aspiring director is yet to come and "Rebel" is definitely not even close to be called enjoyable.
