The film met with huge critical acclaim, with critics praising the screenplay, story, direction, cinematography, dialogues, and realistic approach. Oberoi's portrayal of Paritala Ravi was deemed one of the best performances in his filmography by critics and audiences.[2] This marks the third collaboration of Ram Gopal Varma with Vivek Oberoi after "Company" and "Road," both of which were decent hits, though "Company" was more successful.
Narasimha Reddy (Kitty), a local politician, is a powerful man in the area. His close associate, Gajula Veerabhadra (Rajendra Gupta), is his trustworthy ally for his political work, to the extent that Narasimha Reddy gives him the freedom to contest Zilla Parishad polls with his men. Veerabhadra champions the causes of the poor and oppressed, and they look up to him as their leader.
Nagamani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao), who is the local MLA of the district and close to Narasimha Reddy, becomes jealous of the budding trust between Veerabhadra and Narasimha Reddy and starts poisoning Narasimha Reddy against Veerabhadra. Narasimha Reddy summons Veerabhadra and asks him not to contest the polls with his contestants but rather to support Nagamani Reddy. Veerabhadra lashes out at Narasimha Reddy for being unfair to the underprivileged communities and storms out. Nagamani Reddy calls for Mandha, a close follower of Veerabhadra, and manipulates him into killing Veerabhadra, giving him the assurance that if he does it, people will suspect the policies of Veerabhadra as his own follower killed him, and he will be the next in line as the leader of the poor people; otherwise, take his life. Mandha reluctantly agrees to it. Veerabhadra and his wife, Gajula Jayalakshmi (Zarina Wahab), travel by bus with 40 people to a wedding. Mandha and Nagamani Reddy's men stop the bus, kill Veerabhadra's guards, and tell him to step out of the bus or else he will be killed along with the other innocents on the bus. Veerabhadra comes out, looking at Mandha, and dares him to kill. Nagamani Reddy's henchman, Durga (Chetanya Adib), shoots at Veerabhadra, making it look like Mandha shot at him. Prompting Mandha about the deal he made with Nagamani Reddy, he tells him to kill him in front of everyone. Manda then kills Veerabhadra by crushing his skull with a boulder.
This results in an agitation led by Thota Shankar Ravi (Sushant Singh), who wants to avenge his father's murder by killing all the men of Nagamani Reddy and Narasimha Reddy. Enter Nagamani Reddy's son, Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh), a ruthless man who enjoys raping women and killing men in brutal ways. He starts killing Shankar's men in gory ways: drilling a hole into their skulls, chopping off their heads with a sugarcane chopper, burning them alive, and feeding them to ravenous rats.
Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi), who is in college in the city of Anantapur, gets the news of his father's murder and rushes to the village. Nagamani Reddy orders the local police inspector to kill Shankar in a fake encounter. When Pratap Ravi goes to the police station to ask about his brother, the inspector shows him Shankar's dead body and mocks him. Infuriated with his brother's murder, Pratap Ravi and Veerabhadra's men kill all the police officers and the inspector.
Pratap Ravi hides in the jungle with his father's associates and vows to kill Narsimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy, and Mandha one by one, instilling fear of death in each one of them. He starts by busting into the house of Narasimha Reddy, killing his guards, and finally killing him with a scythe in front of his wife as she looks on in horror. Next is Mandha; as he roams in the market, Pratap Ravi's men follow him, and before he can defend himself, they chop his hand off. Manda begs for his life, but Pratap Ravi stabs him in front of everyone. They plan to kill Nagamani Reddy, but they are cautious as there is heavy police security at his house. As Nagamani Reddy is sitting on his lawn conversing with a police officer, he is shot at by Pratap Ravi, who is dressed as the cop, and his men, dressed as cops as well, kill most of the policemen.
The story progresses as famed film star-turned-politician Konda Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan Sinha) targets Anantapur for contesting elections. The day he enters Anantapur for the rally, Bukka Reddy's men throw bombs, making Shivaji Rao get back inside the car and return. This insults him greatly, and he asks his secretary for the one who can stop Bukka Reddy. Immediately, his secretary mentions Pratap Ravi's name; Shivaji Rao sends for him and puts down a proposal to join his party and a ticket for contesting elections. On the other hand, Bukka Reddy makes his brother Puru Reddy (Vishwajeet Pradhan) contest elections and tries to sabotage the voting process by stealing the ballots. Pratap Ravi starts his rampage by eliminating, one by one, every rival of his party. Eventually, he comes across a man named Babu Qadri, who seeks Pratap Ravi's help to avenge his sister's death. Bukka Reddy had raped his 16-year-old sister, because of which she immolated herself, and Bukka Reddy had then broken Babu Qadri's leg. Pratap Ravi assures him of his vengeance but asks him to forget everything for some time.
As Bukka Reddy's men fail to rig the election process, Pratap Ravi wins by a majority. Immediately, Bukka Reddy is arrested. Puru Reddy gets him out on bail through Sirji's influence. Bukka Reddy inflamed with the desire to avenge his father's death, hides out in an apartment with his men and plots to kill Pratap Ravi. Pratap Ravi learns about his hideout and devises a plan to execute him. He immediately gathers his men and calls Babu Qadri, who had sought Pratap Ravi's help in avenging his sister, to lead the execution of Bukka Reddy. He calls for Bukka Reddy's servant and bribes him with 500,000 to aid in the execution. Babu Qadri and Pratap Ravi's men rush into the apartment, killing all of Bukka Reddy's men and then killing Bukka Reddy with an axe.
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Vivek Oberoi's performance in the role of Paritala Ravi drew widespread praise, while Abhimanyu Singh's devious turn as Bukka Reddy, modeled on the real-life Obul Reddy, was regarded as one of the terrifying villainous[3] acts captured on celluloid in a long time. Renuka Rao of DNA India gave the movie 4 stars on a scale of 5, concluding that RGV has surprisingly thrown at the audience a film that could actually evoke some emotions in you. A must, must watch."[1]Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 4 stars on a scale of 5, saying "On the whole, RAKHT CHARITRA is not for the faint-hearted or the lily-livered. The violence, the blood and gore depicted in the film will shock and disconcert you, which only goes to establish as to how proficiently the subject material has been treated."[4] Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, stating that "Rakta Charitra holds up a brutal mirror on the muck that masquerades as democracy in India."[5] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, noting that "Rakta Charitra is a bold, disturbing film that’s bursting with the kind of confidence we haven’t seen from the filmmaker recently. If the sight of blood doesn’t make you uncomfortable, chances are you’ll enjoy this film."[6] Kittu Singh of Rediff gave the movie 2.5 out of 5, writing that "Once the film is over you realise that all Rakta Charitra has been is a two-hour promotional fare for Rakta Charitra 2. Yes, there is more to come."[7] Anupama Chopra of NDTV gave the movie 2.5 stars on a scale of 5 stars.[8] Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "It is an interesting story, and Oberoi, re-united with RGV after Company does a good job as Ravi. But the blood overtakes it all: Rakta Charitra is not for the faint-hearted."[9]
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