User reviews

When Gunasekhar had announced that he will be make a biopic on Legendary ruler "Rudramadevi", people had a feeling that at least now he chose a safe project. Because its been almost 11 years he didn't have a proper hit in the industry as all previous outings were utter disasters. Coming to the story plot: The film starts off well, how Marco Polo explains to his king about our Rudramadevi's reign. It is all about how Rudramadevi successfully ruled Kakatiya Kingdom in 13th Century.

While choosing this well known subject wise, Gunasekhar is quite successful but when it comes to on paper execution he failed it big time. Very bad music by Ilayaraja and he also failed big time. It is better not to talk about VFX CG work actually, I would say Cartoon network or childhood Ramayana or Mahabharata TV series had better graphics than this movie. All war sequences are so awry and they have been choreographed so hastily. Dialogues are the ones which are decent in the movie.

Only highlights in the movie are Good story, Anuskha and Allu Arjun's roles. Anushka poured her soul into the movie. Hats off for her hardwork and dedication. Allu Arjun has got an amazing role, be it his attitude, telangana dialect and dressing, he just nailed it in Gona Ganna Reddy's role. People will definitely remember his role forever. Rest all star cast has got adequate runtime. It is really sad to see having all such a huge star cast and all things in place, still he couldn't give a good product to us. But if you are choosing well known story about a great warrior and that too with a high budget in the hands, it has to be made sure that Graphic work should be a key point in the movie, there itself Gunasekhar failed it big time.

It is quite obvious that people start comparing it with Bahubali but It is no way compared to it. In Bahubali story may be weak but the presentation is simply splendid, where as story is very strong here and presentation has got exacerbated. Gunasekhar lost his credibility totally. God only knows whether he gets table profit at least with the opening collections. Had it been taken up by Rajamouli, this film would have gone to a different zone. Overall Rudramadevi is a Half baked product which doesn't please you at all.

The story wasn't seamless and seemed to be multiple patches stitched together. The songs were the worst I heard or seen in years. If Gunashekhar wants to be recognized for his skills, he needs a clear vision. Almost all through the movie, it seemed like the director wasn't clear about what he wants or that he couldn't extract it from the actors and the other artists. I hate to compare one director with other but I feel justified to compare any director with Rajamouli. That is because I am not comparing their skillset but their commitment. Rajamouli doesn't sleep till the gets the shot to his 100% satisfaction(At least to his satisfaction, may not be to audience's satisfaction). Looks like Gunashekar needed only 70% in most places to okay a scene.

3D was very good for the 1st Telugu film and VFX was good in parts but felt they could have been avoided in some places.

The movie felt like a 80s movie made with modern technology. The screenplay needs to be tight and logical.

The fight sequences though showed promise in some places, were too gross and ugly in others. Especially where Rudramadevi keeps on fighting standing on the spears amidst the Snake formation. Simple question, will not the enemy soldiers retract their spears at least to protect themselves?

The fate of the fight between the enemy king and Chalukya Veerabhadrudu was inconclusive. This shows how patchy the editing was.

Allu Arjun was, as expected, flawless while the story was far from b being such.

For those who think that the move was a spectacle because it had to be made within the contours of history, I disagree such a view because the story quite liberally removed every contour except the names of the historical characters. The story was COMPLETELY FICTIONAL. We can find from history that Rudramadevi was brought up as if she was a boy and that she ruled with the name 'Rudradeva' but not that even she was unaware of her physiology or that everyone else was fooled to believe that a girl was a boy and worse that a woman was a man. The disappointing part was that most part of the story was focused on this transformation between boy and girl and how she swaps roles. History never said that Gona Ganna Reddy was a Bandit. He was a revenue collector i.e a designated official and feudatory of Rudramadevi. These are very crucial aspects that help understand the history of the period. With this movie the history has been twisted beyond the red line. History doesn't agree that Rudramadevi built a multi-phase city walls. I think the Gunasekhar's city walls were inspired from Chanakya's Arthashastra.

I personally feel that a director has to be very responsible with his story when they are presenting a historical narration especially when the genuine one is not really popular. We can twist and turn Mahabharata because people can make out which part is fiction. But in case of Rudramadevi, very few people know the history. Such fictional movies will be considered history. Some of the reviews and comments is the proof.

Gunasekhar surely has talent but he just lacked the vision and clarity in this movie. Looks like he was very complacent.

When A heroine oriented historical epic is announced in an otherwise sexist industry like Tollywood, all heads were bound to turn, and the only question was would Gunasekhar (the director) be able to pull off such a spectacle while the audience were still swooning over Bahubali. The answer is Yes, he did manage to pull it off with an excellent casting and a water tight screenplay making RUDRAMADEVI, one of the best heroine oriented movies to be filmed down south.

The advantage Gunasekhar had was that very little is known about this warrior queen apart from the fact that she was a great ruler, fighter and brought out innovative methods of agriculture and is also considered to be the pioneer of the rain water harvesting system we have today. This gave the director enough material and also a good cinematic liberty to weave a fantastic tale of epic proportions.

King Ganapathi Deva (KrishnamRaju) is faced with a difficult situation when is wife goes into labor. Those were the days when females where not expected to be heirs to the throne and enemies of the empire were waiting eagerly for the news of the newborn. People pray to the gods that the new born child should be a male and the enemies hope that it should be a female so that they can wage a war against a kingdom without a heir.

As luck would have it, a female child is born and on the advice of the wise minister Siva Devaih (Prakash Raj) announces that a male child is born and brings the child as a male child naming her Rudradeva.

Rudradeva becomes aware of her sexuality when she attains puberty but chooses to remain a male child to protect the kingdom. Moogambika (Nithya Menon) falls in love with Rudradeva (Anushka Shetty) and the emperor announces a marriage to lay any doubts to rest about his daughter's secret.

Rudradeva on one hand has to deal with outside enemies like Mahadeva Nayakudu (Vikramjeet Virk) as well as her cousins (suman and Anoop Menon) lusting after the throne. To make matters worse a new nemesis approaches in the form of her childhood friend Gona Gana Reddy (Allu Arjun) a dethroned prince turned robin-hood craving for the royal blood as he feels the emperor is directly responsible for siding with his father's killers.

To make matters worse Chalukya Veerabhadra, (Rana Daggupati) Rudradeva's best friend and brother in arms, chances to see Rudradeva in her feminine form and falls in love with her.

Soon things take a turn when the royal secrets are brought out of the closet all at a time and all hell breaks loose.

Anushka Shetty is at her best, be it as the sword yielding disguised prince or as the ravishing princess. Her performance is top notch especially in the battle scenes..

Allu Arjun as Gona Ganna Reddy chews the scenery and he manages to shift the attention from Anushka to himself in all the scenes he is present. The telangana dialect plus his poker faced approach to the role make it one of the best roles he has ever played.

Rana Daggupati holds his own among the ensemble cast, but he has very little to do what with Anushka and Allu Arjun hogging most of the limelight.

The surprise package is Prakash Raj as Shiva Deviah, with a very subdued performance but hitting the mark whenever necessary.

Nithya Menon is at her comic and emotional best, especially during the pre-nuptial scenes and the scene where she discovers her "husband"'s secret.

Background score of Ilyaraja takes the movie to all new level and often reminds us of the score of Hollywood greats like BenHur and Ten Commandments. The less said about the songs the better.

Voice over by Chirranjeevi lends the special touch and propels the movie forward.

Ajayan Vincent's cinematography is what makes this movie a cinematic wonder, the visuals are so good, and the actresses are captured in all their glory.

The biggest letdown are the visual effects which are like as if they have been borrowed from a bad sci-fi channel movie, but the performance of the cast, lets us forgive the herculean blunder.

Screenplay and Direction by Guna Sekhar are excellent, trying to make a movie on queen revered as a goddess in most parts of telangana is very risky effort especially when themes like sexuality, and same sex marriage are involved and at the same time making it reach out to a family audience. Kudos to the filmmaker for achieving the impossible and forgiving him for the dumb visual effects, we just need to give him a pat on the back for braving all odds to make and bring a Heroine Oriented war Epic.

I would recommend it to anyone looking out for a different fare in tollywood.

I walked into this movie knowing very well that this movie is not going to be another Baahubali. Baahubali is just on another playing field than the rest of the Telugu movies. I walked out of this movie pretty disappointed with the way it turned out.

Plus Points:

1. Anushka and Allu Arjun's performances. Anushka put a lot of effort into this movie and it definitely showed on screen. Allu Arjun had an interesting character who seemed to resemble the Winter Soldier from Captain America 2 as he appears here and there. It would have been great if the rest of the cast was as dedicated to the movie as the two lead actors.

2. The overall message of the movie. This movie ultimately sends the message that women are equal and in some ways superior to men. This is a very powerful message and unfortunately many people still don't accept this. But the problem is that the movie never really focuses on this until the last 5 minutes.

The Negatives:

1. Songs/Music. The songs in this film were bad. They were bad and completely unnecessary. There were no good rhythms or dancing during these atrocious songs. The one with Rana and Anushka is probably the worst Telugu song I have ever seen. It looked like the songs were there just for the sake of having songs. And now to the music. The songs from Baahubali weren't too great either but the musical score was simply a masterpiece. Honestly, I don't even remember a musical score from Rudhramadevi. I think I may have heard some music here and there but I didn't like it.

2. VFX/CGI and 3-D. It was pretty bad the way these turned out. Literally everything was computer generated, Couldn't they have at least had weapons that were tangible? NO those had to be computer generated also. It looked terrible. The movie looked like a cartoon with some real people walking around. The worst part was the ridiculous green screen. When Allu Arjun is riding his horse, the green screen is so bad that it looks like he is just jumping up and down in front of the camera with a horrendous background.

3. Villains. These were some of the stupidest villains ever put on screen, First of all there's too many villains. I found Suman's character and his brother to be the worst of the bunch. All they do is sit and talk about how to sack the kingdom. These guys were supposed to be the main antagonists but they were laughably horrible. The guy from the enemy kingdom is arguably worse but thankfully he doesn't have as much screen time.

4. The Script. How can someone take such a good story on paper and mess it up so badly on screen? The movie moves slow in the first half and most of the second half until the climax is stuffed with about 6 different events in 10 minutes. The climax had 4 different sides in one battle all fighting at once. There were some plot holes also. How does Prakash Raj's character die and then somehow come back to life? What happens in the fight between Rana and the enemy prince at the end?

5. Rana's Role. I'm not criticizing Rana but his acting abilities were wasted in this movie. He is supposed to be this fierce, strong, and brave warrior but the movie never shows him in battle so that we can see this. He is supposed to be Rudramadevi's lover but their relationship feels awkward and like I said before, their song was a pain to watch and hear.

6. And let's not forget the fact that Marco Polo and his fellow Italians speak Telugu of all languages.

As you can see, I did not enjoy this movie and my favorite part was the ending. If you are expecting something like Baahubali, don't see this movie as you will definitely be disappointed. If you liked this movie, post a review so I can read it to look at this movie from a different perspective. From A+ to F, Rudhramadevi gets an F.

Since it starts with 1, I selected the least.. plz friends don't waste ur money n time.. already I wasted 150 mins.. N I think if I write even a word more for this movie review am wasting more time. Really can't sit watching d movie for 30 mins.. it's hell. a typical drama set creased by amateur kids in the name of vfx n 3d. Spoiled the latest tech meaning. it takes me back to the days of 1990s wen the cinema industry learnt Wat animation s.. really I feel I wasted my day..I can't even imagine comparing this movie with bahubali. Obviously I never came imagining this will move will b better than that, but can't even consider this as a movie. Just a stage drama shown in big screen. Nothing more to tell.

Despite being littered with cartoonish CGI, amateur wirework, poorly choreographed fight scenes, pointless and unnecessary songs, and terrible editing, the compelling story is told in such a way that, if one is able to overlook the many shortcomings, Rudhramadevi ends up being an enjoyable movie to watch.

though Anushka Shetty Allu Arjun Rana Daggubati is in star cast and maestro Illaiyaraja compose the music yet Rudhramadevi is a mediocre cinema .. total waste of time and money...... script is not compact , special effects are very ordinary , direction is messy .. little bit lengthy .. started watching this movie with great exceptions ,, but the movie not only get rid to full fill that but also very irritating .. Marco Polo concept is utter nonsense.. fight scenes are cartoon .. Allu Arjun under used ar Rana is also under used .. but there are some pros also Prakash Raj acted very natural and Anushka also acted very nice .. music is good ..

Hardwork pays off! Gunasekhar RETURNS with Rudhramadevi. PERFECT 3D, VFX, Cinematography and BGM. Congrats to the entire team. Its Gona Ganna Reddy all the way. Truly powerful than Rudhramadevi. Allu Arjun is predictably outstanding. Megastar Chiranjeevi's voice-over is an asset. Story of Rudhramadevi is well-known so no need to talk about that. Direction-Cinematography-VFX-BGM are so strong assisted by performances. Art Direction needs a special appreciation. While watching I asked myself 'Am I watching a Hollywood film?' Rudhramadevi thrills you with stunning visuals in 3D. I loved it most. Don't miss Rudhramadevi. Watch it in 3D at least once. You will surely love it. Congrats to the entire team once again and a big bow to Gunasekhar.

Gunashekhar's Rudhramadevi is one such film that desperately tries to be revered as one of Indian cinema's finest and most memorable mythical movies like Maya Bazaar, Pataala Bhairavi (NTR version), Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and the recently hyped up Baahubali part 1. It wants to entertain and amaze while providing an engaging story line. Yes, we can see the hard work put forth into this feature and we are intrigued by the main character that is forced to shed her feminine identity and assume a role of a man in a domain ruled by manly men.

However, the film does not nearly entertain us as much as we want, nor does the film provide us with spectacular moments of what Rudhramadevi was all about. Instead, it glosses over her conquests and her importance in history and focuses more on her conflicted identity as the female heir to the Kakitiya throne, her so-called rivalry with Gona Ganna Reddy (which may not be true from what I have read) and her love for Chalukya Veerabhadra (which is very weak). We are only given short glimpses narrated by Chiranjeevi of what she accomplished and nothing more, which is disappointing. Perhaps if Gunashekhar split it into 2 films: the first about Rudhramadevi and how she was able to conceal her feminine side from the public, and the second about her conquests, her rule and accomplishments, while stressing the main message that a woman can be equal to a man, this would be his magnum opus and he would be respected as one of the best storytellers in Indian Cinema.

Visually, the film is unimpressive. Like Baahubali, it suffers from an overdose of numerous commercial aspects such as high flying stunts, horrid villainy, ostentatious animation and odious VFX that mar the narrative. Its main goal is to culminate into an enormous mind blowing battle sequence towards the end and even that doesn't register. One would be better off reading a comic book as the special effects look no better than a children's animation show.

It pains me to say this, but Ilaiyaraja's music is a downer. Though some of his background score is nice, the Midas touch which produced such heartfelt and mind blowing melodies is not there. The songs are unnecessary and hinder the narrative.

The dialogues feel as if they have been written in the wrong century. They sound phony and exaggerated. Many scenes are drawn out too long including some of the feminine ones and battle ones. There are too many events happening at once in the climax and the editing makes it excruciatingly worse.

There are many worthless characters who do not contribute to the narrative. Most of the supporting characters are awful, especially the females who have nothing to do except look glamorous. The villains are ghastly especially Suman, a talented character actor who is given one of the worst roles of his career. Even a veteran like Krishnamraju is given a weak role as Ganapathydevaraya and cannot summon his acting abilities which were greatly evident during his stardom days. Rana is better in his quieter, love struck moments alongside his horse and convinces as the fierce, dependable Chalukya Veerabhadra, but the movie wastes his screen time by not showing his valor on the battlefield. His chemistry with Anushka is flimsy.

Yet, the story and screenplay kept me interested and gets better during the second half when the true identity of Rudramadevi is revealed. And Anushka is the only actress worthy enough to essay the character with a strong performance which will be remembered as one of her most memorable roles. She brilliantly alternates between the tough as nails, sword yielding prince and the vulnerable, but ravishing princess. She does not falter and lets her actions do the talking.

Allu Arjun pretty much lives the role of Gona Ganna Reddy. His Telangana accent, poker faced approach and captivating presence successfully shifts the attention from Anushka to himself and he does not let his hero image get in the way of some of the finest acting he has done in his career. Prakash Raj is wonderful as Minister Shivadevaiah and his dialogue delivery is delightful. Nithya Menon is irresistible as the happy go lucky Muktamba and provides great comic relief. Her enchanting eyes and charming character speak volumes and it's impossible not to pay attention to her.

History may not be kind to Rudhramadevi because of the many flaws mentioned and it is certainly over-hyped due to its comparison to Baahubali part 1 and its burning desire to be remembered as one of the best Indian mythological films of all time. Don't expect a major history lesson or first-class entertainment as it provides neither. But do watch it for the story line and the fine performances by Anushka, Allu, Prakash Raj and Nithya.

6.5 out of 10.

I watch this movie only for allu arjun.but he got only a few screen.He was good in this position but this film don't deserve the good title....poor script

After a great movie like baahubali, it's common for ppl to compare next historical movie with that, and get disappointed.. But this movie is set to disappoint you from the beginning.. The story line feels like a 1990s children tale. Bad acting, bad direction, cheap graphics( I heard they took over 3 years to render vfx, I don't know why. It's worst than pogo shows). To top all that the movie gives you an awkward feeling with its battle scenes and I think ilayaraja's composition has been the worst in this movie.

I was literally laughing watching this movie as to how idiotic it was and got reminded hoe amateurs on the Web make better short movies. I also cried internally as I spent a lot on the tickets and had a feeling of wasting all that money.

Summary: don't watch if u were given free tickets.

My brother took me to this movie. I was kind of excited to watch this. I thought it would be another "Bahubali" kind of movie. But God, never was I so disappointed with a movie. Disappointed would be an understatement to express the feeling I've for this movie. Sitting on the edge of the seat, literally waiting for the movie to get over somehow (they don't open the gates until the final fifteen minutes of the movie). The best part was the ending. What a relief. Phew!!

People who already went for this movie. They already now it wasn't even a half of what Bahubali was. And those of you planning to go, expecting something like Bahubali VFX and bg score, please DON'T. Lastly I was trying to recall a good thing about this movie, but going through that "horrific" experience. Hell no!

"It's not even a half of what Bahubali was."

It doesn't matter if they spend lots of money on the computer graphics or produce it for 3 years. The pillars of the movie are its story, screenplay and the performance of the cast. Unfortunately all these three are missing in this movie. The whole films seems to be a documentary that will bore you to death. The songs should compliment a movie not make the audience run away from some breath. The graphics and the performance of the cast are mediocre. Allu Arjun's telangana accent looks total fake. Rana doesn't have more than 5 scenes in the movie. I don't understand why the leads have to jump in the air defying the laws of physics to do a simple fight. The director killed the screenplay which is the most important aspect of any film. The guy in the negative characters scores a Zero. Baba sehgal portrays the stupidest character ever in a telugu movie.

In total the film is a total disaster!!

It is easy to travel with an unknown story because much of the best mind resources are utilized in getting along with it and enjoying it simultaneously.

But if you take up a well known story of this kind to justify the accuracy of the story along with meeting the expectations of the spectators with the best available resources within the stipulated time .... It's a Gunasekhar task

The film shows the might of our beloved yet forgotten ruler of whom shall us be proud of. It's a pride watching the film. It's an Honor we still have someone who tells us whom we are.

Very bad narration, average music and its better not to talk about VFX. Cartoon Network has better graphics than this movie. Illayaraja music is awful. Screenplay is pretty bad specially Second half narration is pretty boring. Only highlight of the movie is Allu Arjun, he poured his soul in to the movie. Anuskha's performance is good as usual but the director didn't elevate her as required. All other charters come and go as required. Nothing new or interesting to talk about. When making a film on such great warrior its better to get the budget and the story right before making any attempt. Just because you got a thought, don't jump on the movie and make disasters like this. Its an insult to the great warrior and our culture. Shame on you Gunasekhar.Stay awake from this movie.

Movie is not up to the mark, story line is good but direction is very bad, The plus point of the story play is female rulers who was the only heir of her father to carry the legacy of ruling the kingdom. First half of the movie is boring while you can enjoy a little bit on second half.

Allu arjun performance was amazing and excellent. Allu Arjun as the enigmatic and rebellious, Gona Ganna Reddy, in stark black outfit is impressive.

There is no linking or connection between fights, I think its a very bad idea to plan a weekend on this movie.

Hardwork pays.... Hats off Gunasekhar sir

Another ace film from Telugu film industry . The proudest moment. Very nicely executed . Teams hard work showed in the film . 158 Min's film time is reasonable . 3D effects are good . Songs could have been trimmed . Allu Arjun awesome . Anushka perfect fit as Rudramadevi . Rana , Nithya , Tressa are fine .

Hits : 1.Gona Gangareddy character. 2. 1st half 3. Art department.. War sets and VFX

Misses : 1. Songs in second half. 2. Too many characters. 3. Little lag in 2nd half

Final point : Next level of Telugu cinema . Must watch .

Just waste of time.as allu arjun my favourite so watched it but unfortunately i have been cheated with the quality. worst, class less, childish graphics, childish story...totally disgusting cant find any more words..bye

Good movie with a wonderful story from history. Narration is good too though it could be made more gripping with some screenplay changes. Background music is okayish but song tunes are not impressive.If songs were to be good,they would have significantly contributed.

First 3D Stereoscopic movie. The VFX effects though not superior are quite good enough for a movie made with 9-10 million dollar(60 crores). VFX + 3D + Stereoscoipic + Epic film(costumes & settings) along with other regular costs 60 crores. Baahubali ( around 150 crores for one part only).

25 years of historical events should be covered within 2 and a half hours and the director has desperately tried to and is mostly successful. The portrayal / presentation of Rudrama devi's bravery and nobility is underplayed. There is scope for better presentation. Recently we had watched an epic movie which had great VFX and huge investment and which became the greatest BO hit though it lacked captivating story and though significant part of the movie showed only war scenes which resulted in audience coming out of theatres half-satisfied.

Contrary to that, Rudramadevi has a lot of story presented. So it has blended drama and action adequately which gives the feeling that we have watched a movie.

Some have commented that Rajamouli would have presented it well. May be and I believe too. Rajamouli has a knack of presentation and make a film captivating. But when Baahubali and Rudrama devi are compared, the former which is hugely funded is a fantasy movie where one can add a lot of imagination and masala.That film also had been criticised for the romance episode of Avantika and Sivudu and Rajamouli has justified that his main aim was to keep the audience glued whatever it takes.Whereas Rudrama devi is a historical film the events of which are documented and known to many as this is not from very very distant past. History means facts and there is less scope to add extra or fictitious masala. I felt that Gunashekar wanted to present the film based on the facts staying away from masala or controversy and even from exaggerating the character. Gunasekhar has done a lot of research on the characters and it is obvious that our respect for the characters increase as we get to learn more about the nobility of the historical figures as we keep studying them. Couldn't the director add a few more fight sequences for Rudrama devi to keep the narration gripping though not in history? I think Gunasekhar has restrained from exaggeration or masala purposely. That is why some might have felt that it looked like a Ramayana or Mahabharat serial from TV.

Overall, though you may not be spellbound, you will come out of theatre satisfied of having watched a good movie and getting to know a great historical personality.

3D, Stereoscopic, epic movie with good casting, costumes, extraordinary sets and decent enough VFX effects, good story and screenplay makes it worth watching.

Waste of time and money.. Poor Acting and very very bad VFX...