Rao Bahadur

The final stretch of Rao Bahadur is an absolute riot. The carefully constructed drama gives way to a series of delightful twists that are both entertaining and thought-provoking. It is here that director Venkatesh Maha gently pulls the rug from under the audience, forcing them to view the entire film from a fresh perspective. Telugu cinema lovers may remember a similar narrative flourish in his debut indie film, Care of Kancharapalem. While that film offered a deeply realistic portrait of a neighbourhood grappling with questions of gender sensitivity and social hierarchy, Rao Bahadur ventures into fantasy, lacing its psychological drama with touches of magical realism.

In 2018, director Venkatesh Maha waltzed into Telugu cinema with the path-breaking C/o Kancharapalem, one of the industry’s finest films of the decade. After Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya and an episode in Modern Love Hyderabad, the filmmaker is back with Rao Bahadur – a film that Mahesh Babu and Namrata Shirodkar saw enough potential in to present. It hit theatres on July 3.