Rebel

2012
Written and directed by Lawrence Raghavendra

Only Rebel has the power to defeat flaming torches with his chest!

If you want ridonkulous action sequences and stylized hyperediting like a music video on speed, then you quickly break out some Telugu action cinema. So we did, and the film we got was Rebel, a revenge story that sadly gets a little too much flashy without backing it up. There is still some entertaining parts, but a bit of schizophrenia and pacing problems keep Rebel from becoming engaging.

Duh-Doy!

Rebel seems torn as to what kind of film it is. It’s a revenge action film, no doubt, but the question is just how serious should we be taking it? Before the intermission everything seems more action comedy, but after the intermission we’ve suddenly shifted into action drama. There are even actors who only appear in certain halves of the flick to emphasize the tonal shifts (comedic actor Brahmanandam appears in the humor section, while legendary actor Krishnamraju is only after the intermission.)

Rebel suffers from not introducing who characters are before major scenes where we are supposed to care that they are in danger or are committing acts of violence. Sure, a few of them are played by famous actors who are almost always heroes or villains, so it is expected what they are doing, but it’s not the case all the time. A good film will give you just enough to connect and care about a character you don’t know before things happen, while Rebel doesn’t bother to set that up.

Needs more explosions flipping cars.

I’ll also complain about how this film treats women, because it does so very badly. There are two main women in Rebel. Nandini is the daughter of a criminal who is wooed by the hero as a ruse to get to her father. But of course she ends up falling for the hero anyway because of how awesome he is, and he ends up with her because she’s Tamannaah. Rishi wins her heart by doing the most ridiculous PUA technique I’ve seen in a film. He calls her ugly, which freaks her out so much she has a conference with all of her friends to reassure her, then spends the next few scenes trying to convince Rishi that she is attractive just to show him up that she’s attractive. Then he’s like “I was saying you were beautiful the whole time!” and she betrays her dad for him, even capturing him for torture. The other female is Deepali, who was Rishi’s great love and was murdered by the villains. She’s an orphan, and finally gets a family to belong to right before her death. Now, her character isn’t treated badly beyond being killed, but at the end of the film Nandini declares that Rishi should call her Deepali, which implies that Nandini is gone and is now playing the part of Deepali, a woman she never met, just to please her man. I find that insulting to both characters, and to the concept of grief. Yes, I’m complaining about how Rebel treats the concept of grief!

Despite the critical and TarsTarkas.NET complaints, Rebel did well at the box office because it’s designed for mass appeal. It’s got visual tricks up the wazoo, action action action, and villains who are hilariously evil. And Tamannaah. It even scored one of those rare things for Indian cinema, a BluRay DVD that doesn’t look terrible (except the moving watermark!) Eega got robbed.

It’s called symbolism, people!

	Rishi (Prabhas) – Rishi is a man on a mission, a mission of vengeance. Stephen Robert better watch their butts! Don’t worry, you will get filled in with great detail Rishi’s tragic backstory. Prabhas is a film star who achieved massive fame in recent years due to appearing in a string of hit movies. He has earned the nickname Young Rebel Star due to his acting style.
	Nandini (Tamannaah) – Daughter of Nanu, the main guard of villains Stephen Robert. Nandini moved to Bangkok to teach dance because she disapproves of her father’s lifestyle Tamannaah is an actress and model who has made a name for herself in both Tamil and Telugu cinema. Tamanna Bhatia changed the spelling of her name due to numerological reasons.
	Deepali (Deeksha Seth) – Deepali was the love of Rishi’s life. Then she was murdered! To death! It was very sad because she was an orphan. Deeksha Seth is an actress and model who has recently begun appearing in Tamil and Telugu cinema.
	Nasa (Brahmanandam) – Narasa Raju – aka Nasa – is Rishi’s guide during the first half of the film, helps him get acquainted with the Stephen Robert situation and assists in the seduction of Nandini. Disappears after intermission.
	Mr. Bhoopathi (Krishnamraju) – The strong-integrity father of Rishi who wants his son to not be in the tough enforcing of good things via goon squad violence business he is in. Is murdered. Krishnam Raju is a legend in the Telugu film industry and was a megastar in the 70s and 80s. He’s also Prabhas’s uncle and was also known as Rebel Star, thus his inclusion as our Rebel’s righteous father Bhoopathi is a legacy role.

It stinks!

The Humpy Creek Beast Choppers ride out to their next rumble!

A mysterious mastermind known only as Stephen Robert controls the underworld in Hyderabad. The lone cop with the courage to investigate is gunned down along with his wife by an army of motorcycle assassins. Stephen Robert is so reclusive you will be murdered by their bald doorman Nanu if you ask to see him (unless you are a good worker, then only your men will be murdered!)

Enter Rishi, who we know right away is the man because he’s so cool. So cool he won’t even talk! Rishi arrives to unmask the mystery of Stephen Robert. Comic relief guide Nasa Raju will spend the first half of the film escorting Rishi around while whining (only to disappear after the intermission!) Rishi learns that Stephen Robert is two guys, Stephen and Robert, and then goes to Bangkok to seduce the daughter of their doorman Nanu.

We are introduced to daughter Nandini via song and dance. Rishi’s attempts to be cool when he joins her dance class are met with dismissal, so he pulls out the PUA handbook and drops some negs on her. Having never been dismissed by a man before, Nandini is furious and crazy, calling all her girlfriends for a powwow. The whole thing is a big con to get her to his house so she can find out he was actually calling her beautiful.

Her dad arrives for a visit, and Rishi tells her who her dad is. She agrees to help him get photos of Stephen and Robert to give to the cops to atone for her dad’s crimes. Rishi also kills a rival, who was sent by one of Stephen Robert’s goons to seduce Nandini.

Thanks for the warning, movie!

The motorcycle is alive and in heat!

Nandini is successful in getting the pictures, but only after getting her dad blackout drunk. Other villains kidnap the family of the murdered cop from the beginning, so Rishi goes to confront them. Suddenly Rishi has his own army of goons and they brutally murder the gangsters. The song blares out “Rebel Rebel Rebel!” Nandini watches this and is in shock, wondering what she got herself into.

After the intermission we jump to who we much later find out is Rishi’s father Mr. Bhoopathi beating the tar out of a corrupt policeman (who is also his nephew!) Mr. Bhoopathi is righteous and powerful, but his moral compass has made many enemies. Rishi is off being a “music student”, but is really just partying with a girl who is the love of his life, Deepali. She’s an orphan, which she tearfully confesses, which only makes Rishi love her more. But he still has her dress up as an old maid as his “music teacher” when he’s called home by his father.

A corrupt politician tries to get blessings from Mr. Bhoopathi, who berates him for being so corrupt. He vows revenge, and sends men to kill Mr. Bhoopathi at the market. They would succeed, except Rishi chooses that moment to reveal he’s not just an innocent music student, but instead is a crazy tough fighter as he beats the crap out of the attackers. His father is mad he hid his life from him, but Rishi’s adoptive brother speaks for him and dad accepts, as well as accepting Deepali.

But this happy life won’t last, the politician sells all his possessions to hire Bhoopathi’s brother (and father of the corrupt cop!) to murder Bhoopathi, as well as a guy named Stephen. They kill Bhoopathi, his wife, and Deepali at temple, while Rishi is at a different temple. He arrives just in time for his family to die in his arms one by one. The corrupt politician brags at what he did to Rishi, then blows his own brains out.

All the cool gangsters are wearing Lost shirts!

The PUA negs are frying her brain!

This was over an hour of unannounced flashback, by the way. So now you know the rest of the story. Nandini is upset that Rishi’s love for her was just a big scam and that her dad is a target.

But…not so upset she doesn’t help kidnap her dad! Who is tortured!

And now to trap Stephen and Robert. Despite having a 100 white cars encircle the pair, they were just doubles! Rishi is captured and brought before Stephen and “Robert” – his uncle – at Mr. Bhoopathi’s house, and Nandini is captured as well. Rishi says he will give the villains 5 minutes to fight him and he won’t fight back until the time is up.

So goon after goon after goon fights and fights Rishi, who becomes a broken bloody mess. But when the five minutes are up… He gets up, and soon goons are punched dead in one hit again and again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Revenge is had, and Robert is even murdered in cold blood the same way his dad was killed. Rishi is now the hero, and Nandini tells him to call her Deepali. Which is really creepy. But Rishi is so cool we’re not supposed to care.

Rebel is so concerned with being cool it forgot to be interesting. The long flashback throws off the pace of the film, which is a shame because the reveal that Rishi suddenly has a bunch of goons is a good surprise. There is the core of a good story here, just some details went wonky and the direction went music video. This isn’t unusual for a mainstream Telugu feature, especially with a hero character who goes all superman at the end. But the film’s flaws add up, the pieces fail to fit together properly, and instead we’re left with something that’s cool but not especially memorable.