Kairam Vaashi reviews Rao Bahadur, written, directed and edited by Venkatesh Maha and presented by Superstar Mahesh Babu's GMB Entertainment, for The Hollywood Reporter India. Kairam calls the film a true 'Maha Chitram' — dense storytelling at its creative best, and Telugu cinema like he's rarely experienced before, the kind of cinematic ambition he'd expect from a maverick like Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. The film follows Bhuvanam Ramappa Rao Bahadur (Satyadev), a man of royal blood confined to his palace, described by a doctor as a man of miracles for surviving the final stages of liver cancer. But his greatest prison is his own mind, infected by the bug of doubt — a metaphor the film visualizes literally — and as viewers, we're trapped inside that mind with him, making Rao Bahadur a fascinating psychological drama layered with Mahabharata and Ramayana references, relentless inventiveness, and a wonderfully playful spirit.
Kairam praises a film where every department fires on all cylinders: the energetic staging that makes exceptional use of space, the deliberately aged, grainy visuals, the artwork, costumes and production design that collectively create visual poetry, and Smaran Sai's outstanding score that moves from delicate piano to soaring violins and operatic vocals, with songs like 'Sundari', 'Tappinchukolevu' and the scene-elevating 'Kaaki Pilla'. He applauds Deepa Thomas, Vikas Muppala and Bala Parasar, and above all Satyadev, who carries this experimental film on his shoulders with a remarkable emotional range across multiple looks — a performance so uncanny it reminded him of Fahadh Faasil. A film made in Telugu, but truly made for the world. His THR India Bottomline: this is a film made purely for the love of cinema — go watch it with that very same love. Rao Bahadur is now playing in theatres.
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