‘Rakkasapuradhol’ Movie Review: Raj Shetty Holds His Ground In This Meandering Thriller

Raj B Shetty’s latest Kannada thriller Rakkasapuradhol has the bones and the hygiene of a methodical murder mystery. The setting (it unfolds in a sleepy, mist-cloaked village called Rakkasapura) and the plotting add to the intrigue of a slasher film. The characters, too, come with compelling backstories. Take the protagonist, Inspector Shiva (Raj B Shetty). He’s an alcoholic who has just been posted at Rakkasapura following a suspension. But his character note goes beyond just a belligerent alcoholic cop. He suffers from schizophrenia and sees things — things that sometimes lead him to greatness, and also mislead him. There’s Siddaya, a pious village priest who holds more power in the village than any police officer, and a next-door neighbour with a child who sees through Shiva’s hard exterior. But despite these strengths, the film struggles to maintain steady ground.

For one, the writing barely manages to explore the secondary characters. Shiva, who is the anchor of the film, is laminated with delicate detail. His schizophrenia isn’t introduced as a mental health label that’s casually thrown in for optics, but an important part of the film. But the same level of detailing isn’t supplied for the other characters, who come with equally amusing traits but don't get the space or time to expand on them. When women suddenly start dropping dead in a village that places its superstition above any semblance of reason, a conflict brews between religious authorities and the police. 

This track is immediately reminiscent of Tovino Thomas’s simmering crime thriller Anweshippin Kandethum (2024), where a murder leads the police to the church. In Rakkasapuradhol, the tensions between Shiva and Siddaya’s beliefs run high, but this doesn’t quite translate into anything meaningful. The loud, suggestive music and the film’s generic treatment take us away from its world.

The presence of a demonic spirit, Kolli Deva, is floated around, and symbols of fire and blood are explained quite decently in a film that doesn’t just try to distract audiences, but also its troubled protagonist. Shetty lends weight to his character, depicting the grief and loneliness that permeate his life. He "sees" dead people, a trait that brings him dangerously close to solving cases, but also quietly chips away at his mental health. These scenes are especially effective — even if a major twist is revealed much earlier than it should have. His relationship with Belli, the young child with an absent father, is sweet and convincing, giving Shiva's deep-rooted loneliness some perspective.

Rakkasapuradhol eventually builds to an unnerving, unexpected ending, yet its twists — complex and effective on paper — don't land emotionally. A subtler hand and clearer character mapping might have turned it into a very different film.