Title: Rona, Producer: BKR Productions, Director: Satish Kumar, Cinematography: Arun Kumar Music: Gagan Baderia, Cast: Raghu Raja Nanda, Sharath Lohitashwa, Malur Vijay, Chillar Manju, Balraj Wadi, Sangeetha Anil, Geetha, Hitesh, Abhishek Arya, Vinod, Darshan Shetty, Manoj Kumar, and others.
The socially committed affluent individuals are bound to face danger from politicians, especially in the villages. This is the catchline of this action feast, narrated with suspense elements in the 126 minutes of the film Rona. The relevance of pumice stone and the village deity Mahakali is another interesting aspect focused on in the movie.
Not just that—in Rona, there is youth for the Parivarthan aspect, and the parents’ commitment to their son and vice versa is beautifully described by director Satish Kumar. The surprise is that the talented villain actor Sharath Lohitashwa plays a doting father. “ನಾವು ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸಿರಬಹುದು ಆದರೆ ಹಣೆ ಬರಹ ಹೆತ್ತಿರೋದಿಲ್ಲ…” — the father and son conversation is so right.
The first half of the film offers nothing new, but the interval point is a shock, leading to an unexpected climax. The director of this film seems unaware of the protocol of a chief minister of a state. The way the CM is portrayed in this film is shoddy.
In Rona village, surrounded by two lakh people across around 100 villages, there is a very honest and loyal man, Ramakrishna (played by Sharath Lohitashwa). He has a loyal son, played by Raghu Raja Nanda. The social responsibility of Ramakrishna is very high, and this disturbs the political field. Ramakrishna clearly says he is not interested in politics and will be there for the woes of the villages. The possibility of Ramakrishna becoming an MLA might even perturb the functioning of the state chief minister — this is the cause of worry. They bring bad names and destabilize the surroundings of Ramakrishna. This fear factor, in fact, takes the toll of Ramakrishna.
It is Shiva who, with his friends, carefully plans and studies the culprits behind a series of deaths in society. When it shakes the chief minister, what plan of action is taken — you have to watch it in this film.
Raghu Raja Nanda, making his debut, looks good with action but still has to grow as an actor. He maintains a uniform style with all characters. Sharath Lohitashwa, as the father, has done very well, and his dialogue delivery is as good as ever. Prakruthi Prasad as Kavya has emoted well, and Sangeetha as the mother gives adequate support. K.S. Sridhar as the chief minister suits the role well, though he could have advised the director on how a CM should be handled.
The background score and songs are adequate, and the cinematographer has shown his calibre through his work. Dialogues by Adi Murthy are quite okay.
Rona is a film with mass entertainment value, especially in the second half.