Srikanth has acted in 100 films, but never as a ‘Rayalaseema’ based ‘hero’. He dons such a role in his 101st film – Ranga The Donga. However, the title of this movie is far from a typical ‘Rayalaseema’ based movie. Let’s see what exactly it is.

What’s it about: A pregnant woman, trying to escape from a faction based village, gives birth to a boy and dies. The baby is brought up by a trusted old lady. The boy grows up as Ranga (Srikanth), a thief with a unique mindset. He steals only from the homes of police personnel, because they don’t register a case against thievery from cops! He grows up to love ‘Rayalaseema’ based movies so much that he heads a fans association of ‘Rayalaseema’ movies regular villain Jaiprakash Reddy (as himself). He is also obsessed with ‘Sumo’ vehicles, or anything that represents ‘Rayalaseema’. Ranga is finally caught red-handed, and taken to the court where he happens to witness a blasting of a ‘Rayalaseema’ based hero – Bhavani Prasad. Ranga, finally manages to see face of the injured hero, and is shocked to see that he looks ditto like him! Ranga is captured by Surekha (Ramya Krishna), who happens to be Bhavani Prasad’s wife. What is the relationship between Ranga and Bhavani Prasad, why does Surekha capture Ranga? Find answers to these questions and more only in Ranga The Donga.

What is Good: Srikanth is terrific as a thief and also as a typical ‘Rayalaseema’ based hero. He manages to generate laughs, and also gets loud whenever the scenes seem to demand so. It is interesting to see how Ranga, with his group of thieves, uses some strange techniques to break into people’s homes. The one or two scenes in which Jai Prakash Reddy and Srikanth talk in ‘drunken demeanor’ is 'laugh out loud'. Nagababu’s and Sakshi Shivanand’s guest acts keep the audiences entertained. The concept of the movie is reasonably good. Infact the movie has an underlying message, even though it is lost because of too many loopholes.

What is bad: Ranga The Donga is a true example of how a bad ‘leadership’ destroys the very essence of a good concept. The story of a factionist trying to give everything up and do some good for his followers is clichéd, but it could have been dealt with much more care and love. Instead director Sudhakar Naidu makes it a hotchpotch of comedy based action drama! Even his performance as an actor goes down the drain. Vimala Raman will like to forget the kind of role she has essayed in the movie. Though it feels good to see Ramya Krishna on big screen, she has been given only one or two expressions throughout second half, which is far lesser than the number of saris she wears! Shakuntala is loud and other artists have meaningless roles to play.

Technical Departments: : Nothing really stands out technically, though the cinematography department stays true to a typical ‘faction war’ film. The movie could have done away with lesser number of reels and two lesser songs. Chakri’s background music doesn’t make the necessary impact, while only two songs are worth listenable. Few dialogues are good, and few have been muted by the Censor Board, and rightly so; the rest are pretty average.

Final Point: Ranga The Donga might have something for those who love to watch Srikanth, come what may. Focusing on the ‘garnishing’, the makers somehow lost the true essence of their ‘recipe’.