A long time ago, Billa and Ranga were a pair (in)famous
criminals in TamilNadu. With Rajnikanth having tasted
success as Billa(just the name though. The movie was a
remake of the Amitabh Bachan starrer Don and not related
to the criminal), Ranga was a natural choice as the name
for another movie. But Ranga failed to emulate the success
of the earlier movie. And with good reason. Though is
starts with an interesting premise, it turns into a battle
of wits, that is not particularly interesting, between
Rajni and 'Karate' Mani.
Ranganathan(Rajnikanth) is a man who is dejected about not
finding a job. He runs into Raju('Karate' Mani), a career
thief. While Ranga advises Raju to give up his life of
crime, Raju talks to Ranga about giving up his ideals and
joining him. Both their advices work as Raju reforms while
Ranga embarks upon a new career as a thief. Their lives
intersect again when Ranga is hired to kidnap the son of a
rich man(ARS), who Raju swears to protect. What Ranga
doesn't know is that the kid's mother(K.R.Vijaya) is none
other than his sister, from whom he had been separated as
a kid.
Ranga starts off with an interesting premise. The idea of
Rajnikanth and Mani accepting each others' advice and
turning their lives upside down, though in directly
opposite ways, is intriguing. But the opportunities
offered by this exchange of ideals are not exploited.
Instead, the movie turns into a childish game of wits
between the two. The behavior of both Rajni and Mani after
they meet in the kid's house doesn't make a lot of sense.
Rajni moves into the house to turn the affections of the
family members away from Mani while Mani keeps mum about
Rajni's real intentions, even when he knows the kid is in
danger. Neither decision is realistic and serves to take
all semblance of seriousness away from the movie.
Ofcourse we realise in a little while, the logic behind
Rajni's decision. It turns the movie into a comedy by
introducing a variety of situations where Rajni gains the
confidence of the family at the expense of Mani. This
segment drags on for quite some time though only a few of
the situations(like Mani being caught with drinks) are
clever. With Rajni being K.R.Vijaya's longlost brother,
there is no dearth of sentiments either once the truth is
revealed. While the reactions of Rajnikanth and K.R.Vijaya
to this revelation are natural, ARS' behavior is difficult
to digest.
Radhika is a completely superfluous character who is on
hand purely to take care of the romantic interest and the
need to insert duets. She is a club owner and when she
attempts to dupe Rajni by posing as her homely,
traditional sister, it dupes us into thinking that this
romantic track too might hold some interest. But the
issues are cleared a little too soon, in a completely
uninteresting manner and she moves out of sight,
reappearing only to dream up a duet.
Rajnikanth shows signs of his comic talent during his
taunting of Mani after one-upping him. But Mani is rather
rigid and displays no voice modulation either. Shankar
Ganesh come up with some dappanguthu tunes like
Purushandhaan... and Pattukottai Ammalu... for the duets.
But Toothpaste Irukku... is quite catchy(in a childish
kind of way!) and was quite popular in those days.