Rangitaranga – review

Ok this is not a formal review of the movie. I saw it this evening – the first time in over a year that I’d seen a movie in the theatres. I didn’t like the first half so much but the second half was significantly better. Overall the movie was quite good.

But there was one key plot element that I found to be rather illogical, which I want to register my protest about. Since there are spoilers ahead, I’m putting the rest of this post under the fold.

People at Takshashila have invited me to join them at the GCPP workshop being held at the Nandi Foothills. Given that my car is out of order (entirely my fault – I didn’t start it for a month), the only way I can get there is by motorcycle. So I told that I would go if and only if I could buy a new helmet today (which I did).

The thing is that my current helmet was bought prior to my 2012 Tour of Rajasthan, and has seen at least one major and two minor accidents. This means that the helmet’s effectiveness is basically gone and it serves no purpose of protecting my head in case of a fall.

All these days, I was putting off long-distance rides on my motorcycle because I didn’t have a helmet which I was confident of wearing on highways where I expect to travel well-at-a-faster-rate. And this behaviour is fairly representative of the average Royal Enfield rider, who may not wear full-body armour, but will make sure to wear good quality helmets while riding on highways.

A key plot element of Rangitaranga has a character who sets out on a long-distance bike trip on his Royal Enfield Thunderbird, and doesn’t wear a helmet. He proceeds to have a nasty accident where he has a head injury, thus losing his memory. This loss of memory is a key element of the plot.

And this doesn’t make sense. Royal Enfield is known to be a brand mostly favoured by careful riders, who ride more for leisure rather than for speed. Hence, a movie with a plot element featuring a helmet-less long-distance Royal Enfield rider just doesn’t square!

This was my only sour point about the movie. Apart from this, it is mostly well made and the twists in the plot are mostly unexpected, delivering the element of surprise you would expect. While watching the movie, I noticed significant influences from several other Kannada movies that I’ve watched – Aptamitra, Simple Aagi Ondu Love Story, Oggarane, etc.

2 thoughts on “Rangitaranga – review”

  1. I agree with you. Even I felt the plot was illogical. A person has no past memories and is with someone for 6 years. Is it so easy to lead life with someone’s identity? Everyone are praising the movie does that mean there are no logical thinkers out there? I am not against the movie in total , but plot is illogical for sure.

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