Film: Raymo
Producer: C R Manohar
Director: Pavan Wodeyar
Starring: Ishan, Ashika Ranganath, Sharath Kumar, Achyuth Kumar, Madhubala, Rajesh Nataranga and others
Pavan Wodeyar’s latest offering ‘Raymo’ is a musical drama that skillfully combines love, fame and pain with its own unique twists and turns.
The movie opens with Revanth aka Raymo (Ishan), who proclaims himself a ‘Self-made celebrity’ and is the son of millionaire. He dislikes his father as he marries another woman after the death of his mother. He hates him so much that he wants to put a name plate on his door, saying that ‘Daddy and Dogs are not allowed’. This arrogant rich brat happens to meet Mohana (Ashika Ranganath), a singer from a traditional household who is very much in contrast with him.
Though both the characters are complete opposites, the one common thing that unites them is music. Raymo is in search of a female singer for his band and approaches Mohana. Though Mohana initially hesitates to join Raymo’s bannd, she accepts to be a part of the band because of the money factor. When they travel abroad for their concerts, they slowly start liking each other and fall in love.
But can a love story end so easily like this? This is just the first half of the film. Their relationship ends in the second half only for the film to end happily later. Why does their relationship end forms the rest of the story?
The screenplay of ‘Raymo’ is driven by emotions, misunderstandings and sacrifices. Without all these, the film would have been a sober one. The film would have been a typical love story, but Pavan has made sure that is not the regular type and has played with the screenplay. He gives a lot of twists and turns and makes the audience glued to their seats. However, the film seems to be a bit lengthy and Pavan would have easily trimmed the film.
‘Raymo’ has rich production value with costly sets, foreign locations, and songs, which are captured aesthetically by cinematographer Vaidhi. The other highlight of the film is music and it plays a major role in this musical romance. The songs are hummable and catchy.
This is not just a hero centric film, but both the hero as well as the heroine has equal roles to play. Ishan and Ashika have used this opportunity very well. Both of them have two shades. While, Ishan plays a flashy character in the beginning, he slowly turns subtle in the second half. Ashika who is soft spoken becomes aggressive. Both of them look good on screen. Achyuth Kumar and Rajesh Nataranga impress the audience with their roles.
