Rebel (Kannada)
Director: S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu
Cast: Aditya, Suhasini Mani Rathnam, Preethika Rao, Sanjana
There are some films that are so bad that they are fun to watch. And then there is a film like S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu’s Rebel which does not fall even into that category. With an incomprehensible plot, strange dialogues, bad dubbing, poor acting and to add to it, some weird fetish with wigs, the film leaves its audience distressed.
Here’s a reconstruction of the story (of whatever one could understand of it at least): Kartik, an NSG commando, upset with substandard quality of weapons, rebels against the system. Anupama, his mother who happens to be the Defence Secretary of the country, is also up in arms with the government on the same matter.
Rana, the Defence Minister, an evil don responsible for the low quality weapons, also happens to head a terrorist group. He forges Anupama’s signature and pockets kickbacks from a weapons deal. The righteous Anupama goes to Singapore (nobody knows why) and gets the money back. The rest of the plot takes place in Singapore where the don and his gang search fervently for a bank code that will help them get the money back.
Somewhere along the way, Rana, facing a CBI enquiry, fakes his own death, moves to Singapore, gets a plastic surgery done (which is just a terrible attempt to acquire Mongoloid features using make up) and becomes a full fledged don. But towards the end, he moves back to India and with no questions asked, is back in politics again. Kartik’s role is to save his mother and his country from the clutches of this really evil minister.
There are some incredibly funny scenes, unintentional though. For instance, Kartik fools the Singapore police by wearing sunglasses, claims to be one among them and beats up a terrorist kept in custody there. He also falls in love with Preetika, who is a doctor in a jail in India. The premise for their love story is a two-second stare.
Performances of actors such as Suhasini are a huge let down. To add to it, there is the curse of that horrible wig that Suhasini wears in the film. Aditya too sports an insufferable one as part of his many disguises.
Sanjana plays the role of a ‘kalli (thief) from Karnataka’ who helps Kartik. The action sequences are repetitive and gory. However, sometimes even they turn out to be hilarious. For instance, when Kartik is given an electric shock, wiry blue lines dance around his face.
Then, there is a weird shower fight sequence. Occasionally, footage shot on a different format is squeezed into the film, forcing the audience to peer into the screen to make sense of the already baffling film. Rebel, the less said the better.
