One of Rudra’s most commendable aspects is its ambition. Assamese cinema rarely tackles espionage narratives at this scale (the last one that comes to mind is Zubeen Garg’s Mission China), and Roopak Gogoi’s direction deserves credit for attempting it. The story revolves around Rudra (Ravi Sarma), a former covert operative for a secretive government task force named Vajra. In the present, he works as a security supervisor at a shopping mall in Hyderabad, living a low-profile life and caring for a group of orphaned children. His calm demeanor and long-haired, bearded look not only make him unrecognizable to those who once knew him but also hide a disturbing truth about his past.
The narrative unfolds in dual timelines. In moments from the past, we see Rudra as a daring field agent, single-handedly taking on terrorists under orders from the State. In one critical mission led by the head of the task force (played by Adil Hussain), Rudra blows up a terror hideout, brutally killing the entire gun-clad rebel gang who opposed the State. However, after this, the political urgency that fuels the plot is largely abandoned.
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The story then shifts to Rudra’s personal journey — his bond with his colleague and friend, Sankalpa (Joy Kashyap), a short-lived romance with Surabhi (Nandinee Kashyap), and a tragedy that alters his life’s course. But having left his tragic past behind, Rudra now leads a quiet life as the security in-charge of a shopping mall in Hyderabad, carrying out his duties with discipline. However, when secrets refuse to stay buried, trouble is never far behind.
Things take a dark turn when a group of terrorists infiltrate the mall one day and plant a bomb in order to claim the lives of civilians. Rudra manages to defuse the bomb and neutralize the attackers, but the incident is not random. It soon becomes clear that the event is deeply connected to the very past Rudra has been trying to escape. Ultimately, everything builds toward a final confrontation that ties back to his former life.
The production value of Rudra is quite notable for a regional film, with good cinematography and sound design that elevate the overall viewing experience. However, the filmmakers could have avoided the direct use of AI to show the past life of the head of Vajra, the character played by Adil Hussain. Nandinee Kashyap delivers a decent performance as Surabhi, despite her limited screen time, and Joy Kashyap also gets the job done as the loyal friend and comrade.
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Ravi Sarma, in the lead role, brings physical intensity, but the script, with its underdeveloped love story (and tragic arc), misses out on a solid emotional connect. The tragedy that changed his life is handled in a very formulaic manner. And every time someone in the film has to die, it’s always bomb blasts. It felt as if the writers of the film failed to see anything beyond bomb blasts. Without a genuine emotional touch, the screenplay also felt mechanical and predictable. The film also doesn’t build suspense or emotional depth in the way it could have, especially considering the scope of its genre.
One key instance where the film could have played more effectively with suspense lies in how it reveals Rudra’s past. Instead of disclosing his background as a covert operative right at the beginning, the filmmakers could have withheld that information and allowed it to unfold gradually. Similarly, rather than directly showing Rudra defusing the bomb and eliminating the terrorists in the mall, the event could have been initially left ambiguous. It would have lent a layer of mystery to the plot.
Moreover, there are attempts at comic and visual relief by momentarily shifting the plot of the movie from the city to a village where the new characters remind audiences of the comedy tropes of South Indian films. Since they don’t have much to contribute to the overall main plot of the film, it feels forced and completely out of place. It certainly provides visual relief, but it also makes the film lengthy. The film doesn’t become outright boring, but it is also not very interesting to sit through its entirety.
Another disappointment is Adil Hussain’s accented speech delivery. Being from Assam, we are familiar with Adil Hussain’s fluency in Assamese. We have seen him speaking good Assamese in many Assamese films. That’s why, when he plays a non-Assamese character attempting to speak broken or accented Assamese in Rudra, it feels oddly out of place.
In short, Rudra attempts a genre but ends up becoming a flawed action thriller. A weak script, predictable writing, and lack of proper emotional connect prevent it from becoming a truly impactful film. But despite its criticisms, Rudra, now in its fifth week in theaters across Assam, is definitely gaining popularity among audiences.
Produced by Arup Beria, Gautam Beria, Raj Choudhury, Sujata Choudhury, Arvind Garodia, OP Garodia, Manoj Kumar Kedia, Rajesh Kumar More, Pawan More, and Hrishikesh Bhattacharjee, Rudra also stars Arrchita Agarwaal, Himanshu Gogoi, Nilutpal Baruah, among others.