Mass Jathara Review: A Mediocre Cop Story With Irritating Comedy Scenes
Ravi Teja’s energy is intact, but the story, comedy, and emotion are all missing in action.
Cast: Ravi Teja, Sreeleela, Naveen Chandra, Rajendra Prasad, Samuthirakani, Murali Sharma, Naresh, Praveen, Himaja, Ajay Ghosh
Director: Bhanu Boggavarapu
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Seasoned star Ravi Teja, who has been struggling to deliver a hit after Tiger Nageswara Rao and Mr Bachchan, assured fans that Mass Jathara would mark his comeback. Unfortunately, he doesn’t keep his word. What unfolds is yet another cliched and uninspiring cop story, this time with Ravi Teja playing a Railway Police SI who tries to tackle crimes from his platform — quite literally.
Director Bhanu Bogavarapu seems to have recycled bits and pieces from Ravi Teja’s earlier hits like Krack, with a similar plot point involving a cop’s death and the hero’s retaliatory rampage, including killing mysterious-looking killers, ala Krack.. The action sequences offer a few sparks, but the narrative feels stale and repetitive throughout.
The love track with Sreeleela and Ravi Teja’s family angle with Rajendra Prasad fails to evoke emotion. Even Rajendra Prasad, usually a master of comedy, ends up delivering flat humor and annoying antics. Sreeleela, though charming on screen, is wasted in a poorly written role as a drug peddler.
Casting Naveen Chandra as the antagonist turns out to be a misstep — he simply doesn’t carry the menace or screen presence needed to stand up to Ravi Teja. The much-hyped songs, including Ravi Teja’s dance numbers with Sreeleela, pale in comparison to the energetic tracks of Dhamaka.
The story begins with a police officer (Murali Sharma) covering up an honor killing by staging it as a suicide on railway tracks. This incident led to Ravi Teja’s posting at a railway station located in Warangal to punish the culprits. He is transferred to the Agency areas of Andhra Pradesh, where he takes on a local drug mafia led by Naveen Chandra. What follows is a predictable cat-and-mouse chase with no emotional depth or narrative novelty.
After memorable cop roles in Vikramarkudu, Krack, and Waltair Veerayya, Ravi Teja’s Mass Jathara feels like a rehash of his own past successes, only without their punch. The wafer-thin plot revolving around drug smuggling in hill regions never rises above mediocrity.
Eventually, Mass Jathara is a tired, formulaic attempt that neither thrills nor entertains. Ravi Teja’s energy is intact, but the story, comedy, and emotion are all missing in action.
