Ramarao on Duty (2022)

Ramarao on Duty 2022 in brief

Ramarao on Duty is a Telugu action thriller from 2022 starring Ravi Teja and written and directed by Sarath Mandava, who made his debut with this film according to most listings. The story follows B. Ramarao, an officer who moved from the deputy collector rank to the role of mandal revenue officer, or M.R.O., posted in Chittoor district. His job brings him into contact with a missing-person case that turns out to be personal: the man who has vanished is Surendra, husband of Malini, who is Ramarao's former girlfriend.

That setup mixes a bureaucrat-as-hero idea with a mystery, which is a slightly different angle from the usual police-uniform action film. Whether it makes the most of that idea is something we cannot judge, since we have not watched the film. What we can lay out is what the public record says.

Who is in it and who made it

Ravi Teja plays Ramarao. Divyansha Kaushik is listed as Nandini, his wife, and Rajisha Vijayan as Malini, the ex-girlfriend at the heart of the mystery. Chaitanya Krishna plays Surendra, Venu Thottempudi is C.I. Jammi Murali, John Vijay is SP Devanand, and Nassar and Pavitra Lokesh play Ramarao's parents. Tanikella Bharani appears as the Collector. Wikipedia also records a cameo by Balakrishna as the antagonist Viraj, which is worth treating with care since it is a billed cameo rather than a main role.

The film was produced by Sudhakar Cherukuri under Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Cinemas and RT Team Works, with music by Sam C. S. Wikipedia lists the running time at 146 minutes. Other sites round it to about two and a half hours, so expect a conventional mass-entertainer length.

Release history and where to watch

The release did not go smoothly. The film was reported to have been pushed from 25 March 2022 and then from 17 June 2022 before reaching cinemas on 29 July 2022; the June delay was attributed to unfinished post-production work. The soundtrack came out on 5 August 2022. Reports describe the critical response as mixed to negative and the box-office result as disappointing, but sources disagree on budget and earnings, so we give no figures.

For home viewing, Wikipedia and streaming directories point to SonyLIV from 15 September 2022, with dubbed versions in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. That date comes largely from aggregator pages, so confirm on the platform itself.

If you are curious about Ravi Teja in a role that sets him up as a government official rather than a cop, or you like crime mysteries with a personal link between hero and case, it is a straightforward watch to sample, with the caveat above on its reception.