Gangs of Godavari, directed by Krishna Chaitanya, takes us on multiple badlands gang operations from a small village on the coast of the river Godavari. There was an underdog who rose to power in those lands, and he kickstarted a vicious cycle that he didn’t know how to stop. Lanka Ratna didn’t know the amount of damage he could cause by indulging in violence, as his only motive in life was to avenge the death of his father and become the most powerful man in his area. He succeeded in doing so, but he had to pay a huge cost for it. So, let’s find out what happened in the film and what fate had in store for our protagonist.
Spoiler Alert
Who killed Ratna’s father?
At a very tender age, Ratna saw things that no boy ever should. As Gangs of Godavari tells us, the little boy learned almost everything about his father, Geddaraju, through people, as he never really got a chance to spend time with him. The man worked tirelessly for the people of his village and fought for their cause.
Ratna’s father worked for Nanaji, the local politician but unlike his boss, he always had his heart in the right place. At that time, Nanaji and Doraswami had a very close relationship, and the former was helping the latter win the elections. With Nanaji’s support, Doraswami believed that he would win easily. Nanaji wanted to win by hook or by crook, but Geddaraju didn’t let that happen. Geddaraju took all the ballot boxes and delivered them to the chief election officer instead of throwing them in the Godavari River as Nanaji had ordered. Geddaraju had to pay a heavy price for betraying his boss. Nanaji ordered the law enforcement authorities to put the men who helped Geddaraju behind bars. Geddaraju had promised the families of all those who helped him that nothing bad would happen to them. Nanaji didn’t get Geddaraju arrested on purpose, as he wanted the village dwellers to think that he was probably behind the arrests. Then Nanaji went and got the men released and told them that it was their leader, Geddaraju, who had betrayed their trust. The village dwellers burned Geddaraju alive, and what was even worse, they handed over the torch to Ratna and made him kill his father. After that day, something inside Ratna died forever. He burned his conscience as he realized that the world only favored the rich and the powerful. That day, he made a vow to himself that he was not going to die poor and weak.
How did Ratna become close to Doraswami Raju?
As we saw in Gangs of Godavari, Ratna carried out all sorts of con jobs as he knew that if he had to reach his goal, he would have to take certain shortcuts as the world was not kind enough to give him a fair chance. He robbed a local dealer who worked with the wholesale dealer of products like soap and shampoo. Ratna earned a lot of money, and his arch-nemesis, Yadu, was jealous of his success. Yadu tried to overtake his business, but Ratna was always a step ahead of him. The time came when Ratna realized that he needed to go to the next level, and for doing that, he needed the support of the local sand mafia, Doraswami. Raja was Doraswami’s right-hand man, but soon Ratna replaced him, and the former felt insecure about Ratna’s growing popularity.
Doraswami trusted Ratna with his life, and the latter had earned that trust by doing things for the corrupt leader. Ratna, many times, put his life at risk, and Doraswami saw the profits increasing every passing day. At first, he only gave menial jobs to Ratna, but soon, he was put in charge of the entire sand mining operation. Doraswami and Nanaji didn’t talk to each other after they separated due to some conflict in the past. Doraswami might have been a powerful man, but Ratna knew that to climb the ladder of success and reach the top, he would need Nanaji’s support. That’s when he hatched a plan to betray Doraswami and make Nanaji believe that he was on his side. But people like Ratna were not on anybody’s side. Ratna could use anybody, and he couldn’t be trusted as he always kept his needs first. He wanted to become the most powerful man in the area, and he was ready to do anything for that. Life had shown him so much that he didn’t care if he was following the righteous path or not.
Why did Ratna kill Nanaji?
As Ratna wanted, he plotted against Doraswami and became close to Nanaji. Ratna stood in the election against Doraswami, and he won the seat as he had Nanaji’s support. Things took a grave turn when Ratna fell for Nanaji’s daughter, Bujji, and both decided to get married, against Nanaji’s wishes. Nanaji saw Ratna as a goon, a lowlife who was not worthy of sitting on the same pedestal as him. But Bujji was different, and she didn’t see the world like her father. She was allured by his sincerity and how he worked tirelessly for the upliftment of the downtrodden (though she didn’t know that it was all a sham and Ratna was just playing along to impress her), and she decided that he was the man with whom she would spend her entire life with. Ratna, now MLA Tiger, after winning the elections, decided to make houses for the people on the land he had taken from Bujji. It was the same land he captured at the beginning of Gangs of Godavari so that he could grab Nanaji’s attention. The land belonged to Nanaji, though legally, Bujji’s name was on the document. So Bujji gave the land to Ratna, and Nanaji came with a lawyer and asked Ratna to vacate it immediately. Things heated up when Nanaji hit Ratna, and the latter retaliated and slapped the old man. Ratna didn’t intend to, but he accidentally killed Nanaji, and he knew that his demise would have grave consequences. Bujji filed a case against Ratna, but he burned the entire police station down and escaped from there. Ratna believed that it was Doraswami who influenced his wife and turned her against him. He went to kill the man, but Bujji came and shot Ratna, as she was convinced that he was a predator, just as her father had told her, and that he couldn’t be trusted. Rathnamala, Ratna’s old friend and ally, told Bujji what all Ratna had endured back in the day and why he was like that. Bujji realized that her husband was not at fault and that he was a victim of his circumstances. Bujji forgave Ratna, but she asked him to promise her not to bring his business home and make sure that their children were kept away from the violence and bloodshed.
Did Ratna take revenge on Chinnadora?
Doraswami’s son came back to India, and he realized that his father had committed the grave mistake of underestimating his enemy, which is why Ratna had been able to win the elections. Chinnadora came up with a master plan, and he told his father that they would have to make somebody from the village stand in the election against Ratna. He wanted a man whom the villagers could trust, and there was no better option than Yadu, Ratna’s arch-nemesis. Chinnadora made Yadu win the elections, and Ratna was livid. The quest to have control and become the undisputed emperor of the area made Yadu, Ratna, and others do certain things that created a cycle of violence. This cycle was like a plague for the village dwellers, as many innocent lives were lost in the process. One thing led to another, and things took a grave turn when Yadu decided to attack Ratna’s house. Ratna didn’t mind people coming after his life, but attacking his wife and child was not something that he took lightly. He called Yadu, Doraswami, and Chinnaswami for a meeting, and he told them that he was going to make a truce. But Ratna killed Yadu in front of everybody and declared that anybody who came after him or his family would meet a similar fate. Killing Yadu had its own consequences, and the village dwellers didn’t appreciate the fact that Ratna had killed one of their own.
In Gangs of Godavari‘s ending, amidst all the chaos, Ratna thought that even Obu and his own men were against him. He made plans to kill them, not knowing that Obu had offered the rival group to put him behind bars and leave Ratna alive. Ratna mixed poison in Obu’s food, but during the conversation, he learned about their real intentions. Ratna admitted Obu and other men to the hospital, and fortunately, they were saved. Obu’s son and his friend heard about what Ratna had done, and they attacked him when he was going back to his home with his wife and children. Bujji died in the attack, and Ratna was put behind bars. Chinnaswami wanted to take advantage of the citation, so he went and killed Obu’s son and his friends, and he told everybody that Ratna was responsible for it. For years, Obu and his men wanted to kill Ratna, but in the end, they realized what the truth was. Before dying, Bujji had made Ratna promise her that he would make their kids live with him. Ratna’s son also died with his wife, but his daughter survived.
Rathnamala took care of Ratna’s daughter, and she brought her up like her own daughter. Ratna never met his daughter though he made sure that she got to know the kind of man he was and the kind of crimes he had committed. When his daughter came to meet him in prison after years of separation, he told her the truth, though he didn’t reveal the fact that he had gone and killed Chinnadora after he got to know that he was behind the murder of those innocent young boys. Ratna wanted to end the cycle of violence, and he didn’t want the water in Godavari to turn red because of another Lanka Ratna. He succeeded in doing that, and though he was put behind bars, the people of his village thrived and lived in peace.
