A hometown hero, the Samson of Rajavaram, who only needs to don his white shirt to lay waste to all who would brawl with him, sees his love of that town put to the test in “Rangabali,” a soap operatic Indian fable with music.

But after it bounces out of the gate with spirited fights and an epic production number stuffed into a packed first act, this once-jaunty “RRR Lite” withers like a mango left in the sun.

A star vehicle for Teualu actor Naga Shaurya (“Aswathama” was a recent success), it’s only when this Pawan Basamsetti film abandons its Bollywood excesses — epic song and dance numbers, slo-mo brawls, hair and sarees and shirts billowing in the omni-present slo-mo breeze, a big seduction dance — that the picture grinds to a halt and tests one’s patience.

It’s only 135 minutes long, short by Indian cinema standards. But going an hour between dances just kills it.

That winning first act sees the kid who loved attention and fighting from childhood so much that he was nicknamed “Show” grow up be the go-to guy when his town’s statue to Lord Ganpati is about to be removed by a rival town’s ruffians.

He gets up from his nap, stops by the laundry to pick up a fresh white shirt, and slo-mo head-butts, crotch-kicks and haymakers his way through a sea of men in black…with orange headbands.

How does one celebrate that victory? With a huge drum-corps production number, of course.

Show’s a big deal in town, close-pals with with his local MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly), Parasuram (Shine Tom Chacko). But he needs to pilfer from his father’s pharmacy to have the cash to entertain his friends because he never went to pharmacist school.

He’d rather mix drinks than prescribe pills.

As our Samson realized long ago that his power, influence and indeed his very physical strength derives from his hometown, he’s very reluctant to travel to the city and get that degree.

“The crocodile is stronger under water. But when he comes out, people throw stones at him!”

But he leaves, and once there, accompanied by his sadistic bestie Agadam (Satya), who only derives pleasure from others’ failures, injuries and misfortunes, he is promptly distracted by the fetching doctor-to-be Sahaja (Yukti Thareja).

He puts on the moves, gets as far as asking her father (Murli Sharma) for her hand, only to discover that the wealthy dad has bad memories of his village, so “no marrying my daughter.”

Show must go home and “fix” this little problem.

The movie throws its big romantic/erotic dance duet AFTER a long dead stretch of “college” and other filler scenes of no consequence and after he’s been turned down by the father yet promised his love he will make things right.

That delay took me right out of the movie.

Director Basamsetti and his comic leads know that comedy is a genre that works best at great speed. The prattling banter and one-liners fly by at a sprint. Characters are self-aware of the absurdities going on, not quite calling attention to the ever-present fans off-camera that never seem to disturb Show’s aircraft carrier helmet of hair, but joking about other conventions of the cinema.

“What’s with that look?” (in Tegulu, with subtitles) “It’s as if you’re carrying a terrible FLASHback!”

What “Rangabali” needed is more dancing, more brawling and a romance that throws the traditional courtship/seduction duets at us a lot sooner.

The flashback that explains the film’s title and the difficulty of the quest Show has taken on, salving egos over the infamous name of the town civic center, is cute and gory.

But getting to that moment is a slog, and everything that follows is either nonsensical, dull or both.

Rating: TV-MA, violence

Cast: Naga Shaurya, Yukti Thareja, Satya and Shine Tom Chacko

Credits: Scripted and directed by Pawan Basamsetti. A Netflix release.

Running time: 2:15