The hero kicks ass without getting as much as a scratch; the heroine loves him for it. Expect masala. Don’t hate yourself for it.
This year, or more precisely a significant portion of director Prabhu Deva’s filmography, has been centering on one of the most cliché driven eras of Bollywood: the 80’s.
In “R…Rajkumar”, the second masala movie this year tenacious on reviving Shahid Kapoor’s spiraling career, the idea is secluded to that of a baseline, unimaginative potboiler: a ruffian– whose indestructibility leads me to believe that he is Sunny Deol’s long lost brother – who saunters into a small town war between two drug lords, the marginally manic Manik Parmar (Ashish Vidhyarti) and the mellow-ish sociopath Shivraj (Suno Sood, a regular staple in Mr. Deva’s recent movies).
Romeo – incase people were interested what the “R” stands for in Mr. Kapoor’s name –has a revelation the moment he comes into frame: a girl, who inexplicably is out in the dead of night in the middle of a shootout. She is Chanda (Sonakshi Sinha), a gutsy looker, and the instant cause of Romeo’s heart skipping a few dozen beats.
The next instant Romeo dupes Shivraj’s gang and becomes the drug lord’s number one guy, sidelining the former gang-head (Mukul Dev, better than the role he’s given). Like Clint Eastwood or Toshiro Mifune, though more showboat-y, loutish – and let’s not forget, cute –Romeo woos Chanda and singlehandedly trashes Manik’s gang, though without a loss of lives; even as a hit-man, Romeo isn’t the killing type.
The no-blood angle gums well with Mr. Deva’s take. There aren’t many casualties in “R…Rajkumar”, and the ones that do happen, are left off-screen.
The screenplay, as all of Mr. Deva’s movies (including “Ramiya Vastavaiya”, is slapdash; it purposely extends the movie’s welcome way beyond tolerable levels before and after intermission breaks.
Occasionally (though, not always)“R…Rajkumar” goes round in circles: Romeo lives to love, crack heads and kick-butts of a horde of dangerous looking hoodlums, suspended on invisible wire-work. He also needs little motivation to break into song (the soundtrack by Pritam is draggy, with only “Gandi Baat” craning its neck for some headroom).
Mr. Kapoor, nonetheless, is really working hard in all departments, regardless of the fact that his comic timing misses the beat on and off. Ms. Sinha is spellbinding, but rarely does anything she hasn’t dabbled into before.
Mr. Sood, like Mr. Kapoor, is off his game – though not by much – delivering villainy without voice modulation, scares and some apt humor. His mellow-sociopathic standard Bollywood fare, without bulging Amrish Puri eyes. (On the subject, Mr. Vidyarti is the same he’s always been: a good for a laugh, standard villain).
Sigh…sometimes, I wish for the good ol’ bad movie days. At least back in the 80’s, and even the 90’s, the baddies were aptly one-dimensional; their overawing had us cheering more for them than the heroes.
Changing times are making sure that even when Mr. Deva tries full-throttle to typecast his movies on the past (Re: Ramaiya Vastavaiya, Rowdy Rathod, Wanted), he can’t ace every angle. Maybe Mr. Deva is satisfied on being a jack of all trades right now.
Released by Eros, “R…Rajkumar” is rated U for some tasteless comic innuendos and a whole lotta action.
Directed by Prabhu Dheva; Produced by Vikram Rajani, Sunil Lulla. Executive producer, Sanjay Mehta; Screenplay by Mr. Dheva, Sunil Agarwal, Ravi S. Sundaram (with dialogues by Shiraz Ahmed); Cinematography by Mohana Krishna; Editing by Ballu Saluja; Music by Pritam and Lyrics by Anupam Amod, Mayur Puri.
The movie stars: Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mukul Dev, Asrani, Srihari.