Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood, Ashish Vidyarthi, Asrani
Direction: Prabhu Dheva
Rating: *1/2
Just when you thought that Prabhu Dheva had perfected the art of churning out potboilers with typical southern spicing, ‘R… Rajkumar’ disappoints like nothing else.
‘R…Rajkumar’ is the kind of formulaic film that was very popular in the 1970s. When made well, it works because of nostalgic value but unless there is at least one unique thing in the plot, the action formula has become so passé.
Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor) decides to become the right-hand person of a local goon after he’s struck by love at first sight. His research is so bad that he doesn’t even realize that he is helping the rival gang. By interval the director has exhausted all his ploys and yet we are forced to sit through another hour of mindless violence and slapstick humour.
If stories like this one need to have some sort of structure, we have already seen the set-up, the conflict and have a fair idea of the resolution by the end of the first half and the later half holds little promise to keep us hooked.
We have grown tired of watching flimsy plots that reek of shoddy writing and have nothing to boast of but slow motion Matrix-style action sequences, peppered with songs shot in exotic locales and raunchy items songs shoved in just to titillate the audience. I just couldn’t get over the ‘Kaddu Katega’ song from ‘R…Rajkumar’, how do the censors even let this pass?
Sonakshi Sinha has made a giant leap in her acting career; from just batting eyelids in her previous films, she gets to shoot a fiery glance now and then in ‘R…Rajkumar’, she also gets to break a beer bottle on someone’s head in her introductory scene and start a small fire by burning wedding cards.
Shahid really needs help when it comes to choosing the right role. He is saddled with a character that has little scope to improvise. The right dance moves and all the Keanu Reeves-style action is just wasted in this film.
‘R…Rajkumar’ is a huge disappointment because there is hardly a single praise worthy thing in the whole film.
