R Rajkumar Review

R.. Rajkumar, has been in the news for a long time now. The title was changed from Rambo Rajkumar to R.. Rajkumar and the songs have been topping the charts. The film’s lead star Shahid Kapoor, who is currently going through the worst phase of his career, is trying to get back into some moneymaking goodwill by indulging in theatrics which have so far been reserved for only Akshay Kumar and of course Salman Khan. Prabhu Deva has a 2-1 record in Bollywood so far, with Wanted and Rowdy Rathore raking in the moolah at the box office. Does R.. Rajkumar make it 2-2 or 3-1? Let’s dissect.

Story: R.. Rajkumar is set in a village called Dhartipur. Two warring parties, namely Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi) and Shivraj (Sonu Sood) have been at loggerheads since time immemorial regarding the opium distribution in the area. Enter Romeo Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor), who works for Shivraj and is quite a nifty henchman and a go-getter. The problem arises when he falls in love with the niece of his boss’ arch rival Chanda (Sonakshi Sinha). But then as luck would have it, Shivraj and Parmar make up their differences and now Romeo has to fight off both of them and one even larger Mafioso to get the girl of his dreams. The film is then basically about how he goes about doing all this.

R Rajkumar
R Rajkumar Movie Review

Screenplay and Direction: The masala genre has been going through very tough times recently, mainly because writers and directors are following the same old template for every film and are failing to innovate even within the realms of the genre. And as expected, same is the case with Prabhu Deva’s R.. Rajkumar. Deva incorporates the film with every regressive trapping that he could have used and imbibes it with unnecessary frills and diversions throughout the entire length of the film. Sometimes you wish he was as good a director as he is a dancer/choreographer. R.. Rajkumar has one of the most dragged out climaxes of recent times. The only thing Prabhu Deva gets right are the song sequences which bring the film alive.

It is futile to talk about the technical aspects of a Prabhu Deva masala action drama film because he isn’t eyeing an Oscar in Production design or the costume design department. Having kept that in consideration, the sets are pretty good and work as they are probably meant to work. The costumes are colorful and lovely. The editing is not up to the mark. The music, however, by the ever dependable Pritam is good and two songs from the film – Gandi Baat and Saree Ke Fall Sa, are already huge chartbusters.

Acting: Shahid Kapoor is clearly hanging on to straws here hoping to catch a lucky break with R.. Rajkumar. He gives it his all and then some more. He acts, jokes, fights, charms, romances and not to forget, dances. But sadly even that is not enough to save this trainwreck of a film. Sonakshi Sinha reminds me of a TV actor now, playing the same character in all episodes (films in her case). Sonu Sood is menacing but even he seems repetitive. Same is the case with Ashish Vidyarthi. (Note to directors: Please don’t waste Sonakshi’s talent by typecasting her in the same roles in all films)

To sum things up, R..Rajkumar makes Bollywood masala films reach new crevices. It is boring, repetitive, and regressive. The primary job of a film is to entertain and when you exit the theatre having not been entertained, you feel cheated. Except for some really good song sequences, R.. Rajkumar has nothing that you haven’t seen before. Unlike Shahid Kapoor, you can give yourself a lucky break by choosing not to watch the film.

Box Office: R.. Rajkumar has opened to a good response because of the high voltage promotions and its fantastic music. The film will have a good first weekend, but it will all go downhill from there.

Positives:

  • Song and Dance Sequences
  • Pritam’s music
  • Shahid Kapoor’s all out dedication to the film and to his character

Negatives:

  • Direction and Screenplay
  • The actress and the villains seem repetitive
  • Regressive storyline and unfunny comedy scenes
  • The feeling of having seen it all before in many dubbed South films

Rating: ★½☆☆☆

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35 Comments

  • I really want Shahid to make his comeback with this film. But the problem is that audience has now lost interest in masala films. Masala films are flopping this year – Himmatwala, Boss, Bullett Raja etc. Only CE escaped because it was a family entertainer with comedy. And this is bad news for masala kings Akshay and Salman Khan.

  • Allmost all critics have given bad rating.all critics can never be wrong.
    R.. Rajkumar Big Disappointment as per critics Ratings By : Taran Adarsh – 1.5/5 Paloma Sharma, Rediff – 1.5/5 Gourav Malani, TOI – 2/5 Saibal Chatterjee, NDTV – 1/5 Daily Bhaskar, Dainik Bhaskar – 2/5

  • I m so SAD for Shahid after reading reviews. But whats the fault of Shahid. He deserves Super success.
    Guys Dont Disappoint this Super Talented Guy plz.

  • So you mean its gandi baat, gandi gandi gandi gandi, gandi baat?

    If the movie flops, this is the end of this genre.

    only God, read Salman, can save it now.

  • It is a very bad movie. It is amazing that somebody really thought that such kind of a movie would even be digested by the audiences. Don’t waste your money,wait for dhoom 3.

  • Don’t trust this review. Guys it was an awesome film!! Just watched it today. I dunno if everyone will agree with my choice, but I didn’t like Ram Leela at all, loved chennai express, krish 3 was alright, 1st half of phata poster was pretty awesome. Yea thats like my choice and this film is def a one time watch, atleast for shaahid kapoor :)

  • What the hell reviewer, this is a complete opposite review people. The songs were horrible, direction was awesome. Like the camera work and the screen play, the fights, the dance, everything was good. It was a good movie. Loved shahid’s acting. EPIC!!! … one of the best actors eva

  • frankly speaking this is the only movie for a long time from which i have zero expectation, two main reasons are:
    1. main reason is Prabhu deva because this is fresh attempt by him, all three movies wanted,rowdy rathore and Ramaiyya Vastavaiya were remakes, and if any one seen original of these movies, these are all scene to scene remakes, totally copies, even location and fight sequence all were same, so a director who even not give any different touch of his movie earlier, how can one expect good movie by this man. we have seen remakes like Ghajini (climax and some scenes in middle changed), Don remake (climax and villian both changed in movie and stylishly shooted),Agneepath (completely changed screenplan and introduction of powerful character in for of Rauf lala), these re movies which were officialy remaked but director and creative team given something different in those movies from earlier one, So complete let down by Prabhu Deva.

    2. Shahid Kapoor, no doubt one of the talented young actor but completely chosen wrong character, these kind of Masala films are best suited for a man who has macho physique like Akshay ,Ajay & Salman and they also having rough and tough voice, shaahi completely lacks in that, i was laughingwhen many Shaahid fans who bashing Salman and Akshay for masala movie love Shaahid action in trailer, action done by Ajay,Akshay & Salman looking unbelievable to thembut don’t know how Shahid action looking better to them, Big surprise. I think shahid should learn from SRK that how to fit in these kinda movies as he did in CE, he was just a common man in the movie and been underdog throughout the film and shown realistic fight sequence in the end. Result he wins Deepika, movie wins audience heart and Collection were record breaking.

    3. Sonakshi Sinha, shown talent in Lootera but completely wasting her talent in same zoner movies again and again, i am irritating to see her in same kind of movies and even her next two Holiday & action Jackson also belong to same genre.

    so result is as expected as it, all critics bashed the movie and even some critics called Worst movie of the year.
    moral- Shahid should now do movies as a supporting role along with Big actors like Salman,Skr,Aamir or Akshay. like Saif ali khan did movie like HSSH with Salman, DCH with Aamir and KHNH with SRK, in all these three movies were successful and Saif acting was appreciated, Result in 2004 he give SOLO big Hit named “Hum Tum”. Same case with Abhishek Bachchan getting solo flops again and again now will get successful movies Named Bol Bachchan, D3 & HNY.
    Finally Best of luck to shahid for future.

  • @JC agree bro this is the tight slap on all Salman Haters who think that only Masala genre is responsible for Salman Success, initiallt it helps in for of Wanted but after that its Salman who made successful this genre again and again with Blockbuster (Read carefully BB not a hit,superhit) and even thoguh his highest grosser 186cr Domestic and 310cr WW ETT is not an hardcore Masala while it is Action movie. So its clear that only Salman can pull off any masala movie even in this present time when Masal genre is going to dead with his immense Star Power and Charisma, Bhai chashma lagane and Dialogues bolne se koi Salman Khan nahi ban jaata. Remember.

  • feel bad 4 shahid……… its a time when era of masala movies is abt 2 end…. badluck 4 shahid as he choose the masala muv at a bad tym…. nd now waiting 4 the year 2014…. many akki movies i.e gabbar, thuppaki remake,holiday nd ajay devgn movies i.e action jackson,singham 2 r lined up…. if they all fail thn its bye-bye 2 akshay,ajay nd salman…………

  • if shahid(over a decade in the industry) had achieved what akshay has achieve in 2years(3 blockbuster/superhit,3 flops, 1 hit,1 average,2 cult classics), he would have been better than ranbir

  • i hate sonakshi…in a year she has 10films…cum on yaar plss thora rest le lo yaae har film mai moti ko acha nahi lagta

  • the opening box office of rr shows that people like masala but rr is not entertaining so it will drop.
    Boss suffered due to release date(2 weeks after toilet humour besharan and 2 weeks to krrish3).This also shows that south masalas are better
    @mayank thuppakki is holiday and is not masala but something like ett but with gud script
    In thuppakki trailer, vijay said “i am waiting” and I am waiting for holiday

  • ppl dont believe lukha likes krk…krk spread stuff against shahid necoz shahid rejected dharma and yrf…krk is key player of k.jo and srk camp…finally R…rajkumar much better thn reviews

  • nice to see such idiotic films flopping..next in line dhoom3 and lets hope that its also a super duper flop… we must make sure

  • Now seeing the trend I think peoples r avoiding over the top action…
    @Man Holiday is a class action movie aiviyi Thuppaki ko 7.5 rating ni mili h IMDB pe n both Jaiho n Holiday r patriotic movie so they r different frm regular masala movie.

  • guys just watched r rajkumar and trust me what a movie.the best masala movie of the year.actions are mindblowing and shahid is just unbielivable in his role really he is so extraordinary.prabhudeva is king of masala movie.i am going for it again tomorrow in single screen.after wanted this the best masala movie.just go for huge entertainment and you will from this movie.

  • @aks well said bro, i like your comment, true but saif is now a big star althoug he is not the lable of aki or khans, but he is the most successful actor in romantic comedy.
    But r rajkumar is a good film, Plublic review is the real review n its fantastic, son of sardar n bol bachan are the latest example, got bad review but public make it 100cr grosser, i hope r rajkumar also go same way.

  • There were some movies in the last quarter of this year which would have made a good opening like BOSS, GTPM, Bullet Raja, R Rajkumar etc. But to due to pack schedule of movies releasing every week it is hampering their business….How would any common man watch movies back to back all the weeks…After watching a All Time Blockbuster movie like Krish 3 you can’t expect the cinegoers to come to theatres again in next week , they tend to take off for atleast 3-4 weeks to come back to theatres, but they did after 2 weeks for Hit movie like Ram leela , but again you can’t expect them to come back again next week for GTPM , then Bullet Raja or R Rajkumar so on & on..

    Thus it is the mistake of producers to line up their movies very before or after a good movie. Had a move like GTPM released with a 2 week gap before and after a good movie it would have earned 50 -60 Crs today…

  • @ajit – I never said holiday was masala film. It will be sure shot blockbuster. Same with singham 2 because of Rohit Shetty ajay Devgn combo. I am not sure about jai ho but kick is surely masala film. Action Jackson also. If they flop, it will be bad news for masala dependent actors.

  • @megha you are frustrated and angry after the disaster of your fav ranbirs besharam.that is why you are hating all the movies . dont worry about dhoom 3. it will be blockbuster.

  • noamount of back patting will make this film successful… besharam is a big flop and so is this ..good ,,now dhoom 3 will flop for abhishek bachchan cos he iis ugly…

  • @megha if you have done surgery and become handsome even like tushar kapoor then you would have become a successful background dancer in bollywood

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