Raja Natwarlal Review

Emraan Hashmi has to be one of the most popular mass actors in India but he still lacks that mega hit film in his filmography. Raja Natwarlal has been promoted as a fun and entertaining con film from the onset so if it eventually fulfills the expectations it can be THAT big hit of Emraan Hashmi’s career. But unlike his other movies, Raja Natwarlal lacks chartbuster songs and that will affect the opening. Does Raja Natwarlal manage to be a fun con film. Let’s find out.

Story: Raja (Emraan Hashmi) is a small time conman who cons people with his mentor called Raghav (Deepak Tijori). Raja goes for a big con and ends up conning the men of a cruel evil businessman called Wardha Yadav (Kay Kay Menon). Raghav gets killed and now to avenge his death, Raja goes for Wardha and hatches a plan with a big conman called Yogi (Paresh Rawal) to sell him a CL20 team. The second half of the film is about how Raja manages to con Wardha and how he manages to keep his girlfriend Zia (Humaima Malik) and the evil policemen in toe.

Review: There are very few directors who know to use the rugged charm of Emraan Hashmi and Kunal Deshmukh is one of them. Raja Natwarlal is along the lines of the Jannat franchise where we see the slightly bad hero doing things the wrong way to set things right. Kunal, however, doesn’t manage to balance all the aspects of this con film. Raja Natwarlal starts low on steam and even a hurried end can’t salvage everything. The script doesn’t cover all the bases and even an assured sense of direction by Kunal Deshmukh is not enough. Raja Natwarlal, therefore ends up being a much lesser film than it could have been. It could have been enjoyed a lot more had the con been made more entertaining and loopholes been less in number. The thrills are also low.

Raja Natwarlal
Raja Natwarlal Movie Review

The technical aspects of Raja Natwarlal are decent but they don’t shine through. The editing is good but the flow is missing. The cinematography is average as the beautiful scenes of Mumbai and Cape Town are not captured to their maximum potential. The music of Raja Natwarlal is by the south music scion Yuvan Shankar Raja. The tunes seem cliched, formulaic and doesn’t help the film even a bit. For an Emraan Hashmi film, better music was expected. Even the romantic number Tere Hoke Rahenge falls flat. All in all, the music is the most disappointing part of Raja Natwarlal.

Acting: Emraan Hashmi is Raja Natwarlal and hence the entire focus is on him. Emraan doesn’t have much to do, though. He lives the characters he has played in most of his previous films but his charm is still there, thankfully. Paresh Rawal plays the role of big conman Yogi very well. Kay Kay Menon is a big let down as he seemingly overacts even in the most normal of scenes and is never quite as menacing as the script probably had him. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub has been wasted in his small role. Deepak Tijori was a pleasant surprise. Bollywood debutant Humaima Malik is good and shows everyone that she can act better than most debutants. If she had debuted in a better film, she could have shown off her acting chops a lot more.

Conclusion: Raja Natwarlal, promises a lot like the conman in the film, but eventually turns out to be very underwhelming. The major part of the film is focused on the act of con that occurs in the film and if that part was executed properly in an entertaining way without any illogicalities, Raja Natwarlal could have been a gem and joined the likes of 99 and Dhoom as the best con films made in Bollywood. But alas, it was not to be.

Box Office: Raja Natwarlal’s promotions have been lackluster and the music hasn’t caught on, which means the film will take a average opening. We expect the film to be an underwhelming proposition as far as the box office prospects are concerned.

Positives:

  • Emraan Hashmi’s character and his chemistry with Paresh Rawal
  • Humaima Malik shines
  • The climax salvages the film
  • The editing is good

Negatives:

  • The direction is lackluster and so in the con shown in the film
  • Too many loopholes
  • Music is disappointing
  • Cinematography is below par
  • Kay Kay Menon overacts to the hilt
  • Casting direction was way off the mark for many of the characters

Rating: ★★½☆☆

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31 Comments

  • @sss I also luv srk but that doesn’t mean I will call hhrpk,ghulam,sarfarosh,dch avg!btw according to u aamir flop percentage only 52 so u mean hit/success percentage is 52% which is exactly wat I hv also said.so u r agreeing wid my analysis then y r fighting.btw thanx for accepting aamir has 52% success film

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