2.5 stars
When the likes of writer/director Tigmanshu Dhulia aka Ramadhir Singh of Anurag Kashyap's acclaimed modern cult film Gangs of Wasseypur is conversant with the technicalities of one of such outings, one thing is rest assured that the dreaded gangster tale of the Hindi heartland, dealing with the political and industrial powers of the state couldn’t be better delineated than his unco style. Bullett Raja (U/A) is produced by Rahul Mittra, Nitin Tej Ahuja and Tigmanshu Dhulia, under the banner of BrandSmith Motion Pictures and Moving Pictures. The film is presented by Fox Star Studios. The movie also marks the admittance of an unhackneyed pair in Bollywood -- Saif Ali Khan & Sonakshi Sinha. Tigmanshu Dhulia belongs to that unwonted breed of directors whose films namely Haasil (2003), Charas (2004), Shagird (2011), Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), Paan Singh Tomar (2012) and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013), have the right amalgam of off-beat and commercial, which have garnered him accolades too, yet his films are entertaining as well as realistic sans superstars. But his latest offering Bullett Raja has a huge universal appeal because this time, Dhulia is going all "commercial" to inveigle not only his aficionados but also the masses around.
This is the story of a common Brahmin man, Raja Mishra, a faithful friend and a loyal lover, living life on his own rules, commanding respect and fearing no one, who transforms into a dreaded, care a damn attitude gangster of U.P. A victim of the system and chained by it, Raja's life changes as he loses his dear friend which leads him to vent and he takes on those that rule and shakes the very foundations of the nexus of the police, the government, and the industrialists. As he rises and revolts against the system becoming an outlaw, Bullett sets ablaze the nexus and changes the landscape forever. The powers that be, fight back in a compelling struggle for power and money against the backdrop of personal ambitions, greed and revenge. Redefining love, friendship and loyalty, Bullett Raja creates a world, where a common man, tests his endurance and fortitude against the very system he once obediently followed and then declared a war on it! In the battle to avenge his friend's death the film travels from Uttar Pradesh to Kolkata and starts a bloody vendetta & the movie solely resorts to the aim of seeking revenge.
Bullett Raja is a typical masala potboiler and Dhulia's tribute to the movies of 80s & 90s. Visually, as always, his films are not fancy & chromatic and that itself is the beauty of his world and his latest outing is no exception -- agrestic, unpolished and yet stylish. The production design captures authentic milieu and details of Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata & Mumbai, keeping it real at all times. Kudos to the art director (Dhananjay Mondal) as well as the DoP (P S Vinod), for lending an infallible support thoroughly. The story (Amaresh Misra and Tigmanshu Dhulia) has been written, keeping Saif Ali Khan in mind and he is phenomenal. He is ‘rangeen’ who respects women, dances with them and does every that thing which brings smile on their faces. On the other side, when it comes to avenge, he never hesitates to insert the bullets into the baddies. The USP of the movie are once again the dialogues (Tigmanshu Dhulia), which are not gimmicky; the events, which are not inspired by any previous flick and the locations as well. Dhulia's interest in presenting the local politics could be easily garnered from numerous sequences including the conversations between Saif and Jimmy, which are lively, contemporary & hilarious at the same time. The camaraderia between Saif & Jimmy is the *sole* factor, that is worth mentioning & laudable. Parvez Fazal Khan’s action scenes are real and a welcome departure from South-esque goons flying sort of stunts. Background score by Sajid-Wajid is superlative & produces the desired impact. Priyanka Mundada's costumes highlight the feel of U.P. Dhulia's direction is overall efficacious.
On the flip side, the screenplay (Amaresh Misra and Tigmanshu Dhulia) is shacky & dishearteningly terrible. Right from the entry scene of Sonakshi Sinha, the romantic scenes that follow to the songs (Sajid-Wajid & guest composer RDB) and the dragging climax, are a complete bore. In fact, the film stagnates after a brilliant start and right till the climax, it never regains its momentum & impact. Particularly, the second half will bore the viewers to death. The lyrics (Sandeep Nath, Kausar Munir, Shabbir Ahmed and Raftaar) will cater mainly to the masses in the hinterland. There is absolutely nothing for the multiplex and class audience. The editing (Rahul Shrivastava and Rohit Mhatre) should have been made watertight by trimming down the movie to atleast 20 minutes or so.
Saif Ali Khan isn’t a Langda Tyagi here but he is even more entertaining. He displays the Brahmin character, so different from his urban, suave, lover-boy image, with immense zeal and steals the show all over. The audiences will again go ballistic at his raw, edgy and stellar portrayal. Saif has got the accent and the mannerisms of a small-town gangster down pat & the body language is impeccable as well. In a perfect case of casting against type, Saif Ali Khan goes macho & looks red hot, tough, heroic and does all the things worth whistles (his heart even beats like never before for the 156th girl (Sonakshi Sinha) he meets).
Sonakshi Sinha is getting typecast as the female lead in commercial masala outings, be it Dabangg, Dabangg 2, Rowdy Rathore or the upcoming R... Rajkumar. She once again has a similar limited scope of being an apple of the eye for the hero. For the entire first half, it is easy to give Saif a miss because Jimmy Sheirgill is once again the show stealer, equally understated in jocularity and intensity. Vidyut Jamwal is hard-hitting as a cop and fearlessly performs stunts at his own, which are jaw-dropping. Long way to go man! Mahi Gill continues to slay with her oomph. Gulshan Grover is earnest. Raj Babbar does a fair job. Ravi Kishan, Chunkey Panday and Sharat Saxena are wasted. Rajiv Gupta provides some genuine laughs. Vipin Sharma & Deepraj Rana leave their marks. Vishwajit Pradhan, Gaurav Dixit (as the artist), Udayveer Singh (as the SP), Gyani (as the minister), Sri Gaur (as Raja Mishra’s father), Praveen (as Rudra’s father), Mamta Saxena (as Raja’s mother), Meeta Pant (as Rudra’s mother), Sushil Shukla (as Ram Babu Shukla’s PA), Dulal Lahiri (as Mitali’s father), Maumita Gupta (as Mitali’s mother), Shekhar Banerjee (as Mitali’s uncle), Shorbani Chatterjee (as Mitali’s aunt), Debjani Ghosh (as Mitali’s grandmother), Sudip Mukherjee and Sandip Sarkar (both as goons in Kolkata) lend apt support.
On the whole, It's neither over-the-top like Dabangg nor it is worth a single shot. Tigmanshu Dhulia's execution easily affirms his position as one of top notch directors but the shaky & boring screenplay spoils the fun. The movie is insipid, go watch the official trailer again and again, because the trailer has everything & the movie has nothing more than that. An extra half star for Jimmy & Saif.
When the likes of writer/director Tigmanshu Dhulia aka Ramadhir Singh of Anurag Kashyap's acclaimed modern cult film Gangs of Wasseypur is conversant with the technicalities of one of such outings, one thing is rest assured that the dreaded gangster tale of the Hindi heartland, dealing with the political and industrial powers of the state couldn’t be better delineated than his unco style. Bullett Raja (U/A) is produced by Rahul Mittra, Nitin Tej Ahuja and Tigmanshu Dhulia, under the banner of BrandSmith Motion Pictures and Moving Pictures. The film is presented by Fox Star Studios. The movie also marks the admittance of an unhackneyed pair in Bollywood -- Saif Ali Khan & Sonakshi Sinha. Tigmanshu Dhulia belongs to that unwonted breed of directors whose films namely Haasil (2003), Charas (2004), Shagird (2011), Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), Paan Singh Tomar (2012) and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013), have the right amalgam of off-beat and commercial, which have garnered him accolades too, yet his films are entertaining as well as realistic sans superstars. But his latest offering Bullett Raja has a huge universal appeal because this time, Dhulia is going all "commercial" to inveigle not only his aficionados but also the masses around.
This is the story of a common Brahmin man, Raja Mishra, a faithful friend and a loyal lover, living life on his own rules, commanding respect and fearing no one, who transforms into a dreaded, care a damn attitude gangster of U.P. A victim of the system and chained by it, Raja's life changes as he loses his dear friend which leads him to vent and he takes on those that rule and shakes the very foundations of the nexus of the police, the government, and the industrialists. As he rises and revolts against the system becoming an outlaw, Bullett sets ablaze the nexus and changes the landscape forever. The powers that be, fight back in a compelling struggle for power and money against the backdrop of personal ambitions, greed and revenge. Redefining love, friendship and loyalty, Bullett Raja creates a world, where a common man, tests his endurance and fortitude against the very system he once obediently followed and then declared a war on it! In the battle to avenge his friend's death the film travels from Uttar Pradesh to Kolkata and starts a bloody vendetta & the movie solely resorts to the aim of seeking revenge.
Bullett Raja is a typical masala potboiler and Dhulia's tribute to the movies of 80s & 90s. Visually, as always, his films are not fancy & chromatic and that itself is the beauty of his world and his latest outing is no exception -- agrestic, unpolished and yet stylish. The production design captures authentic milieu and details of Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata & Mumbai, keeping it real at all times. Kudos to the art director (Dhananjay Mondal) as well as the DoP (P S Vinod), for lending an infallible support thoroughly. The story (Amaresh Misra and Tigmanshu Dhulia) has been written, keeping Saif Ali Khan in mind and he is phenomenal. He is ‘rangeen’ who respects women, dances with them and does every that thing which brings smile on their faces. On the other side, when it comes to avenge, he never hesitates to insert the bullets into the baddies. The USP of the movie are once again the dialogues (Tigmanshu Dhulia), which are not gimmicky; the events, which are not inspired by any previous flick and the locations as well. Dhulia's interest in presenting the local politics could be easily garnered from numerous sequences including the conversations between Saif and Jimmy, which are lively, contemporary & hilarious at the same time. The camaraderia between Saif & Jimmy is the *sole* factor, that is worth mentioning & laudable. Parvez Fazal Khan’s action scenes are real and a welcome departure from South-esque goons flying sort of stunts. Background score by Sajid-Wajid is superlative & produces the desired impact. Priyanka Mundada's costumes highlight the feel of U.P. Dhulia's direction is overall efficacious.
On the flip side, the screenplay (Amaresh Misra and Tigmanshu Dhulia) is shacky & dishearteningly terrible. Right from the entry scene of Sonakshi Sinha, the romantic scenes that follow to the songs (Sajid-Wajid & guest composer RDB) and the dragging climax, are a complete bore. In fact, the film stagnates after a brilliant start and right till the climax, it never regains its momentum & impact. Particularly, the second half will bore the viewers to death. The lyrics (Sandeep Nath, Kausar Munir, Shabbir Ahmed and Raftaar) will cater mainly to the masses in the hinterland. There is absolutely nothing for the multiplex and class audience. The editing (Rahul Shrivastava and Rohit Mhatre) should have been made watertight by trimming down the movie to atleast 20 minutes or so.
Saif Ali Khan isn’t a Langda Tyagi here but he is even more entertaining. He displays the Brahmin character, so different from his urban, suave, lover-boy image, with immense zeal and steals the show all over. The audiences will again go ballistic at his raw, edgy and stellar portrayal. Saif has got the accent and the mannerisms of a small-town gangster down pat & the body language is impeccable as well. In a perfect case of casting against type, Saif Ali Khan goes macho & looks red hot, tough, heroic and does all the things worth whistles (his heart even beats like never before for the 156th girl (Sonakshi Sinha) he meets).
Sonakshi Sinha is getting typecast as the female lead in commercial masala outings, be it Dabangg, Dabangg 2, Rowdy Rathore or the upcoming R... Rajkumar. She once again has a similar limited scope of being an apple of the eye for the hero. For the entire first half, it is easy to give Saif a miss because Jimmy Sheirgill is once again the show stealer, equally understated in jocularity and intensity. Vidyut Jamwal is hard-hitting as a cop and fearlessly performs stunts at his own, which are jaw-dropping. Long way to go man! Mahi Gill continues to slay with her oomph. Gulshan Grover is earnest. Raj Babbar does a fair job. Ravi Kishan, Chunkey Panday and Sharat Saxena are wasted. Rajiv Gupta provides some genuine laughs. Vipin Sharma & Deepraj Rana leave their marks. Vishwajit Pradhan, Gaurav Dixit (as the artist), Udayveer Singh (as the SP), Gyani (as the minister), Sri Gaur (as Raja Mishra’s father), Praveen (as Rudra’s father), Mamta Saxena (as Raja’s mother), Meeta Pant (as Rudra’s mother), Sushil Shukla (as Ram Babu Shukla’s PA), Dulal Lahiri (as Mitali’s father), Maumita Gupta (as Mitali’s mother), Shekhar Banerjee (as Mitali’s uncle), Shorbani Chatterjee (as Mitali’s aunt), Debjani Ghosh (as Mitali’s grandmother), Sudip Mukherjee and Sandip Sarkar (both as goons in Kolkata) lend apt support.
On the whole, It's neither over-the-top like Dabangg nor it is worth a single shot. Tigmanshu Dhulia's execution easily affirms his position as one of top notch directors but the shaky & boring screenplay spoils the fun. The movie is insipid, go watch the official trailer again and again, because the trailer has everything & the movie has nothing more than that. An extra half star for Jimmy & Saif.
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