MAHABHARAT

1.5 stars

The grand epic Mahabharata, is the longest epic poem in the world and many a times described as the "longest poem ever written". Its longest version consists of over 100,000 shloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to the wiseman Vyasa. Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, the Mahabharata contains much philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas and is often described as the fifth Veda. Filmmakers have always been fascinated by mythology, especially Mahabharat and are always eager to translate the epic on to the big screen. The epic has been adapted for the Indian Television atleast three times hitherto. The neoteric take on Mahabharata, produced by Kushal Kantilal Gada and Dhaval Jayantilal Gada and directed by Amaan Khan, is for the silver screen, which has got its first ever animation makeover, 48 years after Babubhai Mistry's Mahabharat (1965) with Abhi Bhattacharya (Lord Krishna), Pradeep Kumar (Arjun), Padmini (Draupadi), Dara Singh (Bhim) and Jeevan (Mama Shakuni) was released, and according to the film’s publicists, it is touted as the most expensive animated film in Bollywood.

With the conation to ascertain that the film stands peerless, the director has made the story-telling straightforward, which is evident from the very commencement of the film, which states that it’s an edited version of the epic and its intention is to promote Indian culture among the youth. The story of this Indian mythological drama film is centered upon basic human traits like truth, justice, duty, sacrifice, greed, fidelity, selflessness and the fight between good and bad ideologies, consummately pertinent nowadays. The throne of Hastinapur is argued over by the clans of Kaurava and Pandava in a resentful manner. Mama Shakuni of the Kaurava clan plots to abolish the Pandavas. Arjun wins the hand of charming Draupadi in an archery contest but after their mother makes a mistaken comment about Arjun sharing his prize, all the brothers end up marrying her. Mama Shakuni invites the Kauravas to a dice game in order to get rid of them. This avers baleful for the Pandavas – first they lose all their wealth and lands, and then agree to accept exile for 13 years. Finally, they lose Draupadi who is humiliated and stripped of her robe by one of the Kaurava princes, before Lord Krishna hears her appeals and appears, creating a magically endless robe that cannot be unravelled. As their years of exile end, the Pandavs return to reclaim their throne. When the Kaurav disavow to forgo what is theirs, they prepare for war. Both sides beseech Krishna and though he vows to remain a non-combatant, he offers his help in ways that allow Arjun to comprehend the significance of honour and ends up swaying the battle in favour of the Pandavas.

Attempting to make a 125-minute film out of such a vast text must be considered a daunting undertaking. The movie has an impregnable colour and an epic circumvolution that is bewitching. The background score (Deepak Walke) is lifting. Rajendra Shivv's music and Ibrahim Ashq's lyrics are in sync with the mood of the film. What makes this film goluptious is the fact that popular Bollywood stars have given their voice to the epic’s characters, that too without charging any money. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan lent his baritone voice and sombre expressions to Bheeshma Pitamah, which co-incidentally is the first time he dubbed for an animated character in his 44-year film career since 1969. Hearing Sunny Deol as Bheem, Vidya Balan as Draupadi, Manoj Bajpayee as Yudhistir, Ajay Devgn as Arjun, Anil Kapoor as Karna, Jackie Shroff as Duryodhan, Anupam Kher as Shakuni – the evil Prince of Gandhar, Deepti Naval as Kunti and Madhuri Dixit as Durga or Adi Shakti is an absolute delight.

On the flip side, not just the voice but the film makers have copied the look of the stars to sketch the animated characters for the film, which doesn't go down well with the mood of the film. The Pandavas are made to look much aged and narrowly unhandsome, sporting moustaches. Additionally, Draupadi is shown plump and dowdy, very much like Vidya Balan. Conversely, Draupadi was an epitome of matchless beauty with slender waistline, dark complexion and comely figuration. The animation effort itself is just about the middling ranks as compared to the Hollywood films. The makers are incapacious to go beyond the clichéd imagery as well.

On the whole, it’s particularly a kid-friendly version. But those who know the epic aptly, it's dissatisfying, disappointing, boring, lacking in finesse and imagination. A ham-fisted attempt! An extra half star for the USP of the film i.e. the voiceover of the A-listed stars.

DHOOM:3

4 stars

Dhoom series, that rendered emanation to street racing on exotic locales, bike-borne theft, stunting on public roads, never-seen-before action sequences, glam quotient, hi-tech heists, breathtaking hi-speed chases and non-stop laughter with excitement, have an epochal efficacy betwixt urban Indian youth. Dhoom (2004), a light footed caper that became a runaway hit, was the first action film produced by Yash Raj Films in 16 years, since Yash Chopra directed Vijay (1988). Then came Dhoom:2 (2006) and this time, the cops and robbers set up hid a love story within its folds. It too had a dream run at the box office and created a potential mine field of expectations and inadvertently, Yash Raj Films had become their own biggest competitors. So now, they are here with Dhoom:3, with a very emotionally moving script. Saying that expectations are sky rocketing, would seem like an understatement. Triggering off a new trend & adding to the hugger-mugger of the film, Aamir's decision of not visiting malls and other public forums (TV shows, events) amalgamated with YRF's strategy of releasing only 30-sec teaser of the songs, not entire songs, doesn't quite seem to backfire. Plus, with hardcore commercial film a la Dhoom:3, Aamir Khan is entering the larger than life and over the top genre of Bollywood. Believed to be made on an extravagant budget, Dhoom 3 is the first Bollywood movie to be released in the IMAX format. The film is also being released in Dolby Atmos.

Storyline is not so profound. Sahir (Aamir Khan) is on a mission to rob all the money of the Western Chicago bank, due to which Sahir's father (Jackie Shroff) took his life. He runs his father's circus along with Aaliya (Katrina Kaif). ACP Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) and his aid Ali Akbar (Uday Chopra) pay a call on Sahir, to stop him. Thereupon starts a cat-and-mouse game. The bewitching robbing sequences and boisterous stunts don't obliterate the interest into the flick throughout with adrenaline pumping twists entwined in the plot. A pat on the back of the director for coming up with such BRILLIANTLY MUSHY climax.

On the flip side, the makers enjoy the cinematic liberty of keeping the introductory Jai & Ali's coming to Chicago scene unexplained, without any previous links or so, merely because the thief is an Indian. The first half is strictly not for those who rely on logic. The pace dips in the second half, which is followed by a romantic number. Though the romantic song is set on a large canvas & is ravishing but the run time seems to be outspread.

Yash Raj Films boasts of covetable crew, inter alia, and same is the scene with D:3. Screenplay/Story/Dialogues by Vijay Krishna Acharya are synchronous and nimble. After all, he has in-depth lore of Dhoom franchise. Ritesh Soni's editing is skittish. The supporting casts have been worthily casted by Rita Powers & Shanoo Sharma. Joel Hynek's picturesque VFX is spectacular with able support from Kotamraju Karthik (Visual Effects Coordinator). Adri Siriwatt's art direction and Sumit Basu's production design are *not* short of never-seen-before in Bollywood films till date. That too holds true for Manoshi Nath, Rushi Sharma & Anaita Shroff's costumes. Zsofia Otvos & Martina Sykes' makeup department concatenates with the art of such a grandiose movie to make the experience remarkable. Kurt E. Soderling's aerial photography & Sudeep Chatterjee's cinematography portrays Chicago, Zurich, Mumbai & Ticino in never-seen-before avatar, which is overwhelmingly impressive. Conrad Palmisano & Sham Kaushal's astir stunts are evidently dapper, raising goosebumps and keeping the audience hooked without even letting them blink for a jiffy. Nick Beyeler & Joe Dryden (body doubles: Amir Khan/Sahir), Emily Brobst (stunt double: Siddhartha Nigam), Shawnah Donley (stunt double: Katrina Kaif), Jef Groff (stunt double: Abhishek Bachchan) and Webster P. Whinery Jr. (motorcycle stunts) are namable.

Dhoom series, has always vaunted of blockbuster, all or quite the go music from the ever bona-fide chartbusting music director, Pritam. Without delving much into the picturisation of the songs, the music is a winner all the way. The Dhoom:3 version of the iconic title track ''Dhoom Machale'' (Lyrics: Sameer Anjan; Singer: Aditi Rao Sharma), is already a chartbuster, but only in parts, it matches up to its predecessors. The aristocratic ''Malang'' (Lyrics: Sameer Anjan; Singer: Siddharth Mahadevan & Shilpa Rao), has spanking fusion of sufi and rock, camouflaged in an Arabic, Western and Hindustani background with Dhoom signature tune in semi-classical 'alaaps'. Professionally trained gymnasts were flown in from the United States and trained in Mumbai for 20 days. ''Malang'' is the most expensive song in this movie. Around the central theme of gymnastics, this song has over 200 dancers in the frame. ''Kamli'' (lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya; Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan) is a fine mix of Urdu, Punjabi and simple Persian with Western arrangement and lyrics as the USP of the track. Keeping in mind the larger than life characters of the leads, ''Tu Hi Junoon'' (Lyrics: Kausar Munir; Singer: Mohit Chauhan), the love ballad, is in a high tempo, has some nice soft rock touches and soulful melody but is bare ordinary, even the chorus is not addictive or rhythmic and appears to be more of a pop/rock concert song. Then there is this Julius Packiam composed track "Bande Hain Hum Uske'' (Lyrics: Kausar Munir & Vijay Krishna Acharya; Singer: Shivam Mahadevan and Anish Sharma), which is strictly situational a la Taare Zameen Par (2007) mode. It is a standalone number. "Dhoom Tap", instrumental, (Music: Julius Packiam) is obviously the highlight conformation. It's a blazing annexation of high tempo rock, tap dance sounds and the awesome Dhoom signature tune that has been brilliantly applied to convey the feeling of horripilation. The cineastes will have a rollicking time confronting Vaibhavi Merchant's gambolling choreography & Dein Perry's jaunty, harsh & grunge Tap choreography. Julius Packiam's background score steepens the spirit sevenfold.

The portrayal of Sahir is candidly Aamir khan's one of the most challenging roles in recent times, leaving aside the physicality. The script & his character is such that it will win viewers' sympathy. He is a modern day clown, who may not make the audience laugh but he is someone who will entertain thoroughly. Gerald Zarcillia (of British origin) taught him martial arts and gymnastic techniques. Though he got to learn Acrobatics and French technique of Parkour, to focus on negotiating obstacles with speed and efficiency. He portrays his character to utter sauciness & perfection. His action justifies the revengeful factor in the movie. He is leery & slick in his plans. Katrina Kaif has also learned parkour, martial arts and other fighting techniques to play her part in the movie. She took paragliding training and singing lessons as well, which is avowedly evident in her portrayal of Aaliya. She never relinquishes from adding the required glamour quotient. She's roundly pre-eminent & displays the energy like never before. Her phenomenal dance is manifestly love worthy. Abhishek Bachchan is a disciplined & canny ACP once again. Uday Chopra pertinently does what he's best known for, tickle the funny bone. Jackie Shroff is effervescent in limited appearance.

On the whole, Dhoom 3 is the weakest movie of the series in terms of stunts but the strongest one, in respect of emotions, canvas & acting. It has tremendous recall value. Keeping in mind an enviable track record of Aamir Khan during the Christmas period, this year too, will end with dhoom. It is stately and fantastically shot Blockbuster, for sure. Go vroom & dhoomify yourself!

JACKPOT

1.5 stars

Controversial filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, credited for outside-the-box notabilities, with films ala Bombay Boys (1998) and Boom (2003). While former was an unorthodox comedy film, which traced the adventures of three young men in modern-day Mumbai (or Bombay); the latter explored the involvement of the fashion world with underworld crime. He also has directed two short films, namely Lost & Found (1995) and Bombil and Beatrice (2007). His latest outing Jackpot, in his words, is conscious effort to get a taste of the commercial zone of cinema. It is exactly after a decade that the filmmaker is back in business. Coincidentally, Jackpot is the third outing for both Sachin Joshi, after a series of flops in Aazaan (2011) and Mumbai Mirror (2013) and Sunny Leone, in Jism 2 (2012) and Shootout at Wadala (2013) consecutively.

Jackpot is a fast paced comic full jhol thriller movie. It starts in Goa where Maya (Sunny Leone) and Francis Alamara (Sachin Joshi) are small time con artists cum casino manager & casino dealer respectively. But now they have got ambitious and want to pull one big time heist. The owner is Boss (Naseeruddin Shah) and they plan to win the jackpot at Poker. But the task isn’t easy as Naseeruddin is a formidable and cunning rival. The heist is shown in 10 chapters spread out over 10 days. Each chapter or day is about 10 minutes long. The theme of the movie is set in the world of casino boats and gambling in Goa.
Backwaters. Peace and silence. A lazy river. A House Boat comes into view. Rocking unsteadily. A gunshot. The boat begins to go down. A splash is heard. Over opening credits, a body falls into the still waters of the Chapora river. It makes a huge splash as it gets caught in fishing nets. The person starts to drown. A briefcase marked JACKPOT floats above the water. A pair of hands grabs it. The house boat starts to sink into the river. The movie goes backwards all the way to 10 days ago. In the process, we see how an amateur gang of people manage to enact the perfect comedy con, wherein they rig the casino boat in such a way as to win the 5 Crore Jackpot. They then stage their own robbery, and get away with the cash as well as the insurance against the cash. In doing so, the 5 members of the gang split up, they start to suspect each other and things go horribly wrong. The movie is told in reverse order - first we see what they do, and then we see how they did it. In other words, this is like a murder mystery - first we see the murder itself, and then we see how it was planned. In this story - first we see the heist and then we see how it was planned. This provides a new and novel way to tell a story. It is contemporary, urban, young, fresh and funny. This is a universal story about greed, trust and love. It is told in a fast and frenetic manner - complete with song, dance and action. Tocut the long story short, Jackpot is : Trust, Greed, Sex, Money, Poker and River.

To begin with, the viewers would be confused from the very onset as there is no apt story or screenplay (Kaizad Gustad) to keep them hooked to the narration.The style is best understood by Kaizad himself only. The Dop Artur Zurawski captures the scenic locales of Goa, with grey skies and the downpour aesthetically. Mehmood Khan's action is unserviceable with bouncers running behind a lone person & yet couldn't get hold of him. The art direction is exorbitantly splendid, which is evident from the very beginning, one scene that includes the 'jackpot drawing' with coloured chalks on a blackboard, particularly. Right from the repetitive costumes to selfsame places, it can be patently descried that the movie has been shot in 27 days merely, in one go. The dialogues are lewd consummately. Ponty (Bharath Srinivasan) points to Sunny's breasts and says Tera Poora Dimaag Idhar hai, to which Sunny replies back pointing towards his Thing, Agar Mera Dimaag Idhar Hota To Teri Mardangi Udhar Gir Gyi Hoti. The grotesqueness could be felt easily. The only plus point in the movie is its brisk editing, which, especially through the penultimate & ultimate moments takes the movie to tad interesting zone, where the director spills the beans, but then the story is too late to savour. The music is totally circumstanced, one that is excogitated to upbuild and carry forward the story. However two standout tracks, 'Kabhi Jo Badal Barse' (Music Director: Toshi Sabri, Sharib Sabri; Lyricist: Azeem Shirazi, A M Turaz; Singer: Arjit Singh) and 'Eggjactly' (Music Director/Lyricist/Singer: Javed Jaffrey), are putative killer & mordant tracks respectively. The rest of the songs, 'Full Jhol' (Music Director/Singer: Mika Singh; Lyricist: Abhiyan Rajhans), 'Bol Bugger Bol' (Music Director: John Stewart; Singer: Remo Fernandes), 'Jackpot Jeetna' (Music Director: John Stewart; Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan) and 'Now You See Now You Don't' (Music Director: Mika Singh; Lyricist: Ramya Iyer, Kaizad Gustad; Singer: Ramya Iyer) are substandard tracks teetotally.

Sachin Joshi is the producer of the film and which is why he gets to portray his talent as the lead actor too. He introduces the movie but I must admit, he is patently pathetic, consummately in his dialogue delivery, body language and expressions. What Boom is for Katrina Kaif, Jackpot is to Sunny Leone. She is merely a glamorous prop with firang accent. She is sexy and manipulative. She is evidently better than what she did in Jism 2 but still the fact remains the same that acting is not her cup of tea. The chemistry with Sachin too doesn't ooze oomph and is unbaked. It's enthralling to see her act right in front of her husband Daniel Weber, who has a suave mannered cameo. Sunny's fans won't get enough of her this time too, alike Jism 2, except a striptease scene in the penultimate moments, where her raw energy is overwhelming. But her fans do know well where to search for instead! Makrand Deshpande is befitting in his role of a lax policeman cum subsidiary in con. Bharath Srinivasan debuts competently. Though Naseeruddin Shah would regret after watching complete movie, he's the lone actor who has given a stellar performance.

On the whole, Jackpot has cleverly portrayed second half but overall, the movie cons the viewers big time into a jaded journey. It's candidly one of the worst movie to have churned out of Bollywood. Don't even THINK of watching this movie. A colossal disappointment that will bore the movie buffs to death and hence, wouldn't translate into footfalls!

LUCKY KABOOTAR

1 star

Each and every year there are some Fridays, where the cineastes bear testimony to diverse releases at the box office. This happens pervasively due to the absence of a biggie, thus giving vantage forsmall films to obtain distinction. This week too, the moviebuffs get to witness varied releases, out of which debutant Shammi Chhabra's Lucky Kabootar have comparatively petty conversant actors and has a provocative premise attached to it. But there are times which turn out to be a nightmare as the audience gets bewildered over their selection of watching a movie due to the multiple releases. So whether 'Lucky Kabootar' will turn out to be the lucky underdog and manage to win its audiences' hearts or might end up being unnoticed due to its lesser known star cast in comparison with the other releases this week, let's find out.

'Lucky Kabootar' is story of Lucky Singh (Eijaz Khan) who is married to the girl-next-door Laxmi (Kulraj Randhawa) and still desires to get married to the most popular girl in the village Kaamna (Shradha Das). Laxmi loves Lucky, but Lucky is least interested in her. One day, Lucky comes to know that Laxmi is dead in a fire accident and due to which he will be compensated one crore rupees. This news also tries to fulfill Lucky's dream of getting married to Kaamna. But his dream gets hit by a big speed break and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Story (Abhay Kanwar and Shyam Goel), on overall basis has a B-grade turned Bollywood sort of screenplay (Shammi Chhabra), with wonderful situational comedy, which manages to hold the viewers' attention in the first instance. But largely due to despondent editing (Kuldip K Mehan) and overdose of double meaning sexual innuendos combined with vulgar expressions, director Shammi Chhabra abrades a novel script by converting it into an adult comedy. Hence, the exhaustive efficacy is dilapidated. The title of the movie too has consummately no pertinence to the film The whole treatment of the movie is frivolous where the females are either bathing in the water or fantasizing about their lovers or trying to seduce someone, to mention a few. Then there is uproarious Punjabi tone, which won't go with the non-Punjabi audience. There are many side tracks which should have been staved off. Genuinely, Sharadha Das singing English song scene is a laughathon, notably. Besides one or two comical scenes, the movie is absolutely an insult to the viewers' susceptibilities. The cinematography by Lenin Zevior has nothing worth mentioning about. The dialogues have been straightly pilfered by B-Grade adult comedies, turning a benign concept into stimulant trash. Music by Santokh Singh and lyrics by Sameer Anjaan are worthless except for the qawwali 'Haal Da Marham' (Singer: Santokh Singh, Kamaal Khan). Rest all the songs, 'Tumba' (Singer: Bhavya Pandit, Mika Singh), 'Kirpa Babe Di' (Singer: Labh Janjua), 'Dj Te Gulabo Nachdi' (Singer: Big Nikk, Santokh Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan) and 'Mein Nahi Rahna Tere Naal' (Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan) are fortuitous, do not go down with the film and are ineptly shot with almost all the characters dancing in lewd manner (Choreographer: Vishnu Deva). Nyandeo Paikro (Art Director) should feel remorseful. The Punjabis should take umbrage for their incongruous delineation. Even the gauche climax scene is utterly disgusting.

Eijaz Khan is the apt choice for his role. He is effectual throughout. Kulraj Randhawa looks photogenic and enacts her part very well. Well, it's shame to see such a talent in awful film like this. Shradha Das, the temptress and Madhavi Sharma ooze oomph. Ravi Kishan falls flat in his role. Sanjay Mishra as Sexydaas baba, has overdone his role with his double-meaning jokes, crap dialogues and vexatious expressions that includes Satya Sai baba's hairdo and yesteryears' villain Jeevan's unprecedented nasal twang and trademark dialogue delivery. Rana Jung Bahadur is wasted.

To sum up, the makers have literally shown a middle finger to the audiences in the film's poster itself. The film must have been cleared with an Adults-only certificate. So if you like 'B-Grade' sorts of films alike Grand Masti or Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, followed by loud Punjabi backdrop, then you might savour this movie. But for the rest cinematic sensed viewers, this 'Lucky Kabootar' will make you unlucky sitting through the film. It is deplorable that the film comes from the house of Late Raj Kanwar, who once made hulking films for mass audience. Should be avoided at all cost. Films like this should not even get a pertinent release. A ham-fisted attempt!

R...RAJKUMAR

 2.5 stars

Action masala movies are savour of the season, factually. But lately, the genre have not really caught the fancy of the audience, with immensely anticipated & overrated movies turned out to be damp squib. There are certain substances which cineastes surmise from masala flicks but all those neoteric masala potboilers lack that minimal exigencies. However, bearing in mind the fact that Prabhudheva, who has been carving space for himself as a director, has proved his mettle time and again when it comes to his field of expertise – masala entertainers and dance. It has been ages since Shahid Kapoor delivered a true-blue hit and after the recent disaster in the form of RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA for Prabhudeva, the two of them really need some luck going and how! Not merely forsooth is R...Rajkumar the maiden venture for the duo, it also marks the novel inning for Shahid Kapoor with Sonakshi Sinha (Male & Female Leads) and Prabhu Dheva with Pritam Chakraborty (Director & Music Director) as well. For the uninitiated, the film was earlier titled Rambo Rajkumar. But the makers of the original Rambo series of Hollywood had copyrighted the word Rambo, making it unavailable for usage by other filmmakers. However, since the film's title is already known among the audience, the makers decided on dropping a few letters from the title, rechristening it to R... Rajkumar & even dubbed some scenes with ROMEO Rajkumar.

R...Rajkumar – a romantic action love story set in dusty and rugged backdrop of the Hindi Heartland in Dhartipur has Shahid Kapoor essaying the role of Rajkumar - a rugged, rebellious, passionate small-time goon, trapped in a crime, who also has devilish charm. One moment he makes you feel really comfortable and the very next, completely ill at ease! Rajkumar is sexy, brooding and raw. He is a rebel without a cause, leads a carefree life and works for a drug baron named Shivraj (Sonu Sood). Rajkumar's latest mission is to eliminate the rival drug dealer of Shivraj, Manik Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi). But his life changes forever when he claps eyes on Chanda (Sonakshi Sinha) – a epitome of beauty. Although she is educated, she has a rustic charm and is feisty. She is independent with a mind of her own. She has you weak in the knees one moment and running for safety at the very next. A perfect amalgamation of sugar and spice. No matter how tough a situation is, the moment he sees his girl, he forgets what he’s supposed to do. He even calls his lady love Lollypop. What Rajkumar doesn't know is that her parents died when she was young and her only surviving relative is Manik Parmar. After some persistent wooing, Chanda succumbs to Rajkumar’s charm and falls in love with him. But before their love can flourish, Shivraj falls in love with Chanda. If he wants Chanda, he has to destroy the deadly drug cartel, to which both Shivraj and Parmar owe allegiance, that is operated from Madhya Pradesh and has its roots in Malaysia. The drug cartel is controlled by a Mafia don named Ajit Taaka (Srihari), who is back in India. How Rajkumar manages to destroy the huge drug cartel and gets Chanda back, forms the crux of the movie.

The first half packs a solid punch with sequences/moments managing to keep the viewers attentive (story - Prabhu Deva). The rapid pace, redounding in shaping the story (screenplay - Ravi S Sundaram, Prabhu Deva and Sunil Agarwal) coerce the spectators to believe in the all-rounder qualities of the protagonist, that is, to romance, sing, dance and flex muscles, when required. Prabhu Dheva has been serving us the same dish, albeit in new avatars and modifications successfully, with prominence on romance yet again in R… RAJKUMAR, with action (Ravi Varma) being the icing on the cake, which is stark hardcore & barbaric this time. Alike every single masala fare, the foot-tapping songs at regular intervals, uplift the mood of the enterprise, with  'Gandi Baat', 'Saree Ke Fall Sa' and 'Mat Maari' already being the chartbusters. The lyrics (Anupam Amod, Ashish Pandit, Mayur Puri and Nilesh Mishra) too are mass appealing, with South Indian touch in them. The background music by Sandeep Chowta is unerring, that goes with the mood of the movie throughout, notably the kissing sound. With dialogues (Shiraz Ahmed) already a rage among movie buffs, Shahid Kapoor's mouthing them with manful yawl will make the viewers go gaga. Watch out for Shahid in the high-voltage action scene following the interval and the scene, when he proposes Sonakshi. He is an absolute scene stealer with whom common people could easily relate to. Not only he's fierce in bashing goons, he is equally worth drooling over in his dance steps (choreography - Bosco Martis, Caesar Gonsalves and Vishnu Deva) and jaw-dropping chiselled body. Prabhu Dheva is making a norm lately, of appearing specifically in a dance number and his latest offering is no exception. It's a delight watching him & Shahid matching steps altogether. The movie too has some striking visuals (Dop Mohana Krishna). Overall, the first half deserves to be lauded again and again, with claps & whistles.

It's only the second half that makes the movie plain trash. Right from the drama, comedy to unwanted scenes with editing (Ballu Saluja)  are shaky, muddled and predictable. The movie gets stagnant with gauche songs like 'Kaddu Katega' entwined in the narration that checks the patience of the viewers. The puerile humor and predictable goings-on act as dampeners. The rum time should have been trimmed down, *only* in the second half, to atleast 20 minutes or so. The dialogues too are in bad taste in this particular half. The director as well as the screenplay writers completely lose the plot, as the story is done to death, hence the lackluster screenplay seems conventional. There being an overdose of masala films, one can actually foresee what's there in the offering. The setting (production designer - Nitin Chandrakant Desai) has no roots (where is this village, who are these people?). It's the elaborated climax that provides respite to the hoi polloi, only because of Shahid's hardcore action.

Shahid Kapoor is synonymous with romantic roles due to his suave look but R...Rajkumar is his foray into the league of action superstar. He gives his heart & soul to the movie. His scorching screen presence is brilliantly portrayed with infectious gusto. Right from his impeccable comic timings to stalking his lady love and bashing the goons, are evidently palpable. There aren't any action scene where he looks odd or unbelievable in beating up the goons, who are almost three times more powerful than him. Sonakshi Sinha is a complete mismatch for an actor of caliber ala Shahid. She needs to reinvent herself. She is genuinely getting wasted. Sonu Sood & Ashish Vidyarthi try too hard to be the mandatory villain but fail teetotally in portraying villainy, except a scene or two. Ashish Vidyarthi goes topless more number of times than Shahid Kapoor and Sonu Sood put together, which is clearly not a pleasant sightAsrani, Mukul Dev, Srihari and Poonam Jhawar are passable and have nothing stimulant to offer. Scarlett Wilson, Charmy Kaur and Ragini Dwivedi are there in the songs to ooze oomph.

To sum up, R…Rajkumar is typically a Prabhu Dheva style movie, fully loaded with over the top action sequences and loud dialogues. Prabhu Dheva has put in full effort to extract the best from Shahid Kapoor. R… Rajkumar has everything to be a successful masala potboiler, starting from Shahid Kapoor’s mesmerizing dance, good dialogues to power packed stunts. Critics be damned, give this one a shot. The movie never loses its grip on ‘Pyaar Pyaar  Pyaar and Maar Maar Maar', in the meanwhile, it loses everything while doing so. It's an easy & forgettable watch.