R...Rajkumar movie review: Shahid Kapoor's Rambo avatar overshadows his Romeo streak

By Prateek Sur
| Updated: December 6, 2013 12:11 PM IST

Shahid Kapoor tries to be Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan at the same time and falls miles behind. You take a bowl and fill it with parts of Wanted, Chennai Express and numerous Telugu movies - what you get is mundane, no-brainer potboiler of a movie called R...Rajkumar

If your dabbawala gave you the same curry every day of the week, how would you feel? Definitely after a few days, you would get annoyed at the mundane monotonousness in your life. This is exactly the case with most Bollywood filmmakers nowadays. Why don't they understand that if you serve the same old whiskey in a new bottle it does not become new. Also Read - Shahid Kapoor strongly replies to those who think it's easy for him because of Pankaj Kapur, 'You don’t know my struggle'

This week's offering R...Rajkumar is nothing different. In fact, it could be any of the many films that you have already seen. The boy-meets-girl-fights-with-villain of Chennai Express and the boy-joins-villain-and-becomes-the-informer of Wanted are still fresh in our minds. Then why combine the two and offer another one? Also, the wind farms of Andhra Pradesh have been shown a zillion times in Telugu movies, so why pick that same location for a Bollywood film? Also Read - Shahid Kapoor reveals his kids watched Jab We Met as their first film because Mira Rajput wanted; here’s why

To be honest, the biggest put off in the movie is the lack of a surprise element. The only time you are surprised is when Mukul Dev comes up and discloses his friendship with Shahid. Another big stumble is the comedy. The director has tried every trick in his book to tickle funny bones, but falls flat on his face. The unpersuasive, often clumsy and confused comedy scenes make your viewing even more difficult. The comedy sequences have old jokes and various other pathetic attempts that do not tickle you even a little bit. Also Read - Ashish Vidyarthi reveals that his son Arth is 'still processing' the split of the actor from first wife Rajoshi Barua

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Illogical action sequences and stunts that defy all rules of physics at times that make you wonder if the walls of your house are actually made of bricks and stones or not. In a hurry to make movies which earn more than Rs 100 crore, Prabhu Dheva has lost his touch. He has come out with the second no-brainer of the year after Ramaiya Vastavaiya. Like his past movies, this one too is laden with pinches of southern spices. The story is based in a small village where two drugs mafias, Sonu Sood and Ashish Vidyarthi are fighting with each other to be the sole kingpin of an opium business. Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor), who works for Sonu Sood and falls in love with Ashish Vidyarthi's niece, has so much strength that he can single-handedly beat the pulp out of 100 goons at a time.

Although a good thing about the movie is that Shahid is back to acting. The actor displays the same intensity as he did in Kaminey and the same boyish charm he did in Jab We Met. Sonu Sood is good as he tried bettering his Dabangg act but did not have much scope. Still he did well enough to make other writer-directors think of him the very instance they write the character of a villain. Sonakshi Sinha's character could have been portrayed by any background dancer in any of the songs and Shahid is actually not wrong when he says tera weight dekha hai. You really feel that yes, he is adjusting. It's time she starts experimenting with new roles as she has been constantly doing the same role over and over again. And a tip, Sona, please join a gym.

The music of the film is good and might be on the charts for sometime but there are way too many songs. Why don't the directors understand that if they want to put in five songs each of five minute they might as well make a separate music video and spare the viewer of an extra half hour. And who the heck has an item number on their wedding day?

If you are a die-hard fan of south movies or a bigger fan of their no-brainer potboiler Hindi remakes, then do go for this movie and have a gala time. For the rest, wait for the DVD or better still watch it, free of cost, when it comes on TV.

Rating : 2.5 out of 5

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ByPrateek Sur
| Updated: December 6, 2013 12:11 PM IST