Ra.One Review

Sharukh Khan once ruled the roost. Any film he touched turned to gold even if the film was not that great. It was his fans who flocked to the theatres and watched his films diligently. However, today' s scenario is a lot more different. Hollywood has managed to break into the Indian territory. Many of their films have made millions over here. This has hampered Shahrukh' s films. Another important factor affecting him is the rise of the other two khans: Aamir and Salman. Therefore, with Ra.One, Shahrukh attempts to get back his glory and that to by incorporating Hollywood style VFX (Visual Effects).

Shekhar Subramaniam (Shahrukh Khan) is a doting father. He loves his son Pratik a lot and fulfills all his wishes. This time, Pratik wishes for a great video game with a super villain. Shekhar obliges and makes an unplayable videogame with an extremely powerful villain, Ra.One (Arjun Rampal). However, something goes wrong and Ra.One comes out of the videogame. He goes after Pratik and Shehkhar' s wife Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) and now it is up to Shekhar to save his son. He invokes the hero of the video game G.One and the fight begins.

Ra.One has its heart in the right place but the soul of the film i.e., the script is missing. That is what happens when a film has a mega budget; the director forgets to concentrate on the story. Other aspects gain prominence and the story takes a back seat.

Many of the scenes are inspired from Hollywood and the English film audiences will catch on to this fact. The biggest failure in writing is the character of G.One. He is supposed to be the eternal good guy, but he only seems to be interested in saving the child and his family. The audience will fail to connect with him. One important factor in superhero films is humor. All good action-superhero films have healthy doses of humor in them. Ra.One does not. The writers have tried but they fail to invoke any laughter. The comic situations are just not funny.

Another glaring error is that Ra.One is supposed to be better than G.One, but throughout the whole film, Ra.One loses all battles with G.One. after the setup of the videogame, one expects Ra.One to beat the daylights out of G.One, but that does not happen. Also, there are some boring portions in the second half. The film is supposed to be more entertaining and fast here but that does not happen either. However, some of the action and chase sequences are well written.

There was some controversy regarding direction. There were reports that Shahrukh had called in Tarun Mansukhani of Dostana fame and best pal Karan Johar to direct a few scenes. However, Shahrukh denied any such reports and said Anubhav Sinha is the only director of the film. There were even rumors that Shahrukh was ghost-directing the film, but none of it was true.

The film is directed by Anubhav Sinha and he has done a decent job. He gets good performances from all the actors and the action sequences are well handled. However, he could have paid more attention to some of the VFX sequences that look tacky. This film is a big improvement by Anubhav after making terrible films like Dus and Cash. Though, the borrowing from Hollywood action films could have been lesser.

Shahrukh Khan does a good job as G.One. The role of Shekhar Subramaniam is also well portrayed by him but the character is similar to most Sharukh Khan' s characters. Kareena Kapoor is good, especially in the emotional scenes, which is a surprise as she tends to overact in them usually. The kid, Armaan Varma is also pretty good and delivers an honest performance. However, the person who received the most brickbats for getting a national award, Arjun Rampal, delivers the finest act in the film. He completely steals the show as Ra.One. The VFX around his character is also good and adds to Ra.One' s menacing act. The guest appearance by Rajnikanth is awesome and invokes deafening cheers from everyone in the theatre.

The music of the film is huge letdown. Other than "Chammak Chalo" and "Raftaarien" none of the songs have done that well. "Dildara" is also a decent track but somehow has not become popular with the audience as expected. The cinematography is superb. The stunt scenes are well filmed and add quite well to the action. The editing is also good. The pace and style is well maintained throughout. The boring bits in the second half are so because of how they were shot and the editor could not chop them as they had important dialogues in them.

The VFX is good. The chase sequence where Ra.One is after Pratik is one of the best we will get to see in a Hindi film. However, the portions inside the videogame look quite tacky. The game is supposed to be one of the best in the world but it looks nothing like it. Neither is the gaming sequence well developed with a storyline. It could have added immensely to the story. The stunts are good but by seeing so many cars being tossed around you may feel Ra.One is Rohit Shetty' s film.

The production value is great. Ra.One is our country' s most expensive film till date. The film has been made at a massive budget of 150 crores. Therefore, nothing in the production department has been left undervalued. However, the undercooked graphics in some of the scenes should have been better.

The film was really well promoted. In fact, Shahrukh Khan was in overdrive mode throughout the promotion stages and also received flak from many quarters of the media for going overboard. However, this has ensured that film gets a good opening. Apparently, it even broke Salman Khan' s film Bodyguard' s opening collection of 22 crores. The film will be a huge hit as children will enjoy this film a lot.

Rating: **1/2

Verdict: Despite some obvious flaws, Ra.One will be huge hit and will set the coffers ringing for Shahrukh Khan.

Reviewed by: Harshal Anand

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