Bullett Raja

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s latest film Bullett Raja starring Saif Ali Khan, Jimmi Shergil and Sonakshi Sinha in lead roles has those sexy gun shots and counter dialogues to maintain the cool attitude of the characters. But the weak story line and the predictability makes this attempt from Dhulia just a commercial entertainer which is enjoyable as a one time watch.

Raja Mishra is a job seeking young man. One particular day he happens to get into a marriage function in order to get away from some trouble. There he meets Rudra and their friendship gradually becomes strong as Raja helps Rudra in saving his family. The violent acts they committed following this makes them gangsters and through their acquaintances in the jail, they manage to become the most trusted Henchmen of Minister Ram Babu Shukla. The movie here basically narrates the transformation of these two young men from “normal” Gundas to major criminals who play a key role in UP politics and also the dramas that happens after they reach that level.

If you compare it with the hardcore masala films which were released in the recent past, Bullet Raja has a slight edge over them because of its funky mix of humor and attitude into violence. Because of that, this movie manages to keep you out of boredom. But the basic story is that out dated blood for blood revenge saga that kind of gets too much tacky as the personal sentiments looks quite brittle. Usually Dhulia takes time to create bonding between his characters, but here the Jai-Veeru type friendship blossoms in a very short span of time. The chemistry in the friendship by the way was really cool, offering a lot of fun. Too many characters are there in the movie and some were used nicely and somewhere less used. Heroine is there just to create a hiding spots for Raja. The disco song and the love song in the midst of grief was a misfit in this raw take.

In the making side, Tigamnshu Dhulia has managed to keep the attitude level constant for the movie. The fault is mainly in the script that cant create unique characters or refreshing twists. Usual formulas we see in gang wars are used here and the climax would have made me clap if I had seen the movie 10 years ago. Dialogues are quite catchy. Unimpressive music and okay BGMs. Cinematography is satisfactory and the edits were good.

Saif Ali Khan was nice as the cool and slightly crazy Raja. Dhulia’s favorite Jimmy Shergill is there as Rudra and I liked the chemistry of this “lead pair”.  In a way their performances reduces the shallowness which was there in the script. Sonakshi was good as Mitali but the relevance of her character is questionable as it only acts as a travel agent who takes the hero to Mumbai and Kolkata. Vidyut Jamwal’s attributes beyond acting was used here to create that tough image. Gulshan Grover and Raj Babbar did their part neatly.

Overall its a mix of positives and negatives. Beauty of the treatment is there to keep you engaged; but the uninspiring script is there to stop you from praising it. My rating for Bullett Raja is 2.5/5. A watchable “goliyon ki rasleela”. Similar to the error in Arrambam, here also you can see Saif Ali Khan in two looks in one scene.