R Rajkumar

Like the way Shaji Kailas made the movie Simhasanam using all the flavors that he used in his previous films and some films that influenced him, Prabhu Deva has made R Rajkumar which in a way is a short summary of the director’s previous works as a film maker. Written by the director himself, R Rajkumar has all the ingredients you expect in a Prabhu Deva movie like the super powerful hero, eccentric nature of characters, cheesy punch dialogues and a very predictable story line. This time Prabhu Deva has roped in a new hero in the form of Shahid Kapoor who now has gained the rights to break the laws of motion with his new physique.

Our hero Rajkumar lands on a village were there is a business rivalry between two gangs, one lead by Shivraj and the other by Manik Parmar. With his intelligent “cool” acts Rajkumar joins the team of Shivraj. In the midst of these gang wars, Rajkumar falls in love with a girl Chanda. The story goes to that dramatic level when the romance starts to play a key role in the gang politics. How Rajkumar gets tested and how he passes it is what this movie trying to talk about.

Looking for rooted characters in a Prabhu Deva movie is almost like looking for normal cars in a Rohit Shetty film. R Rajkumar starts off with a scene were the hero sees his love for the first time and saves her from a gunshot. Well, the moment the bullet got deflected from trajectory after hitting a bracelet I could sense the danger that was yet to come. The kind of gimmicks you see on screen to show the craziness of the character will surely remind you of Rowdy Rathore. If it was the hip that tempted Rathore, here they have used slap. The issues in the movie basically begins soon after the love interest of both hero and villain becomes one and that reminded me of the malayalam film Pandippada. And to extent the comparison you will see the antagonist learning English and wearing modern dresses to impress the girl. Usual twists and turns and a final act were you will see a resurrection of the hero. The only thing that manages to engage you is those two songs which succeeds in making you tap your feet. Occasional humor is also there to crack you.

The performances of the movie are pretty good when you look at the requirement. Shahid Kapoor has done his role with energy and peppiness. Sonakshi Sinha is good in her character. With a dialogue mentioning the weight of Sonakshi and height of Shahid, the director tries to justify his casting. Sonu Sood once again dons the role of the antagonist. The tortured bad guy in this Prabhu Deva film was Ashish Vidyarthi and it was interesting to see him in that role. Late actor Srihari is also there in a small role.

Prabhu Deva repeats his formulas and styles in the making part and for those who are willing to accept repeat telecasts of the same thing, it wont be that annoying. Screenplay as I mentioned is just that proportional mix of many films that had these exaggerated characters and cliched situations. Dialogues aren’t that great, but still it provided some sort of pleasure. The music is perfect for the genre of the movie. Cinematography and edits are okay. The stunts were ordinary.

Overall, R Rajkumar from Prabhu Deva is a no brainer formula. It will surely help Shahid Kapoor in getting more over the top heroism films, but doesnt really offer anything for the viewer. The rating is 1.5/5 for this poor Rambo Romeo Rajkumar.