Right from the first scene where a flying Shahid Kapoor's wrist deflects a bullet, you know he is venturing into sacred territory- Rajni Saar territory. What follows is partly entertaining, and partly unbearable, in short as inconsistent as Air India flights, but is definitely not as bad as the media has made it out to be. If anything, R..Rajkumar is just as banal as Boss, Himmatwala, Besharam, Grand Masti, Race 2 and other such stalwarts released this year.
Pyar pyar pyar, ya maar maar maar- is the motto of Romeo Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor) , who lands up one fine day in Dhartipur, which is ruled by two warring bad guys- Gurjar (Sonu Sood) and Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi). He initially sides with Gurjar, but both of them fall in love with Parmar's niece, sparking off a clownish game of oneupmanship between the two, leading to a brutal and bloody end. Even though it is not a remake, the rest of the movie is standard Southern masala action fare- gravity defying stunts, multiple slow motion cuts, lungi clad goons, a few catchy songs, romance and melodrama. The first half passes away rather breezily, but the film falters badly post interval- everything in it never seems to end- the fights, the songs, the repetitive dialogs.
Shahid Kapoor is at his sincerest. He dances well, fights even better, and puts on his best lovestruck Romeo act, but such a larger than life character is beyond his wiry shoulders. Sonakshi Sinha is again the familiar annoying village belle- the one role she has perfected. She is two heroines for the price of one, alternates between the scowl and the shy- and takes a beating like a man. Sonu Sood is at his hammiest worst, and Ashish Vidyarthi is reduced to rather sad comedy.
It is hard to find positives in R..Rajkumar. Initially the R was supposed to stand for Rambo, but later changed to Romeo. It somehow felt that director Prabhu Dheva lost sense of the characters midway- whether to make an all out action film, or to make a romantic one. To go full on emotion, or get some comedy on. The end product has a bit of all, but the soul of none. At the end the only thing worth talking of is the style with which Rajkumar beats the living daylights of however stands in his way. Is that worth the price of admission? A definite no- 5/10
Pyar pyar pyar, ya maar maar maar- is the motto of Romeo Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor) , who lands up one fine day in Dhartipur, which is ruled by two warring bad guys- Gurjar (Sonu Sood) and Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi). He initially sides with Gurjar, but both of them fall in love with Parmar's niece, sparking off a clownish game of oneupmanship between the two, leading to a brutal and bloody end. Even though it is not a remake, the rest of the movie is standard Southern masala action fare- gravity defying stunts, multiple slow motion cuts, lungi clad goons, a few catchy songs, romance and melodrama. The first half passes away rather breezily, but the film falters badly post interval- everything in it never seems to end- the fights, the songs, the repetitive dialogs.
Shahid Kapoor is at his sincerest. He dances well, fights even better, and puts on his best lovestruck Romeo act, but such a larger than life character is beyond his wiry shoulders. Sonakshi Sinha is again the familiar annoying village belle- the one role she has perfected. She is two heroines for the price of one, alternates between the scowl and the shy- and takes a beating like a man. Sonu Sood is at his hammiest worst, and Ashish Vidyarthi is reduced to rather sad comedy.
It is hard to find positives in R..Rajkumar. Initially the R was supposed to stand for Rambo, but later changed to Romeo. It somehow felt that director Prabhu Dheva lost sense of the characters midway- whether to make an all out action film, or to make a romantic one. To go full on emotion, or get some comedy on. The end product has a bit of all, but the soul of none. At the end the only thing worth talking of is the style with which Rajkumar beats the living daylights of however stands in his way. Is that worth the price of admission? A definite no- 5/10