RK/RKAY (2022) :
Movie Review -
Rajat Kapoor has brought experimental cinema to life with his comedy drama, RK/RKAY. However foolish the title sounds, believe you me, the film is one step above. RK's entire concept is not acceptable even if you are making or seeing a film in your dreams, then just forget making and watching it in real life. Rajat Kapoor brings an insanely mad idea of 'lost and found', but misses the logic that is never found. RK/RKAY turns out to be a curse for progressive filmmakers who want to use artistic liberty for the digitalized metaverse. Thank God it was a film within a film, otherwise people would have lost faith in artistic filmmaking forever.
RK (Rajat Kapoor) is an anxious director who has written a sober love story with a tragic ending and has somehow finished shooting the film even before the given schedule. In the post-production process, the editor learns that the hero, Mahboob (Rajat Kapoor), has gone missing from the reels and has entered their real world. RK and his team try to send him back to his reel love interest, Gulabo (Mallika Sherawat), while RK himself goes through a process of surreal emotions during the same period. What happens in the climax shouldn't be spoiled here, but I don't think it would be difficult for you to predict what happens.
Rajat Kapoor as a writer has gone beyond imagination. He wanders aimlessly in some deserted land where finding a sensible scene is more difficult than finding water in Thar. How can a man go missing from reels? You keep thinking about the answer and then you have another question: how can he enter real life? Even a UPSC topper would give up here. Then just think about normal people with normal IQ. The screenplay takes you into a dark, complex and illogical world with no proper gag. Was that a comedy film? Where was it then? I didn't laugh even once in those 96 minutes. Have they changed the criteria of the comedy genre or what?
Excluding Rajat Kapoor, no other actor looks promising in the film. Even for Rajat Kapoor, RK's character looks real with some good moments here and there, whereas Mahboob's character is nothing but the same face trying cliched expressions and outdated dialogue delivery. Mallika Sherawat seems to have forgotten how to act. The melodramatic expressions reminded me of Suraiya's great performances in "Anmol Ghadi" (1946) and "Mirza Ghalib" (1954). Mallika tries to be that allegorical in 2022, but oh well, that's too much for her. One cannot believe it if I say that Ranvir Shorey's so-called improvised act is terrible. He is so loud and horrendous. Thankfully, Kubrra Sait and Manu Rishi Chaddha have got normal roles. At least somebody did something normal here.
RK is a well edited film, though. You can't bash the editor for the footage. That's one lesson you learn from the film (if you didn't know it yet). RK's entire process has been done with no lavish set-up, so whatever the technical aspects have to show you is definitely very good. What RK/RKAY lacks is logic in the writing. It doesn't matter how you act, how you edit and how you direct the film if your writing doesn't make any sense. RK happens to be one of those rare films. Rajat Kapoor made the film with the help of crowdfunding, but I wonder how not a single person from the crowd stopped him from making this film. More than money, it would have saved everyone's talent and time, including ours, to view it.
RATING - 3/10*
Rajat Kapoor has brought experimental cinema to life with his comedy drama, RK/RKAY. However foolish the title sounds, believe you me, the film is one step above. RK's entire concept is not acceptable even if you are making or seeing a film in your dreams, then just forget making and watching it in real life. Rajat Kapoor brings an insanely mad idea of 'lost and found', but misses the logic that is never found. RK/RKAY turns out to be a curse for progressive filmmakers who want to use artistic liberty for the digitalized metaverse. Thank God it was a film within a film, otherwise people would have lost faith in artistic filmmaking forever.
RK (Rajat Kapoor) is an anxious director who has written a sober love story with a tragic ending and has somehow finished shooting the film even before the given schedule. In the post-production process, the editor learns that the hero, Mahboob (Rajat Kapoor), has gone missing from the reels and has entered their real world. RK and his team try to send him back to his reel love interest, Gulabo (Mallika Sherawat), while RK himself goes through a process of surreal emotions during the same period. What happens in the climax shouldn't be spoiled here, but I don't think it would be difficult for you to predict what happens.
Rajat Kapoor as a writer has gone beyond imagination. He wanders aimlessly in some deserted land where finding a sensible scene is more difficult than finding water in Thar. How can a man go missing from reels? You keep thinking about the answer and then you have another question: how can he enter real life? Even a UPSC topper would give up here. Then just think about normal people with normal IQ. The screenplay takes you into a dark, complex and illogical world with no proper gag. Was that a comedy film? Where was it then? I didn't laugh even once in those 96 minutes. Have they changed the criteria of the comedy genre or what?
Excluding Rajat Kapoor, no other actor looks promising in the film. Even for Rajat Kapoor, RK's character looks real with some good moments here and there, whereas Mahboob's character is nothing but the same face trying cliched expressions and outdated dialogue delivery. Mallika Sherawat seems to have forgotten how to act. The melodramatic expressions reminded me of Suraiya's great performances in "Anmol Ghadi" (1946) and "Mirza Ghalib" (1954). Mallika tries to be that allegorical in 2022, but oh well, that's too much for her. One cannot believe it if I say that Ranvir Shorey's so-called improvised act is terrible. He is so loud and horrendous. Thankfully, Kubrra Sait and Manu Rishi Chaddha have got normal roles. At least somebody did something normal here.
RK is a well edited film, though. You can't bash the editor for the footage. That's one lesson you learn from the film (if you didn't know it yet). RK's entire process has been done with no lavish set-up, so whatever the technical aspects have to show you is definitely very good. What RK/RKAY lacks is logic in the writing. It doesn't matter how you act, how you edit and how you direct the film if your writing doesn't make any sense. RK happens to be one of those rare films. Rajat Kapoor made the film with the help of crowdfunding, but I wonder how not a single person from the crowd stopped him from making this film. More than money, it would have saved everyone's talent and time, including ours, to view it.
RATING - 3/10*