RA.One Movie Review

– Vinay

GAME ON

If one is looking to define ‘overkill’, Ra.One’s prerelease marketing campaign would pretty much sum it up. SRK has gone overboard to such an extent that there is a strong sentiment against the film. The worse the movie is, the more jokes on it and more the fun that can be had at its expense. Such is the mood that there is a good chance that if you like the movie you will be ridiculed too! The saddest part of all this is, that Ra.One did not require such crazy marketing; it would have done well on its own. It is (deep breath for courage) a good movie, and sticking-my-neck-out, I recommend you go watch it.

Being a superhero film, there should be something unbelievable happening; in this case, the villain Ra.One (Chinese guy pre interval, Arjun Rampal post interval) comes out of the virtual game world and into the real one to kill the video game designer SRK’s son (Armaan Verma). To protect him, G.One (SRK again) the game’s hero also enters the real world and engages in a Terminator 2 style mission.
The essence of a good fantasy film is a logical thread which holds the unreal story together. And the total absence of two Cs – common sense and coherence in the two S’s – script and screenplay is the biggest problem with Ra.One, along with the South Indian SRK of course(yes I don’t like him either, have not liked him ever since he took all the film awards that Aamir deserved).

The logic quotient is so low at times that it makes you cringe. That is the times you are not wincing at SRK’s Shekhar Subhramanium (the game designer), easily one of his worst performances ever. The geeky-goofy paints a very sad stereotypical picture of the southies. Instead of wooing audiences down south, it ends up rivaling his mega nonsense Raj of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

All these negatives aside, Ra.One has one thing going for it and that is the entertainment value provided to the viewer. There are no boring/sentimental moments in the film. The film is fast paced and has mind-freaking-blowing graphics for an Indian film, not just Bollywood mind you. I have seen some parts of Robot and to be honest I found the graphics pretty appalling. But Ra.One has classy graphics (yes, the word is classy) and can rival any Hollywood movie in the SFX department. Simply for bringing such brilliant graphics to Indian screens, take a bow SRK.

My favourite was the Mumbai train sequence, which adds a local flavour to the usual firang car chases. If you do not feel the urge to clap/whistle in the last scene of that particular sequence ending at C.S.T station, then you are, simply put – an uptight moron.
Backed with brilliant music and a pulse racing background score (Vishal Shekhar) these action scenes are the primary reason the film works. Although the summit clash between Ra.One and G.One is a bit of disappointment and does not manage to raise the adrenaline levels as much, the rest of the action more than pack a punch.

Among the actors, Kareena Kapoor looks ravishing throughout and is thankfully far away from her size zero days. But I am starting to wonder the connection between her and abuses (remember Golmaal 3) Why is every film maker hell bent on her mouthing unmentionables? Arjun Rampal, meanwhile, has a surprisingly small role, with one standout dialogue and a slow motion scene (against the backdrop of a burning Raavan). The kid, Armaan Verma, does his bit too and is the right mix of coolness and emotions.

But the heart and soul of the film is SRK, though he is nowhere near as charismatic as Rajnikanth’s Chitti (do not kill me for the comparison, please!), he is passable as G.One and does make for one heck of a Raj meets Robot superhero.

Director Anubhav Sinha (Tum Bin, Dus among other such rubbish) manages to serve the audience a tight film with doses of awesome action served in between. It is way more fun that any recent Salman blockbusters which claim to be brainless entertainment and make loads of money. If the liberty can be taken, then Ra.One is like your cheap fast food, you know it is not properly cooked and does not have the right stuffing but it looks good and tastes spicy enough to be enjoyed. Go for the thrills!

Rating: 3/5

Dessert Note (DN, as desserts are served after main course, a dessert note is served after the main article):
Thank heavens Kareena has that fab body to distract our attention during songs because she cannot dance to save her skin!