R Rajkumar Review

R Rajkumar:  The Triple Whammy Effect of R Rajkumar: Pankaj Kapoor’s Legacy Under Threat By His Son’s Career Choices, A Talented Actress Disgracing Herself Further and A Complete Directorial Failure

Rating: *

Director: Prabhu Dheva

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Srihari

As the film’s plot is too inconsequential, I shall not waste my time in wording it myself. Hence, here is a sufficient-enough description from Wikipedia:

‘Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor) is an aimless youth who works for a drug baron named Shivraj (Sonu Sood). His latest mission is to kill a rival dealer named Manik Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi). But Rajkumar’s life changes forever when he claps eyes on the beautiful, educated Chanda (Sonakshi Sinha). What he doesn’t know is that Chanda is an orphan who’s been raised by her uncle – Manik Parmar. After some persistent wooing, Chanda falls for Rajkumar’s charms. But in order for their love to flourish, he must destroy the drug cartel to which both Shivraj and Parmar owe allegiance, which is controlled by a Mafia don named Ajit Taaka (Srihari), who operates out of Malaysia.And back to marry with Chanda’

And now my original review:

Shahid Kapoor’s character Romeo Rajkumar endearingly calls his love-interest ‘his lollipop’, which might as well be the most befitting description of the film’s actress Sonakshi Sinha. She is masala Bollywood’s lollipop who permits just about every leading mainstream Bollywood actor to take a lick of her. My aunt, a well-educated Bengali who keeps in touch with developments in arts and culture, spoke highly of Sonakshi’s performance in ‘Lootera’ the last time we met and badgered me to see the film; I’d just endured Thigmanshu Dhulia’s ‘Bullett Raja’ then and wasn’t keen on watching Sonakshi anytime soon. Well, no such luck! In this film though, she’s allowed herself to be violated by the male stars all the way through. Sarah Woodruff calls herself ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ in the novel of the same name; those who’ve read the book or watched the film shall know that her character is ostracized by the society as a disgraced woman. Sonakshi Sinha deserves to be called ‘The Filmi Lukkhe’s Woman’ for disgracing herself by accepting such shamelessly sexist roles with the sole purpose of objectifying the fairer sex. Tarun Tejpal, the fallen Indian journalism currently fighting allegations of rape, would’ve wished for someone like the characters played by Sonakshi.

Here I illustrate some ways in which her character Chanda is treated in the film: Our hero Romeo, originally named Rambo before the makers of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo series disallowed the makers from using the copyrighted name, saves her during the opening gun-battle scene. She doesn’t catch his face, but remembers the tattoo on his wrist. Blinded by her beauty, he frantically searches for her. Lucky for him, she’s available at the same location each and every time. Coincidence? Nah, it’s just an unwritten rule in such films that the first half should be next-to-nil on story and endlessly devote its time to romance. He runs to her and extends his cheek. She tries to slap him, and gets kissed on her hand. His lips pucker up automatically when he sees her. He stalks her in the highway, in the marketplace, declaring to the world his entitlement, as a MALE, over her, the female. He threatens to bodily injure or even kill anyone who comes in their way. Predictably, the film’s antagonist Shivraj (Sonu Sood) is also attracted to her after watching her taking a dip in the river (the camera zooms in on her bosom for an ample amount of time as he looks at her; even Sonakshi seems to perform the scene with a calculated seductiveness when her character is supposed to be unaware of his presence. This makes the scene highly disturbing considering what’s happening in our country nowadays). When her evil chacha Parmar whips her for running to Rajkumar instead of marrying Shivraj, his former archenemy turned friend, my palms itched to snatch the whiplash from him and smack her to a pulp myself. She is a debauched actress who desperately needs to consider the larger implications of her acting choices, which began with ‘Dabangg’ opposite Salman Khan, made a critical impact with ‘Lootera’ only to relapse into something as shameful as ‘R Rajkumar’.

The same goes for Shahid Kapoor, who seems to have forgotten that he’s the son of an actor as accomplished as Pankaj Kapoor. While never a great actor, Shahid did surprise his critics in Jab We Met and Kaminey, the only two movies for which he’s been nominated by Filmfare awards. With a string of commercial duds post Kaminey, Shahid seems to be on a career-reviving track with Phata Poster Nikla Hero and now this turkey. He belongs to the brigade of actors who think fame and money equals success, as I’ve heard him denounce critics as ‘crap’ during his interview with Karan Johar. With this film however, he stoops so low that he threatens to destroy the prolific legacy his dad has built as an artist over the years. There isn’t much the actor has to perform except hamming to a hilt in each and every scene. The scruffy appearance in tacky clothes and feigned ‘bhai’ act gets tiresome in no time. However, it’s the relentless stalking that’s infinitely more upsetting and makes Dhanush’s stalker act in Raanjhaana seem tame in comparison. Sonu Sood is given an utterly perplexing character who needs to be menacing and fearsome during some scenes, and comical in others. He’s a complete failure in both the cases.

People who defend such films as ‘comedies where you need to leave your brains aside’ should realize that it just isn’t possible to ‘leave one’s brains aside’, in fact, every person should show some basic responsibility towards the most vital part of the body. One certainly fails to do so when he/she watches a film like R Rajkumar and cackles at an irreverent joke about marital rape (it was surprisingly a woman who laughed). By the end of the film, I wanted to distance myself from half the people around me for encouraging this bullshit film.
R Rajkumar’s director Prabhu Deva, best known for his work as a choreographer and dancer, has brought in all his experience watching and working in South Indian action films to give us Hindi blockbusters such as Wanted and Rowdy Rathore. His last film ‘Ramaiya Vasavaiyaa’ released earlier this year, and I advise him to use the workload of making two films as an excuse for making such a shoddy work. Even then, I cannot help but be disturbed by his treatment of women in this film. There is nothing wrong with his love for busty women such as Sonakshi Sinha or the item girls who pop up during the film’s forgettable song and dance sequences. What is wrong are the constant reminders of what qualities an Indian hero should possess and what an Indian heroine doesn’t and therefore shouldn’t endeavor to either. She should merely submit, and permit. God bless Deva’s wife!

ourvadodara.in Rating Guide:

* = Avoid!!

** = Rent It / TV Premiere

*** = Book The Cheapest Seats

**** = Book The Best Seats

***** = Book The Best Seats + Buy The DVD!