Ra.One (2011) Hindi Movie Review :Cinejwala:

Ra.One, yes finally Shah Rukh Khan’s dream sees the light of the day. Yes there are innumerous expectations attached to this film. And it lives up to it. Now, if you are expecting an Inception or Transformers, Ra.One is not for you. Go watch it as an average Indian who is away from Hollywood films and you will be totally bowled over.

Story:
Shekhar Subramaniam (Shah Rukh Khan) works for Barron Industries that produces gaming software. For past few years, none of their games are working in the market. Shekhar is a looser and a coward in his son Prateek’s (Armaan Verma) eyes. Prateek tells his dad that heroic games are no good, villians are kick ass and he likes them. So, only for his son, Shekhar makes a game Ra.One that portrays the villain stronger than the hero. He also installs Artificial Intelligence in the Villian that makes him think for its own. Now What’s next. Ra.One comes out of the game and creates Havok. And then G.one too is bought in the physical world from the virtual to defeat Ra.One.

Analysis:

As I said earlier, don’t go watch the film if you are already awestruck with Hollywood Sci-fi flicks. It’s definitely a stupendous job as per Bollywood standards and hats ff to Shah Rukh and his film to pull it off. Some visual effects used are par excellence. Coming to the story, Indianness has been added and that was required to make it a mass entertainer. However, the first half is better and fast paced while the second half could have been better. All the kids are definitely going to have a time of their life watching Ra.One.

Performances:

Shah Rukh Khan is back. He does full justice to both Shekhar as the stupid, god-fearing south Indian and even to G.One. Kareena Kapoor looks gorgeous and makes you fall in love with her all over again. Arjun Rampal is excellent but its Armaan who totally steals the show. The film totally belongs to him.

Technicalities:

Well, Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt’s cameo was not required. The sequence that is right in the beginning of the film was outright stupid and you really hope that the rest of the film is not like this. Editing in the first half is flawless while the direction could have been better in the second half. Music is the life line of the film. All the songs are good with ‘Chhamak Challo’ and Dildaara standing out. Background score was not novel. Some of the visual effects should definitely be commended and watching the film in 3D would be more impactful.

Plus Points:

- Performances
- Visual Effects
- Music

Minus Points:

- Adding a little extra Indianness.

Final Word: Take the kids along and have fun.

Rating: 3.5/5

Banner: Red Chillies Entertainment
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Armaan Verma, Arjun Rampal, Shahana Goswami
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Producer: Gauri Khan