What is Ra.One About?

Shah Rukh Khan wants to keep Arjun Rampal's look for Ra.One confidential. To that end, the film's production staff have been asked to sign non-dis­closure agreements. While endeav­ours to keep Rampal under wraps should be encouraged, perhaps this time Khan needs to give his audience a little more.

Ra.One, in which Khan wears a suit, is by some length the biggest release of his career. There are periodic news clips about the movie's budget, the price of its satellite rights, the special effects, and a bunch of other things that are supposed to work us into a state. Besides this, we know very little.

But hang on. Just a few months ago, the movie's trailer was unveiled. This happened during the IPL, when you and I were captive. This is what happened: Khan flipped off a building. Khan jumped really high. With a mere gesture—as if to say 'what, haan?'—Khan expelled cars from the ground. Finally, Khan knelt on a car bonnet as the vehicle spun mid air.

And that was that.

More recently, in a new voiceless trailer, we discovered that Khan's suit is regenerative, a little like the bad Terminator in Terminator 2. Khan, it turned out, uses the air for all kinds of things. He rotates his hurtling body. He doesn't always fly; when in a hurry, he moves forward in enormous leaps. Towards the end of this trailer, Kareena Kapoor is horrified that her car happens to be several metres off the ground, and that Khan's sitting on her bonnet. All along there's this strange cut between images and text that says something like this: 'What if something that is supposed to be played starts playing with your life?'

These are the things: cars, flying cars, flying Khan, Khan making cars fly, Kapoor wondering why her car is flying and, in Lovecraft's words, an unspeakably evil and horrid line. This is the lead-up to the most anticipated movie this year (Who is waiting for it? I am. Why? Don't ask).
Bollywood wonders why its films don't work. They discuss audiences and packaging, and all manner of rights. They want to keep 'looks' under wraps. These marvellous folk, Khan included, often forget one little thing. It requires no hiding, no extra maintenance, and very little money. The damn thing is called a story.