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This is not necessarily a bad thing. When Hollywood makes superhero films -- the recent Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man series it often does a terrific job. The best of those films have tightly written scripts with consistent good and evil characters, and actors being in the role from start to finish. In fact, those representations of superhero stories enhance that we could read and see in comic books.
But when a Bollywood superstar like Khan makes a $20 million production Ra.One, inspired by the world of video games, superheroes and villains, he has a lot more to focus on. The rules of Bollywood and his massive fan following do not allow him to be one character throughout the film. He cannot make his fans forget that he is Shah Rukh Khan -- the romantic hero who can dance and lip synch to hot catchy songs, play comic situations and do much more. There is a reason why the term superstar is usually attributed to actors in Bollywood and not in Hollywood.
There are quite a few Khans in Ra.One -- the bumbling Shekhar, a Hindi speaking video game designer with a bad South Indian accent and an equally bad wig, who mixes yogurt in spaghetti, and overnight transforms himself into a hip Michael Jackson [ Images ] like cool dude, just to impress his son.
Then there is the sharply chiseled G.One, the good guy in a video game, who sometimes acts like a robot, but then also -- quite unlike his character -- displays emotions, a sense of humour that can only be attributed to Khan's personality and even dances and lip synchs in Akon's voice.
Khan's passion project Ra.One also tries to be many things -- some awesome action sequences using the best technology available in the world, thrilling car chases and fun video game derived fighting moments, and homage (some may claim the scenes are lifted) to just about every superhero action films -- T2, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Batman, Matrix and Superman.
Ra.One also has to be a Bollywood film -- at times time fun, such as during the Chamak Challo song sequence, but then it is melodramatic, overplayed with loud background score. Also like many flawed Bollywood films, Ra.One's script is muddled (IMDB.com gives credit to six writers including Khan and director Anubhav Sinha), and it gets lost in many competing narrative threads, nearly forgetting the main plot.
The premise of Ra.One works at times. Shekhar lives in a palatial house in London [ Images ], with a stunning wife (a very hot looking Kareena Kapoor [ Images ]) and a son, who actually looks like a girl, other than that his name is Prateik. To please his son he designs a video game called Ra.One -- named after its villain -- who takes many forms, including finally that of a creepy Arjun Rampal [ Images ], perhaps the most interesting element of the film.
In a Purple Rose of Cairo manner, Ra.One, the villain, escapes from the video game in search of Lucifer, the last person who played against him. Turns out Lucifer is Prateik's video game handle and so begins the villain's search for the young kid. All fine, expect it is often interspersed with long chunks of Bollywood masala.
There are some promising moments in Ra.One -- such as the opening dream sequence where an almost unrecognisable Khan, who looks like a CGI created figure, fights evil forces (including Sanjay Dutt [ Images ], who is introduced to us with the song Nayak Nahin, Khalnayak Hoon Main) so as to rescue a pretty but hysterical Priyanka Chopra [ Images ]. The mood, texture of this dream sequence is inspired by Asian cinema and it is quite cool. Also thrilling are many of the video game fight scenes, including the film's climax.
Those exposed to international films may not find much of this remarkable. Last year's Endhiran had some terrific CGI scenes, but this is a new path for Hindi cinema. And perhaps as homage to Endhiran, Ra.One features a brief appearance of Rajnikanth [ Images ] as Chitti -- although it was one of those Bollywood moments when the film meanders from its focus.
I wish Ra.One had more of the evil character played by Rampal. I wish we could have seen some more sparks of evil from Kapoor. But Ra.One is mostly about Khan.
There are video games that kids play, but then they shut them off, after they win or lose. Finally, Ra.One has a similar forgettable quality.
Rediff Rating: 
Reader's Special: You can Review Ra.One here!
Arjun Rampal [ Images ] is the best thing in the biggest budget Indian feature of all time, says Raja Sen.There is far too much Shah Rukh Khan [ Images ] in Ra.One, and while the man can normally be counted on to entertain no matter how completely he overwhelms us with his presence, this is him trying too hard in a film that straddles the disparate worlds of Shankar and Farah Khan [ Images ], and, having been made by Anubhav Sinha, falls painfully flat.
Somewhere in the script was a simple idea -- that of a video game villain wreaking havoc in the real world -- with potential for an enjoyable romp, but as the unambitious plot was scaled up to dizzying heights, much masala was injected thoughtlessly into it, as if each scene in isolation needed to be packed with every colour of cool.
The film's narrative, as a result, is disjointed and sluggish, with a mere handful of good scenes. The rest is not just filler, but lengthy, exhausting, filmi filler -- the kind of kitsch a film like this should really have left behind.
An Amelie-haired young boy (Armaan Verma) addicted to video games considers his father (Khan) a loser despite the fact that he makes high-concept games. Driven to create a game 'bad' enough to win him some brownie points, Khan's dweeby techie comes up with a villain loaded with artificial intelligence, one nearly impossible to beat.
From 'Random Access One' they start calling him Ra-One, at which point a Chinese colleague wonders if the game's hero could be called something similar. "G-One! Does it mean anything in Hindi?" he trills enthusiastically, since that's what a London-based software firm would obviously prioritise in its international products.
(Language is a constant irritant in the film. Shah Rukh introduces his luscious wife Kareena Kapoor to the aforementioned colleague's Chinese mother with "my better half," to which the lady says "Ni hao" and Kapoor diligently tosses in a "Namaste." Later, when Khan is held up by a London [ Images ] thug, he speaks in English while the goon helpfully talks in Bob Christo-accented Hindi. Ah well.)
The game itself, set in the year 2050 -- an ill omen for the film if ever there was one -- proves to be unimpressively simple, considering Khan's young son starts beating it the very first time it's ever played. It consists of full-body virtual reality suits, cool as a concept, but considering you'll have to leap in the air and execute a flying dropkick instead of just pressing Up and the yellow button, seems significantly tiresome.
Like the film itself is, slavishly throwing nonsensical jargon at us instead of letting the bad guy out as soon as possible.
The effects, as said, are impressive but only occasionally. The action setpieces, while visually adept, lack urgency and propulsion. The most striking effect is that of RaOne and G-One taking shape as characters in the real world, big pixelly blocks building upon each other, the Tetris-like assembly delightfully looking like graphics rendering gradually. RaOne starts out like a Neo knockoff from The Matrix, but clearly means business once Rampal is in control. Rampal's menacing, cold and can dish out a helluva piledriver and appears in maybe six scenes in total.
The rest is for the filminess, you see. For G-One to wonder what Karvachauth is and then hug Kareena as voyeuristic neighbours cheer them on; for random pseudo-sufi yells in the background as characters feel pangs of emotion; for plotpoints to be reiterated over and over and over again. And, most critically, for embarrassingly broad 'comedy' that never ever gets a laugh. The Rajnikanth [ Images ] cameo works, sure, but does so by default -- and makes no sense whatsoever.
There are people who will let this film slide. Who will say it's not bad "for a Hindi film." That if we make a superhero film we'll have to add in lots of Bollywood to make it commercially feasible, and this is as good as it gets. Hogwash. For those doubters I have two words: Mister and India [ Images ]. I'm glad Khan stuck his neck out and gave us a project of this magnitude, one other genuinely inventive superhero movies will doubtless use to create truly special films. Ra.One, of course, is far from it.
There is but one prerequisite of a superhero film: A central character we care about. Here, as Khan flits from hit persona to persona, there is no sense of consistency. The game designer appears sometimes socially handicapped, and sometimes (in flashback) an utter charmer; G-One speaks haltingly like a robot, and then breaks into rap. The film seems to think that nothing seems to matter as long as there's enough Khan, and it becomes tragically evident that this is a project born more out of vanity than passion.
Rediff Rating:
Ra.One: This ain't the one
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple of months, it's unlikely you've missed the "Ra.One" juggernaut. This superhero film has been everywhere, peering out at you from hoardings, blaring on the television, on your can of soda and pretty much in your face. It's been non-stop marketing, persistent selling of a product you've been told that you have to watch.
That is how "Ra.One" the movie comes across as well. This is less of a movie and more of a product that is tailor-made to audiences looking for a Diwali movie. So everything, including the product placements, the songs, the dialogues and the story are all positioned to touch the right chords.
Unfortunately, movie-making involves a lot more than just good product placements and marketing. It needs heart, and in spite of the sci-fi theme and hi-tech technology, "Ra.One" doesn't have heart.
Shah Rukh Khan plays Shekhar Subramaniam, a mild-mannered video game developer who hopes to build a better relationship with his son Pratik, who thinks his dad isn't "cool enough". When he develops a complicated video game with an "unbeatable" villain named Ra One, Subramaniam gains his son's respect. What he doesn't know is that Ra One has suddenly come alive, and can function as an evil villain out of virtual reality. How and why this happens, we are never told.
He sets out to get G One, or the good one, even as G One protects Shekhar's wife and Pratik against Ra One. I won't give any more away, but the plot line is simple enough. There are songs inserted at appropriate intervals, there are poignant moments that come after those songs, and there are also stereotypes aplenty. For example, Shekhar eats curd even with spaghetti, because he is south Indian. He also says "ayyo" a lot. But we'll let that pass, because Indian movies more often than not stereotype their characters.
The weak link in this movie is the direction by Anubhav Sinha, your attention will waver a lot — the pace isn't fast enough for a super-hero action flick and there are some inane dialogues that will make you laugh. Sinha tries to pack in every single element into the film, with the end result being it looks haphazard.
The USP of the film is supposed to be special effects (disclaimer here – the show I watched wasn't in 3D, so I don't know how that will turn out ) and if you've watched "The Matrix" and "X-Men", you won't be thrilled with the special effects. Some of them look like they were hurriedly done. Sinha would have done well to reduce the noise level and up the level of VFX. However, there are a couple of sequences, especially the one involving a speeding local train which are well done and are likely to keep you on the edge of your seats.
Also, for a villain supposed to be evil and unbeatable, Ra One is surprisingly colourless and dull, preventing you from investing any sort of emotion for him — he just leaves you cold and Arjun Rampal's expressionless acting is partly to blame.
Of the cast, Shah Rukh Khan has obviously put his heart and soul into being G One and Shekhar, but he comes across as awkward in the scenes where he plays Shekhar. Kareena Kapoor looks drop-dead gorgeous and sheds some tears and looks wide-eyed enough when required to. It is Armaan Verma, who plays Pratik, who shines through, playing his role with aplomb.
Watch this one if you are looking for tailored entertainment. There are plenty of songs, fight sequences and drama. And Shah Rukh Khan. But if you are looking for a good movie, this ain't it.
http://blogs.reuters.com/indiamasala/2011/10/26/ra-one-this-aint-the-one/
Source:Reuters via Naachgaana
Among other things, Ra.One has been labelled as Shah Rukh's most expensive midlife crisis. Perhaps there is some truth to that, feels Abhishek Mande.
The allusions to popular sci-fi movies don't end here. There's a bit of Bicentennial Man with Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) falling in love with G.One, the boy that has the face of her dead husband and protects her and her son from a seemingly inevitable end. And there's even a hint of Matrix with trench coat-sporting characters cricking their necks before delivering punches.
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https://x.com/vivekagnihotri/status/1946940660067803443...
https://x.com/UmairSandu/status/1954571916745794046
https://x.com/umairsandu/status/1954950592771895651?s=46 Tis is review thread ?
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