Ra.One Movie Review – Better in Parts
The most awaited movie of the year, Ra. One finally had a grand release this Diwali. It is now time to review the movie and find if it justifies the mammoth budget and the grandiose hype around it. Well, the movie is peppered with meteoric highs and dismal lows; it is safely an average movie at best.
Story of Ra.One:
Shekhar Subramaniam is an affable nerdy, guy who is in the field of robotic engineering. However, his son Prateek is not entirely happy with his dad because he does not find him cool enough. Finally, dad gets son’s approval, when he makes a robot called Ra.One with really villainous set of qualities that the son is looking for. The son enjoys the video game with G. One as the good robot and Ra. One as the bad one; and then leaves the game in the pause mode. Ra.One does not like it and vows to seek vengeance against Lucifer( Prateek’s game ID). Ra.One comes out of the ‘game mode’, ventures out and goes on a killing spree, terminating one of the engineers. He then meets his creator Shekhar who says that he is Lucifer to save his son. Ra.One scans him and realizes that he is not the one, but kills him anyway
The family is shocked at the demise of Shekhar. Wife Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) wants to pack the bags and come home but the son is adamant to find out the person who killed his father. He later comes to know that the person behind his dad’s death is actually a robot, Ra. One. Nevertheless they do come to India but not before the son initializing the good robot Ga. One. The good robot G.One joins the family as they drive from London to the airport and fights Ra. One.
Back home in India, the mother and son adjusts to the new good robot in the family. G.One entertains them, helps them but still warns them that Ra. One can come anytime looking for them. And he does. The rest of the movie is how Ra.One comes to India to seek vengeance and how the ultimate game is played.
What works for Ra.One:
The technicalities of the movie are high quality; SRK has obviously left no stone unturned to ensure that the movie is no short of technical brilliance. Sabu Cyril’s art direction, the action by Andy Gill and Spiro Razatos, the cinematography by Manikandan and Nicola Pecorini and the music by Vishal Shekhar are all commendable. Anubhav Sinha has pieced all aspects of the movie together to make it palatable to everyone, including the ones who do not know much about computer gaming or graphics. One thing that is remarkable is that the story of Ra.One is quite different from the usual super-hero movies. The novel concept is definitely going to be appreciated. Also, the way the concept woven smartly into Indian sensibilities definitely takes the movie a couple of notches forward.
What does not work for Ra.One:
There are major loopholes in the script. The robots are showing taking flights to India from UK, where the movie originated. In the present day and age, where security is tight, one cannot fathom such a thing can happen. There are three writers in the film and still there is not one good dialogue that can make the movie look cool. The first scene of Lucifer fighting against Sanjay Dutt for his lady love Priyanka Chopra feels drastically short of expectations. Ditto for the climax, one would have appreciated more knockouts and punches instead of the so-called ‘power’ flying here and there. The plot meanders in the second-half ; it drags for a while before Ra.One emerges and the movie gallops to a hurried climax. The entry of Chitti Robot (Rajnikanth) is possibly the worst scene in the film. The gimmick falls flat on the face and all the news about Rajnikanth giving constructive feedback on the film that SRK and his team accepted looks like one big sham. G.One is shown emerging again in the last reel, which defeats any emotion the movie may have evoked.
Best scenes in Ra.One:
- The scene where Prateek plays the game with Ra.One as the adults dance to the ‘Criminal’ song. The interpolation of the game along with the song and dance looks cool.
- The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus scene where a local train is taken over by Ra. The scene could have edited better though.
- A ‘hatke-scene’ where Shah Rukh Khan touches Kareena Kapoor’s breast by mistake. May not be the best scenes, but it is truly the most original scene in the film,.
- Tom Wu chasing Kareena Kapoor and her son before the interval is also thrilling and so is the combat of Ra.One vs G.One.
Performances in Ra.One:
Armaan Verma as the kid had done a neat job. The supporting characters, Shahana Goswami, Dilip Tahil are good in their parts Satish Shah is wasted. Kareena Kapoor has never looked sexier. If you discount her glamorous look and look for acting prowess, she does not disappoint there as well. Shah Rukh Khan plays the superhero with aplomb but then becomes quite clichéd in the last scene where he reprises the MNIK role. Arjun Rampal does not get much screen space to act; the focus is more on his look rather than his expression. The star performer of the film is Tom Wu, who plays Ra One in the first half, he is minty cool with a Terminator-like personality.
Conclusion of Ra.One:
Ra.One is an average fare, go with zero expectations and you will walk out pleased. But if you are expecting too much fromit, be ready to be disappointed.
Rating: ** (Average)
2 Responses to “Ra.One Movie Review – Better in Parts”
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Ra-One is really awesome movie…if u did not like the movie it means u didn understand the movie…
@Joes, I’m sorry but I would rather watch sheep jump over fences rather than this movie.