Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Shahana Goswami and Armaan Verma
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Nothing about RA.One is ordinary or regular – be it the hype, the frenzy, the figures or the marketing campaign. For a film that has been mounted on such a mammoth scale, your level of expectations naturally are gargantuan. So it’s with the whole promotion overdrive playing in your head constantly that you set to watch the superhero film that promised us the moon and more.
Does Shah Rukh Khan’s billion-dollar venture make the cut? The answer would depend directly on your exposure to Western superhero and sci-fi films. If you have grown up on a diet of Terminator, Transformers, Fantastic Four, Batman and other fantasy flicks, RA.One gives you a huge sense of deja vu. A bit like being promised a caviar treat and having to settle for nice but boring pizza. However, for a typical Bollywood film fan, it is a whole new experience altogether.
The final word? Go for it, but don’t have high expectations and you won’t be disappointed. The problem, if one can call it that, is that the director tries to merge Bollywood masala with Western sensibilities. While that worked well in Krissh which never pretended to set new standards, here it comes off as trying too hard.
The storyline is fairly linear. Shah Rukh plays Shekhar Subramanium a London-based scientist at a game programming company, Baron Industries, owned by screechy Dalip Tahil. Shekhar is an odd character. He is a nerd who looks and acts too consciously as one. With curly hair and terribly-accented Tamil, this is one avatar of SRK that won’t find favour with many people. Cultural stereotypes are part and parcel of Hindi cinema but which Tamilian eats noodles and curds with his hands or says Aiyyo as if his life depended on it?
Shekhar wants desperately to come across as a hero in front of his wife Sonia (a stunning Kareena Kapoor) and precocious son Prateek (played by Armaan Verma) who thinks he is upto no good. He develops a game character called Ra.One (a smart allusion to the mythical Raavan) and his foil, the good guy G.One (or Jeevan in Hindi, meaning life).
The game has to be played at three levels and the only thing that helps win it is a HART (Hertz Advanced Resonance Transmitter) that has to be placed on the chest of the player.
As with most superhero stories, the trouble begins when RA.One assumes a life of its own, breaks out of the game and sets out to destroy Shah Rukh and his family. He wins the first round but the next half belongs to the ‘good one’ or G.One, who is also released from the game by Prateek.
The action then shifts to Mumbai from London, where after a lot of drama, emotions, a karva chauth sequence (yes in a superhero film!) and Chammak Challo, Ra.One and G.One engage in a fight to the finish. No prizes for guessing who wins in the end.
It is admittedly difficult to create a new superhero from scratch. But RA.One‘, that seems inspired from every possible film in the genre, comes with far too many strings attached. Constant comparisons apart, the film suffers from trying to please everyone from the Londoner to the Ludhianvi and ends up looking a bit confused. So while there are some really smart one-liners, there are also heavy-duty cheesy Bollywood dialogues, straight from the 80s.
Similarly, while it has been positioned as a kiddie-flick, there are quite a few bold jokes and butt slapping that parents won’t approve of – unless you find a child mouthing the name of a contraceptive (a deliberate mispronunciation of the Tamil word ‘konjam konjam’), funny.
On the plus side, the special effects and sound design (Resul Pookutty) are nothing short of world-class. Yes, it does take Hindi cinema to a new level. The local train sequence towards the end of the film is especially marvelous.
On the acting front, Kareena has precious little to do except play the glam wife dressed in short, designer outfits and drive a car looking scared. Arjun Rampal has about 15-minutes of screen time and plays the dishy bad guy with no expressions and deadpan dialogue delivery well. Shahana Goswami gets very little scope.
Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt make a special appearance in the beginning but fail to impress. The best guest appearance is by Rajnikant – his 20-second screen time looks forced but is worth the price of the ticket.
Finally, there’s Shah Rukh. Does he make for a great superhero? Yes and No. While he lacks the physicality of a Hrithik, he makes up for it with charisma. However, the typical Shah Rukhisms do creep in – flaring nostrils, hamming and stuttering. Maybe he can do a better job in the sequel.
In the end, though RA.One might not please hardcore action and superhero buffs, there is much to take from the film. Watch it this festive season and you won’t be disappointed. But keep those Hollywood DVDs tucked away safely!