Saturday, December 07, 2013
R…Rajkumar
Rowdy & Rowdier
Our filmmakers really should get the hint, the country is sick of violence against women. There really should be an end to films that encourage the stalking of women. In the first half of R...Rajkumar, the male lead (can’t call him a hero!) ogles, harasses and stalks the female lead (not a heroine by any stretch). Of course, in best Hollywood ‘oh fo’ style, she slaps him, he kisses her hand; he follows her around making kissy noises and doing pelvis-thrusting dances. In case we don’t get it, there’s a song—Gandi Baat—that spells out just what he has in mind. The censors were snoozing, or what?
Prabhu Dheva’s film is an insult to intelligence, good taste and anything clean and wholesome. It’s crass, violent and hasn’t a single redeeming feature. Or maybe one… Shahid Kapoor’s mean dance moves. But who can sit through a rotten film just to see him dance?
Romeo Rajkumar (Kapoor) comes to a village called Dhartipur, where two warring criminals Shivraj (Sonu Sood) and Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi) run the opium trade. Rajkumar, is, of course, a one-man wrecking crew. Then his boss Shivraj falls for his beloved Chanda (Sonakshi Sinha—typecast the dumb belle) and he won’t stand for it.
The thin plot now simply snaps, as some stupid comedy is added on—Chanda and Rajkumar keep trying to fool Shivraj. He wants to be worthy of Chanda, which also includes learning English and he is made to sing, “I am your bull, you are my sh**t. Together we are bullsh**t.” The lyricist ought to be sued for vulgarity.
In the end, the film is not about condemning the opium trade or ending feudalism and oppression of villagers, or even elementary good-vs-evil-- it is about two men fighting over a woman, who stands about with a helpless, tearful look. In a throwaway line, a character says of Rajkumar, “Yeh khufiya police to nahin.” This optimistic reviewer sat through two-and-a-half of torture, hoping that would be the final twist and perhaps justify what went before.
Shahid Kapoor’s choice of films has just been one error after another. If this one does well, it will be a desperate case of stooping to conquer.
Labels: Cinemaah
