Ra.One (3D)

Director: Anubhav Sinha
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shahana Goswami, Armaan Verma and Arjun Rampal
Quick Take: Paisa vasool, Ra.Won!

 

Holy hobnobbing circuitry that goes rickety tickety tingling! We can make films like Hollywood. At least the action part we can. Well step aside Shaktimaan and the likes, we've just hit par with Iron Man. That's the big take away from Shah Rukh Khan's much-anticipated, heavily publicised mega production. It's full on masala entertainment with a sci fi twist.

So Shah Rukh Khan plays the chettinad version of Tony Stark or should we say Kevin Flynn from Tron and his name is Shekhar. He's super smart, super geek and has a heart made from bullion. For his much ambitious office project he comes up with a game where there's a super villain called Ra.One.  Shekhar makes the game, the villain and the hero G.One as a token for his son Pratik. But things go wrong as AI turns evil and the menacing Ra.One is released into the real world to wreak terror. And guess what? Super villain Ra.One isn't hatching plans of world domination or anything sinister, all he wants is to finish the virtual fight Shekhar's son Pratik walked out on. It means Ra.One wants to kill the little kid. But really? Shifting yourself from the virtual world into the real world all for one bout of fight with a kid? Well that's Ra.One's (the film) Achilles heel. The premise is slightly ludicrous. No marks for the writing department what with the clichéd climax as well.

But for some reason that limp of a story doesn't hamper the entertainment value of Ra.One. Partly because you feel too awed by its Hollywood-esque visuals that are usually found in 200 million dollar budget movies. The 3D isn't half bad either. A certain X factor we've come to adore over the years also helps the film. SRK is the soul of this film and he breathes vivacity and vim into every scene. This is also SRK's debut in Rajnikanth territory. Another thing that the film does so well is to parody itself. It never takes itself too seriously nor its characters and actors. Let's just say it's somewhat like Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om in the nature of its humour. Not so surprisingly Kareena Kapoor carries a large part of that brand of humour rather well.

End of the day the big question is - To watch or not to watch? Are you mad? To watch, obviously. Do not miss this if you've ever loved the idea of mainstream commercial cinema. It's heartening to see that we can recreate action and sci-fi like Hollywood does. It's not very polished but it's more than acceptable. In fact, had the storytelling been stronger Ra.One could've been a classic. Sadly it's not but it is an enjoyable sci-fi and CGI fiesta that will transport you to a world of kooky fantasy and video game heroes.

Source: http://www.filmfare.com/articles/raone-3d-2842.html