Movie Review: Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One

SRK’s sci-fi flick is a hamfest that refuses to embrace the corn

Movie: Ra.One

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Rajinikanth

The opening scene of Ra.One has Shah Rukh Khan on a horse, on his way to save desi girl Priyanka Chopra from the clutches of (nayak nahi) khalnayak Sanjay Dutt, who has just tapkaoed Spiderman. The damsel in distress is overjoyed to see SRK and swoons at every move he makes, and when they’re about to kiss, Sanjay Dutt interrupts them by asking them why they’re at it again. Oh, and before facing Sanjay Dutt, Shahrukh Khan had to slay Bruce Lee’s three daughters – Iski Lee, Uski Lee aur Sabki Lee.

This is a dream Shah Rukh Khan’s son (in the movie) has, but it gives you a very good idea of how SRK’s most ambitious home production is going to be. You may be forgiven for thinking “Ra.One” has been scripted and directed by Farah Khan.

Written and directed by Anubhav Sinha, Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One is a hamfest that refuses to embrace the corn. SRK gets slapped, kicked in the crotch, and lands on his balls emulating Michael Jackson’s moves. The jokes get so lame that it is impossible to take the movie seriously. You don’t feel bad when Shah Rukh Khan is killed by Ra.One, the villain of a game SRK has created. Ra.One gets out of the virtual world and enters ours to kill Lucifer, who has to continue and finish the game because there is no exit; Lucifer is the name SRK’s son Prateek has chosen to play video games as, and he must fight Ra.One, get killed by him, and only then will the game be over. SRK returns as G.One to save his son, but the bad jokes and slapstick comedy don’t stop even then.

Ra.One can take the form of anything he touches, and the final form he takes is Arjun Rampal’s. Arjun Rampal does a great job at being expressionless, and he gets his crotch grabbed by Shah Rukh Khan. When he asks SRK what he’s doing, SRK says he doesn’t know. We know what he’s doing – he’s doing what we expect that idiot Salman Khan to do: insert crass humour in an action sequence.

Kareena Kapoor goes about her business of doing nothing in movies; playing the heroine to the Khans is her comfort zone and it doesn’t look like she wants to step out of it.

Rajnikanth – what a joke his cameo is. Rajnikanth is in the movie for the sake of it. He steps out of a magnetic car, identifies G.One (SRK), gets identified by him and Kareena Kapoor and the wannabe funny guy and the audience.

Shah Rukh Khan had the greatest chance to make a terrific superhero/ sci-fi flick – all he had to do was keep the humour clean. But it’s hard to take a movie seriously when its superstar hero takes the audience for granted. Ra.One is a disappointing watch.

RATING:  2/5

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