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Star Cast: Prabhas, Zarina Wahab, Sanjay Dutt, and others
Director: Maruthi
What’s Good: That it ends
What’s Bad: That it exists.
Loo Break: Anytime you want.
Watch or Not?: No
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 3 hour 10 minutes
User Rating:
Once upon a time, we coronated Prabhas as the OG pan-India star – the Baahubali of Indian Cinema! But does that mean we have to bow down to this Baahubali without putting logic into context? Well, director Maruthi definitely thought so, because his film The RajaSaab makes no sense at all. No story, no act, no climax, terrible setup, petrifying background, unrealistic dubbed dialogues, irritating songs, and a horrible run-time!
It starts, and then it feels like a slow poison; you just sit and wait for it to finish and not lose your health in between! Although I walked out of the theater with a terrible headache and restlessness (it usually happens when I watch a bad film. Trust me, it does happen to me. Last time this severe trauma struck me, when I watched Ranbir Kapoor in Shamshera). After almost two hours, I feel a little better to talk about this film at least!
The RajaSaab Movie Review: Script Analysis
The RajaSaab starts on a bizarre note, and this weirdness becomes a character of the film. It never leaves the room! The story (actually, there is no story, but still, whatever my pea-size brain could make out of the elaborate scenes) – There is a huge, ancient mansion that is full of graphical ghosts, which are an outcome of terribly done VFX. We see our protagonist Prabhas, who is here to find the missing plot points of the story of his Dada and Dadi, played by Sanjay Dutt and Zarina Wahab.
Prabhas is the rightful heir of this property, which is possessed by The RajaSaab, played by Sanjay Dutt again, who is all over the place because he has an idea how terrible this film is going to be! The plot tries to weave together a revenge, a kingdom, and a psychological story, but none of it comes alive on screen! In fact, the story might have been an interesting idea on paper, but Maruthi fails big time to turn it into an entertaining story on screen! Presenting Prabhas as an almost Joker, trying to woo girls, looks like a story that belongs to the 2000, and it takes the film into a slapstick comedy zone. It enters the zone and never exits, honestly! The Hindi dub is even more terrible!
The RajaSaab Movie Review: Star Performance
We see Prabhas fighting evil spirits in the film, but he actually fights an even evil script, struggling to put together a decent act but failing miserably! By the time the interval hits, you realize the mystery behind this haunted mention is not spicy enough, but the real mystery that makes more sense is to find out why this film was made in the first place! I mean it is bizarre from start to the end! Not making sense even for a split second!
Maruthi has built a career on mid-budget films, and probably this was too overwhelming for him to handle! The RajaSaab proves that giving a director a massive budget and a pan-India superstar does not guarantee a good product; if things go messy, there is no returning! Maruthi’s direction is identity-less here. He seems intimidated by Prabhas’ stardom. Instead of crafting a narrative that challenges the actor, he surrounds him with loud background music and louder supporting acts.
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The RajaSaab Movie Review: Direction, Music
Horror-Comedy is a genre that requires a delicate balance, look at Maddock or even Priyadarshan‘s Bhool Bhulaiyaa, for that matter! The scares are organic and the jokes are strategically built around the storyline! Maruthi delivers neither. The ghosts are cartoonish, and the comedy mostly relies on flirting with women.
After a string of serious roles, Prabhas took a huge challenge to tap into a massy masala avatar. In fact, his comic timing could have worked if the script had made sense! The three women in the film do nothing. Sanjay Dutt is confused as the antagonist! What a downfall from Dhurandhar to The RajaSaab.
If there is a trophy for loudest Background Score without a soul, let us felicitate Thaman! The BGM and the songs sound totally uninterested in being a part of this film! For a Pan-India film, the Hindi dub of The Raja Saab is an absolute disaster. The rhymes are forced, the slang is outdated, and the jokes are shady!
The RajaSaab Movie Review: The Last Word
If you are planning to watch this in Hindi, be prepared to cringe every time a funny line is cracked. The VFX adds to the horror. It is so bad that I cannot even get started! This entire terrible act peaks with a horrible climax – one of the most stupid ones you would have seen in recent times! Editing is bad! Actually, just chuck it! Save your time and skip this one! Come back and thank me a thousand times for saving you from this horror!
The RajaSaab is a classic case of how Star Power cannot save a bad script. While I was excited to see Prabhas move away from the Action God persona and experiment with comedy, he definitely deserved a better script!
1 star! Only for the effort that a film was made, and the actors devoted their time to this one!
The RajaSaab Trailer
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