Rajkumar

Rajkumar review :

After Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994), Madhuri Dixit had become the numero uno heroine with even an inferior product like Raja (1995) hitting box office gold and compelling the media to call it Rani. But the year 1996 was particularly unkind to Madame Madhuri where she delivered three duds in a row : Tutu Sharma's Rajkumar, Rajiv Kapoor's Prem Granth and David Dhawan's Yaraana.

Raj Kumar had Anil Kapoor in the titular role with Madhuri playing the rival kingdom ki Rajkumari. The plot was typical 80s stuff with tadka of Arabian nights thrown in. The VFX were atrocious even for the mid 90s and strictly by comparison, I prefer Jeetendra's Haatim Tai which was the sleeper hit of 1990.

Coming to the cast, Anil Kapoor was passable as the dashing prince out to regain his lost kingdom. Naseeruddin Shah, an otherwise first rate actor, hammed outrageously throughout. As if one Naseer was not enough, we had him in a double role as the evil Maha mantri as well as his bewaqoof twin. Truly, this is his career worst!

Relying more on Madhuri Dixit's dance moves, Rajkumar had plenty of songs composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal and two numbers - "Paayal meri" and "Ankhon ke aage peeche" - became popular.

I saw Rajkumar on its first Sunday at Mahim's Citylight cinema. The soul-less dated film was too much for the audience to endure. Even Madhuri's irresistible charm couldnt save it.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Well,certainly it is not the one of greatest movie still enjoyable due to good star cast.This is movie of a prince whose mother need to avenge his father's death.It also has some magical spells within it.om locket and other such.Nashruddin shah deed his best with double role,no doubt one of brilliant actor of film industry.

Reena Roy looks gorgeous,Madhuri best dancing sequences made her stunning. Anil Kapoor smile add blossom to whole movie,Danny,Aruna are all good ones.Over all enjoyable at least for 3 time watching. Madhuri's fan will no doubt love it. one of best 90s movie for Madhuri success

Its a story of two kingdoms at war with each other. Anil Kapoor is a prince of one and Madhuri Dixit is the princess of the other. They fall in love but Naseeruddin Shah is the evil prime minister who wants the heroine, the kingdom and rest of India. Danny is in Anil Kapoor's side. After some songs, sword fighting, horse riding, mother(Reena Roy)- son melodrama the movie (finally) gets over. Even the songs are forgettable. Avoid if you can. I actually fast forwarded most of the movie and don't remember seeing Shammi Kapoor or Aruna Irani. Must have been a flashback. Let me know if you still see the movie.)

This movie is just plain fun. OK so it doesn't have any great storyline but it does what Bollywood does best. This is first and foremost a platform to display Madhuri Dixit and it does it well, her dance sequences are fabulous, she looks stunning (none of your anorexic western beauties here)and her acting surpasses the needs of the script. The film rips off loads of Robin Hood ideas (and even some of the sequencies from Prince of Thieves) and Naseeruddin Shah plays a wonderful "Sheriff of Nottingham" character plus he also plays a comical twin brother that provides some good humour. Anil Kapoor is not at his best as the "Robin Hood" prince, he seems to flip through this movie without putting any effort into it. His action sequencies follow a rather predictable formula (well he is a hero in a Bollywood movie) but the duel with the giant cannibal whilst they are bouncing about on bungy rubber was really hilarious (although I am sure it wasn't meant to be). The cinematography in the main was fabulous, very colourful and some expensive sets (ok so there were cheap ones as well) and even some computer-generated ones. All in all a very entertaining film for lovers of this genre and Dixit fans in particular but please don't let it be your first Bollywood movie, there are many better ones out there to cut your teeth on.