Rowdy Rathore

A regular film-goer can recall several films from the recent past with a great first half and a not so happening second. And in most of the cases such films fail to make any major impact on the viewers as well as on the box office. But if a film goes the other way round then it has the most favourable chances to win over the audience.

Luckily Prabhudeva's second directorial venture in Bollywood, produced by UTV and Sanjay Leela Bhansali comes in the latter category of movies with a fairly good second half as compared to its first. Following the sole motive of entertaining the viewers (keeping aside the logics), the director is mostly successful in its aim due to many engaging sequences post intermission full of action. And that is what actually saves ROWDY RATHORE from going on to a negative path.

An almost exact remake of Telugu Hit VIKRAMARKUDU (2006), which was also remade in many other languages, RR strictly follows the path of its original without any new or major alterations made by Prabhudeva. He remains focused on the entertainment factor throughout but in the process makes an uneven film before and after the interval which drops at several places when it comes to emotional drama in the script.

To explain the experience of watching it in its two halves, just imagine sipping an above average soup before going for the main meal at your dinner table. So, the first half of RR is like an OK starter with three fine toppings of a fresh & ravishing Sonakshi Sinha, few comic sequences of Akshay and 3 enjoyable well choreographed songs which don't let you write off the film right away. It starts off with a calm first hour stressing more upon the romance and less on the basic plot. But then Prabhudeva comes up with an energetic 15 minutes just before the interval which pull everyone back into the film forcing them to expect something much better in its next hour.

Post intermission RR suddenly becomes an enjoyable ride with some well directed action sequences reminding you of the good old cinema of 70s which followed entertainment without any logic. In fact this better part of the film can easily be compared to a Manmohan Desai kind of attempt made in the South with fast paced sequences coming one after the other without giving you any time to think. For instance, the conman replaces the Inspector (Akshay in double role) without any hassles or questioning, the heroine follows him to the same small remote area as her parental town, the child simply accepts the second Akshay as her father without raising any doubts, there is no information given about her mother and the villains are easily beaten badly by a single man with his amazing power. But despite of all these glitches, the narration keeps you entertained with its funny one liners and well edited action scenes, not giving you anything to complain particularly in its second half. So if you love watching escapist kind of cinema, just for entertainment as earlier seen in Rohit Shetty's SINGHAM, then you would love Akshay returning to his action mood. Yet ROWDY RATHORE is not another WANTED delivered by Prabhudeva with a weaker first half.

Therefore as a director, I cannot comment upon Prabhudeva's ability since he has only made "Strict Remakes" in Bollywood till now. The dancing maestro very well knows how to keep the viewers engaged and entertained in his movies. But how he would handle the same entertainment quotient in his own original project remains doubtful. Nevertheless in RR he takes ample support from both the fine cinematography and an energetic background score to generate a universally likable impact till the end. Also the action showcased in the film further helps him in generating a positive final result in a big way.

Musically Sajid-Wajid have done a nice job but again they cannot take the whole credit here as the main track of the film "Chinta Ta Chita Chita" remains a true adaptation of its original Telugu song from VIKRAMARKUDU (2006). However both singer Mika and the Choreographers (Saroj Khan, Prabhudev & Bosco Martis) really deserves a special mention here, since the songs become hugely watchable just because of their great dancing steps complimenting the beats.

Akshay returning to his favourite action genre entertains the masses both as a conmen and a police officer. But undoubtedly, he makes a much better impact post interval in all those action and confrontations scenes. Still, RR may not be able to generate the same response for him as WANTED did for Salman (which was appreciated by both critics as well as masses). The pleasant package of the film is Sonakshi Sinha who looks ravishingly fresh & beautiful on the screen, more than her pictures circulating in the print media. She definitely has a strong screen presence but only requires a good author backed role to prove her acting talent. Nassar once again excels in his role of the main villain with a superb portrayal of the Bad Man. Mushtaq Khan provides few lighter moments in the second half and Yashpal Sharma impresses in his helpless character. Both Paresh Ganatra as Akshay's friend and Gurdeep Kohli as the lady inspector are fine but Gurdeep surely becomes a victim of step treatment given by the writers.

In all ROWDY RATHORE satisfies you mid-way with only a great & entertaining second half wherein Akshay performs in his full form as the action hero. But with less romance and more action thrown in the first half it could have been another WANTED for the director without any doubts. So for now, it may get a mixed response with a particular section of viewers (who love watching Manmohan Desai kind of cinema) appreciating it a lot and another slamming it down for its logics taken for a ride.

Akshay Kumar plays two characters here, each with his own half each side of the interval to accommodate the stories of ACP Vikram Rathore the fearless cop, and of Shiva the cunning thief, whom we get introduced having as glib a tongue as he has silky smooth hands every ready to pinch any valuable from anyone. We get up close to Shiva first, and his unlikely romance with Paro (Sonakshi Sinha, whose breakthrough performance was Dabangg). Vowing to give up his thieving ways to gain the acceptance of Neeraja, his henchman 2G (Paresh Ganatra) and he commits one last heist, only to find a six year old girl Chinki in the trunk of supposed valuables they stole, and compelled to have to adopt her in the meantime when she is adamant that Shiva is her dad. All these confusion will get straightened out by the time the interval rolls by, but until then, the narrative is relatively choppy, flitting between Shiva's pursuit of Paro, and his disdain for Chinki.

But it's after the interval where things got a little bit more interesting with the story of Vikram Rathore coming into the picture, and making Rowdy Rathore pretty much worthwhile. Fans of many South Indian cop films will find this Hindi remake of Vikramarkudu in familiar territory, and films of the same genre will probably tote the same narrative structure as well, with honest cop blessed with super human strength (as part of the fun) going up against corrupt officials and thugs who rule villages with iron fists. In some ways it's almost serving a cathartic function of sorts, when films offer escapism to those who feel oppressed, and find an outlet to cheer for the unlikely coming of a hero, if only on screen. With anyone challenging oppressive authority, schemes will soon be in place to remove the thorn in any corrupt side, but I must say witnessing Vikram Rathore tear through evil like hot knife through butter, was really something that anyone can cheer to after a hard day's work, especially if one has one's fair share of injustice experienced during the day.

It was publicized that Akshay Kumar hasn't played an all out action role since, well 7 years ago, but I thought Tashan wasn't that far behind although he had to share the limelight with his co-stars. Here he owned both characters he played, with the only distinguishing factor between Shiva and Vikram being the subtleness in the design of the mustache he wore for each character. Action sequences are naturally over the top in any Masala film, and this one has its fair share of incredible stunts topped with countless of explosions. There's something a little bit disturbing though in the action choreography, in its effort to follow Hollywood yet again, that slow-motion techniques favored by the likes of Zack Snyder, found its way to this Bollywood film, and in a pivotal sequence, looked very much inspired by Stephen Chow's Kungfu Hustle, even after so long.

But the best parts of Rowdy Rathore isn't the action, but the characterization and the Indian- English dialogues they're made to express. In Vikram Rathore he stands by his fearlessness of death, and threats to anyone daring to put his daughter in harm's way, with that twirl of his handle-bar mustache and smile, capped with his mantra that he does whatever he says. Shiva on the other hand, although of less brawn but equally, if not more cunning, continues Vikram's good work as Rowdy Rathore, only to add a new flavour to Vikram's threat that he now also does what he doesn't say, sending his enemies into a frenzy only because they cannot fathom what Shiva has up his sleeves.

The song and dance sequences got largely limited to when Shiva and Paro get to express their love for each other, inclusive of spatial travel to far flungs of India, and it's a little bit surprising as to the numbers of songs, and frequency the narrative got interrupted. With the second half intensely gripping, it got abruptly paused for a rock-song sequence that not only brought both actors out of character, but ruined the mood it so carefully set out to craft and instill a forthcoming brooding sense of revenge. Still, it managed to pull in more star power especially in its title track of Chinta Ta Ta Chita Chita with Kareena Kapoor and Superstar Vijay as cameo Item performers.

There's a third story arc squeezed in at the end that came too rushed and was on overdrive to deliver the Rowdy Rathore portion. It was fun to see how the corrupt get their just desserts when having to go up against one of their own - the mantra it takes a thief to catch a thief - and the finale was a pretty much long drawn out affair that started off out of the blue with a sudden kidnapping of sorts. It's true that one can always fall back that a Masala film gets license to do whatever it wants to, but I just felt that if it could have been a little bit more disciplined with its structure, rather than to throw in curveballs on locales and characters, it had potential to become a cult classic. Still, for those of us who crave the quintessential Masala film in a long while, then Rowdy Rathore promises a rocking rowdy time!

Rowdy Rathore - the immensely hyped return of Akshay Kumar as Action BAAP - delivers what it promised - a Mass Action fiesta with a heavy dose of South Indian which now loved in Noth as well Masalas.

The story is about Shiva (Akshay Kumar), a small 'Rowdy' who charms & steals not only wealth but also every ladies heart in a blink. Shiva falls in love with Priya (Sonakshi Sinha), a pretty and smart girl from Patna. Into this enters six year old Neha who believes Shiva to be her father -Vikram Rathore . The further movie deals with what changes and responsibilities does this little girl brings to his life and how he becomes the only hope for people of a small town in Bihar to get rid of a ruthless MLA Nasser and his mafia goons.

Those who have seen the original either Vikramarkudu or Siruthai may find this one less appealing provided you are not an Akshay Fan. But for the majority of its core target audience this will be a perfect entertainment treat post IPL season that everyone was looking for.Its the perfect blend of comedy,over the top action, songs, dance, dialogues etc., everything that we were expecting from such a movie

ROWDY RATHORE (Movie Review)

ONE LINER:

Khiladi Rathore In Action!!

EXPECTATIONS:

Expectations were high initially as Akshay returning to action after a long time, produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Prabhudeva directing His next venture after Wanted..

VIEWS:

Well this has again been a wrong promo policy. When the theatrical came and then songs promo came and then other promos came the film seemed to be over the top and cheap and below standard in my views. But after watching the movie I'll say that its not the case.. AK film KHATTA MEETHA suffered due to bad promo policiy too as it showed it as comedy but it was a nice serious movie. First 30 minutes of the movie are totally below average.. as the comic scenes at that moment does not create any impact nor the love angle is well shown.. but after 30 minutes the Movie goes on a high and high from when the girl came and emotional and serious RR starts.. then it creates a pure masala entertainer movie impact till end.

STORY & SCRIPT:

Story is old but the script is quite good.. Love Angle should have been scripted well.

DIRECTION:

Prabhudeva starts bad but after 30 minutes get the grip and never loose it till the end.. Only the Love scenes could have been directed well than he did..

MUSIC:

Music by SAJID WAJID is totally disappointingly average. TERA ISHQ and CHAMMAK CHALLO are the better tracks. In my view CHINTA CHINTA is totally poor song and its repeatedly use seems useless. Dhadang Dhadang and Aa Re Pritam just OK. Music could have been much better than this so as same for the background music.. it should have been better.

CASTING & ACTING:

AKSHAY KUMAR came back to his favourite genre Action and he has acted very very well in RR .. He is the most Positive thing of RR. He played role of Vikram Rathore with high and role of Shiva great to with his bravo comic timings.. He Makes RR watchable..

SONAKSHI SINHA has acted quite good. But her role is not well developed.

The character played by the girl of the daughter of VIKRAM RATHORE has acted very well .. She is superb.

YASHPAL SHARMA & GURDEEP KOHLI are good..

NASSAR as the antagonist is quite good.. really acted very well. the actor played his brother is ordinary and so his son character.

MUSHTAQ KHAN has good comic moments and dialogues. Other actors are OK.

PARESH as AK friend is just OK.

PLUSSES & MINUSES:

PLUSSES:

1. AKSHAY KUMAR's acting.

2. The emotional scenes.

3. The role of the girl.

4. Strong intermission. And strong post and pre intermission scenes.

MINUSSES:

1. First 30 minutes.

2. Music.

3. Background Music.

CONCLUSION:

Bare first 30 minutes and enjoy the remaining film as a great MASALA ENTERTAINER. AKSHAY KUMAR back in form..Wana Go for a Nice Dhisoom Dhisoom Entertaining Movie go for ROWDY RATHORE..

RATINGS: 3.75/5.

Writing this review almost a week after Rowdy Rathore has released.So i suppose most of you would have caught up with the flick!But im writing it none the less. Before starting off with the review i must confess i have watched both the telugu as well as the tamil versions,Ravi Teja's Vikramarkudu and Karthi's Siruthai respectively.

I suppose comparing the three wouldn't be of much use,as all three of them have their distinct style.But i would give Karthi a slight edge over the other two(But i maybe biased though):P Rowdy Rathore starring Akshay Kumar , Sonakshi Sinha and directed by our desi-Michael Jackson(aka) Prabhu Deva packs quite a punch i must admit!Rowdy Rathore as most of us know..is another remake from down south.And by and large most southern remakes have worked wonders(case in point gajini,wanted,singham). Now back to the review. The story goes about like this…Shiva (Akshay Kumar), a small-time thief in Mumbai, falls in love with Priya (Sonakshi Sinha), a girl from Patna, who is in Mumbai to attend a marriage. Its love at first sight between the two. Shiva tells her the truth about him being a thief and resolves to give up crime forever.Enter a young girl called Chinki who thinks that Shiva is her father.Shiva is forced by circumstances to keep the girl.Shiva slowly starts loving the innocent child.Priya finds out about the girl and decides to leave for Patna.Shiva is heart-broken.All of a sudden a bunch of goons start chasing him and the girl…and another Akshay(Vikram Rathore) steps in to save them and ends up giving his life for the same. Cut back to the past.Vikram Rathore (Akshay) is a brave and honest cop who wages war against the evil ganglord (Nasser) of the village(Now where have we heard that before??:P) Now here..comes the twist in the tale…Shiva needs to take up the place of the slain Vikram Singh and what happens next for you to guess(or rather watch..but i suppose its easier to guess). To know what works and what doesn't with the movie...