Oct 26, 2011 05:37 PM
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If I had to describe Ra Onein one sentence, I’d say you have to see it to believe it. Ra Oneis the perfect Diwali bonanza for the family. This, I’m saying not with any prejudice because I like Shah Rukh Khan, but rather on the merits of the film. In fact, the film is not about Shah Rukh, but just pure and simple – action! You may think that you have seen action films before, but you ain’t seen nothing yet. Ra Oneis not about the big grand finale, or the one-two huge action sequences, rather it is a succession of things blowing up one after the other that just demand your attention. First and foremost, the big question – does it justify the massive 160 crores budget? Yes, indeed it does. Ra Oneredefines the action/superhero genre like no other. It is just an out and out action film to give you the adrenalin rush. I pray that Ra Onesucceeds at the box office because frankly, we need the bar set this high so that the Hindi film industry can scale even bigger heights in the future. One very significant plea to the viewers – please, if possible, do not hesitate to shell out a few extra bucks and see the film in 3D. It will have a considerable impact on your overall viewing experience.
Plot:
The plot of Ra Oneis a combination of spoofs and homages to the action/superhero genre. Particular films that come to mind are – The Matrix, Terminator 2, Dead or Alive and Iron Man. You can recognize the similarity in the plot devices, but let me assure you, no sequences are rip offs in any way and the originality of the film is preserved. Also, it in no way resembles Robot.In the beginning itself, the stage is set.
We join the story at Barron Industries, where Shahana Goswami tells the audience about the lessening gap between the real and the virtual world and the ability of artificial intelligence to transmit itself from the virtual to the real world through the medium of waves (mobile phones, micro waves, sound signals etc). This plot device is important later on. Shekhar Subramaniam (Shah Rukh Khan) works as a game developer for Barron Industries along with his team -Shahana Goswami and Tom Wu. He is a sloppy Inspector Clouseau kind of fellow who believes in the virtues of goodness that will triumph all evil. He is married to Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) and has a son Prateik. However, his son is suffering from the typical rebellious stage and doesn’t look up to his father as someone he wants to emulate. Prateik is a serial gamer and computer expert (another important plot device used later in the film). Prateik like super villains and cannot understand why the hero must always win as it is ‘boring’ and repetitive.
To please his son, Shekhar builds the game Ra One whose villain is almost invincible. Ra One, the villain of the game can take any shape or form and has powers of mind control among others. Ra One comes into the real world from the game to track down Prateik and kill him. Shekhar dies trying to save his son from Ra One. G One is the hero of the game and Prateik brings him into the real world to protect his family from Ra One (a Terminator 2 type scenario). Why does Ra One trying to kill Prateik? How does G One defeat Ra One, a villain that is much more powerful than him? What is the only way Ra One can die? How does Shekhar’s last words to his son – “Buraayi sang jo mel rachaya, to kabhi na choote uska saaya” (Once you befriend evil, its shadow never leaves you) are key to defeating the villain Ra One? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in the movie!
Special effects:
Ra Oneis a visual extravaganza. By that, I do not mean just a few cars blowing up. There are sequences of adrenalin pumping action thrown one after the other. Right from the game incarnation of Prateik having a daydream about his gaming world, to the entry of Ra One into the real world (which is quite sinister I must say), to the chase sequence of Ra One following Prateik and the entry of G One, to G One saving Sonia in the train sequence and the climax fight between G One and Ra One and the clever ways employed to defeat Ra One at every level of the game. If you watch it in 3D, you will literally experience the action up close and personal. If there were not as many action sequences involved, the 3D usage would have been redundant, but since the film is basically action through and through, the 3D is total paisa vasool. You can see that the money is not only well spent but that the film matches and even beats Hollywood in the special effects department. Trust me, this is action like you have never seen before.
The flaws:
The only flaw I could find was the over reliance on sexual innuendo. Sexual innuendo in the film at times borders on the cheap and slapstick. Sample this – Bruce Lee ki teen behne: Iski Lee, Uski Lee, Sabki Lee ( do I need to translate this?). Others include, pelvic thrusts and the implication of ‘power yoga’, Kareena writing a thesis on swearing and how the Hindi language needed abuses that used male expletives like tere baap ki… tere baap ki… etc, the excessive use of ‘condom’ to show the problem in picking up Tamil and Shekhar trying to fetch keys from a woman’s breast. Apart from these specific instances, I have cleared the film for the family as the censor board. Even these instances are not all that overt and I can guarantee you that as a parent you will not be embarrassed by inappropriate questions that you can’t answer during film. Well, your younger child may ask you the meaning of the word ‘condom’ but that’s it. If you can face that, you’re fine. There is a lot for the kiddies to enjoy. The gaming sequences will gel right in for the Play Station/X Box savvy generation. This film has plenty to keep them hooked. There is difference between spoofs and bad dialogue writing. Some might see some dialogues as excessively bad, but in fact, you can see the intention to spoof, be it Jackie Chan (that Tom Wu does not look like Jackie Chan) or the ridiculous Tekkan type scenarios that you have in fighting/arcade games where the villain and hero face off and just before they do, they say something supposedly cool but you know how ridiculous it sounds in the real world.
I found the film easy to follow in terms of plot narration and the length did not bother me (2 hours, 45 minutes). In fact, there were so many action sequences that I wished at times that the director Anubhav Sinha would slow it down a bit and let the narrative flow. There was a lot happening in those 2 hours, 45 minutes. You cannot complain of being bored. The music was good. The stand out songs were ‘Criminal’ and of course, ‘Chammak Challo’. Song picturisation was good but the choreography was ridiculous. I know Shah Rukh cannot dance, but this was just stupid. Cinematography was brilliant. The film was very bright and colourful (an achievement for a 3D production to appear bright and not lose contrast).
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