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Movie Review: ‘Rowdy Rathore’

RowdyRathore1
Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in 'Rowdy Rathore'

It would have been hard to��miss the trailers of ‘Rowdy Rathore’. More than��often, film��trailers build expectations of the film in order to drag you into the cinema halls. For a��family audience, ‘Rowdy Rathore’ did quite��the opposite. The trailer��showed a lot of anger, violence and South-style action in a cool but uncanny way. Another expectation comes in the form of dancer-turned-director Prabhudeva’s reputation and his��love for��storylines surrounding��an honest-police-officer-in-a-bad-world that��hit the right spot at the��box office much like his previous venture,��’Wanted’ (2009).��The trailers of��these films��are represented similarly in ‘Rowdy Rathore’ with an added��touch of ‘Sholay’ (1975)��style villains.��’Rowdy Rathore’ brings to the forefront��a lower star value cast of Akshay Kumar (as opposed to��Salman Khan) who had��a string of flops in 2010-2011, fresh-faced Sonakshi Sinha with only one big hit under her belt with ‘Dabangg’ (2010) and��the absence of��Mahesh Manjrekar as baddy. All of this��could not help but keep your hopes low. All-in-all, ‘Rowdy Rathore’ promotions��did very well in keeping your expectations low to average… but what shock the audience was in for!

The plot of ‘Rowdy Rathore’ is a typical cliched Bollywood story. Small time rowdy thief Shiva (Kumar) is street-smart with a charming personality��and not a care in the world. He loves money and hates kids. He��meets Paro (Sinha)��while on one of his antics and decides to��take the honest route to give it all up.��While on his last hiest,��Shiva comes across a little girl who calls him papa. Confused and agitated with the situation, he becomes stuck with her only to discover the reality of Vikram Singh Rathore, in a far off village called Devgarh, that will change his life around completely.

The simple explanation does not spell out exactly��how well the script is enacted. It is not fool-proof and has some serious but typical flaws that you see in Bollywood films with their low attention to detail. However, one won’t notice them or simply not care about these points��as the script is very well laid out with an coherent flow. The direction is exciting and fast paced much the same as in ‘Wanted’ but is��ten times better�� what with the quick camera-work��done in��a natural story-telling format.��It will remind��audiences of any and every South-Indian movie you have ever seen. On the technical side, engaging background sound design and well carved sets take you on a visual journey from ‘Sholay’ (1975) to ‘Dabangg’ (2010) and then��to ‘Rowdy Rathore’ which sets a new standard in itself. The overall cinematography and the colour grading of the movie are not perfect but are trivial in the grand scheme of things.

The two��characters��played��by Kumar��are so well-groomed that one will be left with their jaws open at every scene and whistles and claps coming out involuntarily.��This film��is definitely the return of khiladi��and will��give��the three Khans of the fraternity��a run for their money.��Kumar does overact in a few scenes but��is in almost��every scene of the film and, therefore, it is impossible to imagine the pressure on his shoulders and co-ordinated work with the director that he must have had to go through��_ and he delivers��each scene��wonderfully. Sinha��has shown a lot of progress since her debut. She has a good character role of a girl from Patna and delivers the oomph factor well to set a few hearts rolling than beating. Much like most Prabhu Deva movies, the villainous characters are devilishly classy in their act and you will love to hate them.

The movie delivers action and also the familiarity��of an honest-police-officer’s role in a style��much better than what��one may��have seen in previous movies. If action is your thing,��be ready for some serious popcorn munching with this film. What this movie has in extra bucket loads��is frolics of laughter with some serious attitude to Kumar�۪s characters that��was not present��in ‘Wanted’. The first half an��hour of the movie��takes you��on an amazing high with Shiva�۪s style and fun side. This��seems to��get lost half-way when the serious part of the story kicks in but��during the last hour it returns combined with thrill and action.

‘Rowdy Rathore’ has everything that you need in what you call a typical masala film. The mix of spices in the two-and-a-half-hours curry session are pure genius, style and complete fun. The movie that you will��have��stepped in the cinema with low expectations of is��proven otherwise when you leave��because it has a lot more entertainment to offer that one is led to think. At a time when films build you up and then let you down, ‘Rowdy Rathore’ makes a mark and sets a new standard as the wild horse in this race for box office hits. The coolness that��Kumar brings to his character is much beyond his ‘Tees Maar Khan’ (2010) role and has fun and attitude written all over; be it��through the��music he plays with his hands, his mental rewind switch or simply his cool dialogues. Prabhu Deva promised a hit.. then he sure has one��here! Main jo kehta hun.. woh main karta hoon…

One thing to look out for in ‘Rowdy Rathore’ is Prabhu Deva�۪s obvious love for Govinda.��The actor was��dancing in ‘Wanted’ and��Kumar�۪s colourful pants and dance routines that will remind you of him repeatedly!

Rating: 4.25/5