Bullet Raja
Writer: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Shergill, Chunky Pandey, Ravi Kishan, Gulshan Grover, Raj Babbar, and Vidyut Jamwal
Release Date: November 29, 2013
Review written sometime in July 2014
Bullet Raja (BR) must have been easy to film. After all, it hasn't anything way out of the usual Bollywood caper. It has:
The movie is set in Uttar Pradesh- perhaps because that's the only Indian state that can allow ridiculous events to complete themselves at lightning speed. That aside, that Pradesh is also, these days, a brand new excuse to script dialogues punctuated with the choicest of Hindi abuse. Fortunately, BR keeps the abuse down to a tolerable minimum.
The actions sequences, however, border on an intolerable maximum. Well, it's an action film, so that's to be expected and the action director, Parvez Khan, makes them all look slick: Every kick and punch choreographed as if they were part of an item number. Slow motion seeps into the frames frequently and explosions do show up when the goings-on themselves get explosive!
The Star Couple
The Second Fiddles
The Villains
Music
The songs are all forgettable and don't even plead to be heard. But the background score is pleasing, though you cannot help noticing it sounds very much like that of a certain Hollywood Western movie. Perhaps Fox Studios wanted it that way - after all it financed the movie! Which does explain why the movie does, at times, resemble a Hollywood Western itself!
Shots et al
The cinematography is nothing much to rave about. No new camera angle is in play here and well, I cannot blame the cinematographer for that! Camera angles seem to have finished doing the rounds of invention and are in no mood to learn new tricks anymore. So, in BR, the money shots - zooming into everything titillating and exhilarating - more than take care of the cash registers. The close ups give enough of detail about Saif and Sonakshi's skin texture, and the sweeping shots intercut with quick grabs of action keep the audience from dozing.
Direction
Director Tigmanshu Dhulia doesn't believe in dozing either. Dhulia wisely chooses to forgo character development for almost half the cast. After all, that needs time and dwindles the pace to an amble. Instead, he keeps his eye on the plot, knows when it's about to slacken, and jabs it in its shin for it to pick up speed.
Which, along with the rest, explains why I managed to sit through nearly three hours of Pradesh-esque violence, not touch the remote, and be pleased by this enterprise.
Writer: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Shergill, Chunky Pandey, Ravi Kishan, Gulshan Grover, Raj Babbar, and Vidyut Jamwal
Release Date: November 29, 2013
Review written sometime in July 2014
Bullet Raja (BR) must have been easy to film. After all, it hasn't anything way out of the usual Bollywood caper. It has:
- The usual angry hero
- The complimentary heroine
- The evil yet pious politician
- The hit men
- Dashes of slapstick humour
And
- The mandatory songs thrown in for good measure too.
So, that it did make me sit in my Sunday best and watch it from start to finish is a feat in itself! You see I came back home from the Sunday service at around 11:00 am or so, switched on the telly, and stayed glued to my chair all throughout the movie!
I think that was because BR - though riddled with the usual Hindi masala - chose to keep one particular cliche down to the minimum: that of uncontrollable melodrama. Simultaneously, it decided that pace is what it will run after.
Consequently, the movie sprints along to the finishing line. Every event and its associated sequences seem to have been allotted a stipulated number of minutes to wrap themselves up. So:
- The hero is made to go from good boy to mean man in five minutes
- The first batch of villains arrive in another five minutes
- Character development got out of the film's way in three minutes
- Hero and gang rise to prominence in seven minutes
- Hero gets rid of the first batch of villains in another six minutes
- Hero romances the heroine in 8 minutes
- Hero meets the final batch of villains halfway through the 8 minutes of his romance
- Etc.
- Etc..
- Etc...
The movie is set in Uttar Pradesh- perhaps because that's the only Indian state that can allow ridiculous events to complete themselves at lightning speed. That aside, that Pradesh is also, these days, a brand new excuse to script dialogues punctuated with the choicest of Hindi abuse. Fortunately, BR keeps the abuse down to a tolerable minimum.
The actions sequences, however, border on an intolerable maximum. Well, it's an action film, so that's to be expected and the action director, Parvez Khan, makes them all look slick: Every kick and punch choreographed as if they were part of an item number. Slow motion seeps into the frames frequently and explosions do show up when the goings-on themselves get explosive!
The Star Couple
- Saif Ali Khan figures prominently in the action sequences. He cloaks his torso in the most rambunctious silk shirts and carries them off very well. He also allows us inside those shirts for a grand lusty look at his nipples. Halfway through, I think the director, Tigmanshu Dhulia, realizes that Saif has to be covered up. But by then, it's a bit too late. For Saif seems to be in no mood for any covering whatsoever. However, all that skin show doesn't distract Saif from his job: acting. He infuses life in the most mechanical of scenes and his comic timing is spot on.
- In contrast, Sonakshi Sinha keeps all her dupattas, sarees, and salwars close to herself; smiles; pats her hair; looks down and around to emote feelings of love; and just about passes the acting test. She doesn't have much of a role, really. The tidbit she is on the screen for requires the usual I-am-so-shy behaviour. And that virtually every newcomer can accomplish.
The Second Fiddles
- Jimmy Shergill personifies the line between aggression and subtle anger. As Saif's brother-esque friend, he is restrained and judicious in his reactions, which lends the required seriousness to his character.
- Vidyut Jamwal looks more sexy than rustic and dilapidated for the part of the police inspector asked to nab the main protagonist. He does manage to show off his Kalaripayattu skills. But that does not overshadow his lack of facial expressions. Vidyut seems to think inspectors scowl every second of their wakings lives. And so, a scowl is all that he dishes out by way of acting!
The Villains
- Gulshan Grover and Raj Babbar cloak their villainy with subtle humour and likeable antics.They aren't overtly dramatic nor are they made to recite long decorative monologues either!
- Chunky Pandey is a pleasant surprise! I did not recognize him at all! The first time I saw him act was in Aag hi Aag (way back in 1987). Thereafter, came Tezaab, Khatron ke Khiladi, and the last I remember of him was he romancing Madhuri Dixit in Khilaaf. (I haven't sat through Ankhen nor watched D.). So, to me, his going from all that to the icky villain in BR is progress indeed!
- Ravi Kissen breathes in a whole lot of venom and fire into his role of a wronged henchman. The man can act and he makes that amply clear. Watch him pretend to be a woman for the sake of his own safety and then watch him transform into the reckless goon he is meant to be. There's a whole lot of potential in him - as a corporate boss will have said - that hasn't been tapped as yet.
Music
The songs are all forgettable and don't even plead to be heard. But the background score is pleasing, though you cannot help noticing it sounds very much like that of a certain Hollywood Western movie. Perhaps Fox Studios wanted it that way - after all it financed the movie! Which does explain why the movie does, at times, resemble a Hollywood Western itself!
Shots et al
The cinematography is nothing much to rave about. No new camera angle is in play here and well, I cannot blame the cinematographer for that! Camera angles seem to have finished doing the rounds of invention and are in no mood to learn new tricks anymore. So, in BR, the money shots - zooming into everything titillating and exhilarating - more than take care of the cash registers. The close ups give enough of detail about Saif and Sonakshi's skin texture, and the sweeping shots intercut with quick grabs of action keep the audience from dozing.
Direction
Director Tigmanshu Dhulia doesn't believe in dozing either. Dhulia wisely chooses to forgo character development for almost half the cast. After all, that needs time and dwindles the pace to an amble. Instead, he keeps his eye on the plot, knows when it's about to slacken, and jabs it in its shin for it to pick up speed.
Which, along with the rest, explains why I managed to sit through nearly three hours of Pradesh-esque violence, not touch the remote, and be pleased by this enterprise.
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