Bullett Raja

Tigmanshu Dhulia is associated with hard hitting intense movies that have really solid dialogues and more importantly a really solid story.  Bullett Raja ticks most of the boxes but at the end of the day it is nothing we haven’t seen before.  The narration, the overall feel of the story, the performances and even the music had “seen that” written all over it from frame 1 (technically frame 1 + 10 mins coz I came in late) to finish.

What is different though is that Saif Ali Khan finds his way into a Tigmanshu movie.  That and Sonakshi Sinha kepts aside, most of the cast is one that comes from a movie from a director who is probably a better actor (I know I am stirring a hornet’s nest here). Even Mahie Gill finds place through an item number that makes you wish she would stick to only item numbers (because after Dev D, she hasn’t shown any signs of acting).

I walked in late (and missed “Don’t Touch My Body”) but I could piece the initial bits quite easily.  Raja Mishra (Saif Ali Khan) is a young educated man who is struggling to find a job.  He gatecrashes a wedding to save his life and befriends Rudra (Jimmy Shergill) whose uncle (Sharat Saxena) is the host.  An item number later, he saves Rudra’s uncle from a life threatening attack.

The exploits of Raja and Rudra spread like fire and they are soon on the hitlist of most goons.  To keep away from trouble they get themselves in jail where they meet a Political Advisor called Srivastava (Vipin Sharma).  Srivastava introduces them to the concept of Political Commando (read glorified goon).  Before you know it, Raja and Rudra are on their way to being notorious thanks to the support from the leader of the opposition.

Bullett Raja is probably Tigmanshu Dhulia’s most commercial movie to date but as mentioned earlier, his signature style is all over the movie.  The dialogues are quite solid and well written.  Sajid Wajid’s music is good but again will not create a rage across discotheques.  And that applies to Don’t Touch My Body as well.

Saif Ali Khan seems woefully out of place in his dialogue delivery but his confidence and screen presence does enough to distract you from this hiccup.  The rest of the cast is, as always really good.  Vipin Sharma, Raj Babbar, Ravi Kissen and Sharat Saxena are names who don’t need to be told how to act.  The low point as always is Sonakshi Sinha who is viewed as nothing but a piece of furniture lying somewhere.

There is an interesting twist with the character of Vidyut Jamwal who apparently replaced another Tigmanshu favourite – Irrfan Khan.  Although I wonder how Irrfan could have done the stunts that Jamwal managed (some of them were far from the high quality stunts that Jamwal usually shows us).  But you can add the character to all the others that Tigmanshu Dhulia has carefully painted through the movie.

Several high points in Bullett Raja for sure.   Not too many lows and that probably brings us to our rating of 6.5 on 10.  As always, it could have been much better with a few cuts.  The Mumbai and Kolkata angles were kind of not required and could have saved all of us some more time especially in the 2^nd half.  Overall, worth a dekko.  You will not squirm in your seats except towards the end where it kind of loses pace.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYpCh3n2XXo