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When I saw Ra.One

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Created on Monday, 31 October 2011 12:06

Written by Super User

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Much has been said, written and heard about this movie. No movie has caught the public’s imagination the way this one has. There have been comparisons galore. “His is bigger than his” type analogies are all over the electronic space around us. Love him, hate him or ignore him. But the juggernaut that is SRK rolls on.

I will be honest. I went to the theatre wanting to hate the movie. Ra.One – clever play on words – the name is in line with the current trend of naming movies after their villains. And a very menacing villain, indeed! But truth be told, I ended up liking the movie. By default, I do not like any SRK movie. By default, I want every SRK movie to crash and burn.

Yes, the movie is a mish-mash of almost everything good that Hollywood has thrown at us. Spiderman meets Terminator 2 / 3 meets Spy Kids meets blah blah. Who cares? ‘Cause it works. It works like nothing else has worked before. I do not understand the holier than thou attitude that we Indians revel in. Originality is overrated. There is one of only four or five stories in every movie. Even the fantastic Star Wars series is basically a father-son saga narrated in the backdrop of intergalactic war.

Movie critics in India tell a different tale. Of course they do. They do not understand the difference between ‘critique’ and ‘criticism’. I do not rate them at all. At any rate, they do not ‘make’ or ‘break’ a movie. The paying public does.

If I have to nitpick, and I obviously have, then the movie has made a hash of the ‘sci’ part of ‘sci-fi’ but definitely pulled the ‘fi’ part off. Good science fiction has its grounding in good science. That said, the fantasy is brilliant. Not once did I ever have to look at my watch. Partly because the movie kept me spellbound throughout but mostly because I do not wear a watch. Either way, when the interval happened it came as a surprise. I did not realise that half the movie was through.

The 3-D is a little cheesy. It is digitally mastered and it shows. The action sequences, while good in their own right, do not merit 3-D. Kareena Kapoor, looking the most ravishing she ever has, certainly does. The likes of Kareena, Raveena, Bipasha, Madhuri, etc. only give more credence to my theory – women get hotter once they get past 30. The VFX while very good for a Hindi movie could learn a thing or two from Endhiran. My two cents? SRK, next time don’t bother with 3-D and spend the extra cash on VFX.

Only time will tell whether the movie recovers its money through theatrical avenues or needs to rely on satellite rights. But one thing is clear. Others whine and whinge about the lack of good sci-fi / superhero movies. SRK went ahead and made one.

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