The Raja Saab Review

Post the gigantic success of the Baahubali series, Prabhas became a synonym for big-budget, extravagant movies. Irrespective of the final result, all of his films over the last ten years have been made to give the audience a big, big-screen spectacle. After giving two back-to-back blockbusters with ‘Salaar’ and ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, he teamed up with the director, Maruthi, for ‘The Raja Saab’, a romantic horror comedy turned into a romantic horror fantasy film.

Maruthi created a sensation in 2013 with a horror comedy film titled ‘Prema Katha Chitram’. Although he did not direct ‘Prema Katha Chitram’, he stole the show with his writing and his trademark comedy. When a film was announced in the combination of Prabhas and Maruthi, most people thought it was a wrong decision by Prabhas but a certain section of people believed that Maruthi would come up with a good entertaining film. After being in writing and production for around three years, the film was finally released in theatres today. Did Prabhas complete a hat-trick, after two hugely successful films, ‘Salaar’ and ‘Kalki 2898 AD’? Did Maruthi come up with an entertaining film and prove his naysayers wrong? How did Thaman score music for the first time for Prabhas? Did the three actresses, Malavika Mohanan, Nidhhi Agerwal & Riddhi Kumar, get substantial roles in the film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Gangamma(Zarina Wahab), lives with her grandson, Raja Saab(Prabhas). Although she ends up forgetting most of the things due to Alzheimer’s, the one person she never forgets to think of is her long-lost husband, Kanakaraju(Sanjay Dutt). On one fine day, Raju, gets to know that, Kanakaraju, is living in Hyderabad. He decides to visit Hyderabad, meet his grandfather, and reunite his grandfather with his grandmother. What challenges does Raja Saab, face in Hyderabad? What is his relationship with Bhairavi(Malavika Mohanan)? What is the backstory of Bhairavi and her grandfather (Samuthirakani)? Why did Kanakaraju, leave, (Gangamma)? How did Ganga Devi, a princess end up becoming Gangamma, a poor woman? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Prabhas’ comedy timing in a couple of sequences was good and he did a good job with his performance in an emotional sequence in the second half. However, there were a lot of inconsistencies in his looks and also, he looked out of place and uninspired at most places throughout the film. Not sure if the idea to shoot even the simplest of the sequences also in a green mat, is the director’s or hero’s but the decision misfired big-time.

Sanjay Dutt, got a lengthy role and did a decent job with his performance. Samuthirakani, made his presence felt in a crucial role but his old get-up looked very odd. Senior actress, Zarina Wahab, in the role of the grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s, did well. Her performance during the climax is very good. However, due to the outdated writing for her character, most of the time, her performance appeared melodramatic. Boman Irani was just ok with his performance. An actor of his calibre was wasted in a not-so-well-written role.

Malavika Mohanan, Nidhhi Agerwal & Riddhi Kumar, the film had three actresses but none of them were able to deliver an engaging performance. But, there’s not much they can do in poorly written roles that are used only as eye candy. At least, Malavika Mohanan, got an action sequence but the other two actresses, added no value to the film.

VTV Ganesh was wasted in a poorly written role. The comedian trio, Satya, Prabhas Sreenu, and Saptagiri, did a good job in their respective roles. In a film which has one of India’s biggest stars and many notable actors, it is only a few sequences with the comedian trio, that were engaging and entertaining to an extent.

Technicalities:

Barring a couple of BGMs, Thaman’s work for the film is underwhelming to say the least. It felt like he worked on the film almost halfheartedly. But then, there’s not much a music director can do for a lifeless and aimless product. Editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, is one of the biggest negatives of the film. The first hour in the film, the pre-climax and climax, dragged forever and tested patience. Easily, at least thirty minutes of the film would have been edited. There’s not much to talk about the cinematographer, Karthik Palani’s, work. He delivered a pretty substandard output which gave the film a very outdated look. Especially, a few frames of the hero in the songs are terrible.

Yet another big negative of the film is the VFX. The film had unnecessarily overambitious VFX in places and was below-par VFX in most places. Most of the film was shot on the green mat and they tried to enhance the visuals by using visual effects but they ended up looking terrible in most places. We can see the amount of excessive money that was spent on the film by the production house, People Media Factory, but unfortunately, the film ended up wasting their hard-earned resources. Let’s discuss more about the writer and director, Maruthi’s, work in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠A Few Maruthi Mark Comedy Portions
2.⁠ ⁠Prabhas Timing In A Couple of Scenes

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Outdated Writing
2.⁠ ⁠Aimless Direction
3.⁠ ⁠Poor Music
4.⁠ ⁠Excessive Length
5.⁠ ⁠Unnecessary Extravagant Grandeur
6.⁠ ⁠Inconsistent VFX

Analysis:

Prema Katha Chitram, a horror comedy film, created a sensation when it was released in 2013. That film was written by Maruthi and many believe that he even ghost-directed the film. As mentioned by Maruthi in many interviews, Prabhas is a huge fan of the entertainment in Maruthi films like Prema Katha Chitram, Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, etc. When, The Raja Saab, was announced, people were told that Prabhas wanted to take a break from big-budget films, which he usually does and wanted to come up with a simple entertainer filled with comedy. It appeared that Maruthi was a decent choice to direct a simple horror comedy film which Prabhas was looking to do. What started as a simple horror comedy film, eventually turned into a horror fantasy film with extravagant grandeur. The reason the director said was that a simple horror comedy film may not work on a huge PAN India star like Prabhas & such a huge star’s film commands grandeur. Now read this – In a film with about three hours duration with a PAN India star like, Prabhas, the only few entertaining and engaging sequences belonged to Maruthi’s trademark over-the-top comedy on comedians trio, Satya, Prabhas Sreenu, and Saptagiri. It is an understatement to call the film a misfire.

If you observe Maruthi’s filmography, irrespective of the genre, he has scored success when he stayed true to the script and put his focus on the basics. And, every time he made a film by setting the combination with notable stars without focusing much on the script, he ended up delivering flops. It happened with Babu Bangaram, Shailaja Reddy Alludu, Pakka Commercial and now, The Raja Saab. The film in a nutshell, runs on the mind games between the protagonist and antagonist. But, it is surprising and even shocking to see, Maruthi, not coming up with at least a decently conceived intelligent sequence. What we get to see is the director’s overenthusiasm to use his lead actor’s star image. A star hero with a sky-high image and actors from multiple film industries, can never make a film cater to a PAN Indian audience. It is the script and the engaging execution that can help a film reach more people across the country. Unfortunately, Maruthi, overlooked this simple fact and ended up coming up with a mess of a film.

While the writing in the first half was bland and outdated, it gets directionless in the second half. Especially, the pre-climax and climax, with around forty to forty-five minutes, dragged forever with mindless writing and aimless direction and tests the patience. After a barely watchable first half, the film completely lost track in the second half. On top of poor writing and direction, the excessive usage of green mat to shoot even the simplest of sequences, gets into the nerves of the audience after a point. It is a shocker to see a few shots in the songs also captured on a green mat and then enhanced using the visual effects.

Read this dialogue – ‘Scale tho gattiga kodithe…Debba Tagalakunda…Deepika Tagultunda’. The film had many such outdated dialogues. Maruthi talked about an action sequence in the film that was shot for around forty days by using hundreds of fighters but it was shocking not to see that action sequence in the film. Also, there was a poster released with Prabhas in an old look and in the first trailer, there was an action sequence shown with Prabhas in an old look. And, it is again shocking not to see the footage of Prabhas in the old look in the film. Isn’t it blatant wastage of money and resources? It says the director has no clarity on what he was making.

Prabhas’ attempt to come up with a lighter vein film among the big-budget extravagant movies he’s doing, ended up being neither a comedy film, nor a horror film. Overall, The Raja Saab, is uninspiring, unexciting and uninteresting. The film may find it very difficult to sustain even for a few days at the box office. A forgettable film for Prabhas, Maruthi and team.

Final Verdict – Misfired ‘Illusion’

Rating – 2/5