Khiladi Kumar’s version of a moustachioed cop is
appealing, but the formulaic plot makes the film
boring
From the promos and songs of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and
Prabhu Dheva’s Rowdy Rathore , it’s obvious the film is a
done-to-death drama woven around a larger-than-life
hero, except with a different superstar, Akshay Kumar.
Obviously, the film highlights our filmmakers’ desperate
need for a guaranteed success formula at the box office.
But when there have been so many films in the same
genre, shouldn’t writers and directors try to incorporate
some uniqueness and freshness to the over-abused plot?
Rowdy Rathore unfolds in Mumbai, where a small-time
thief, ironically called Shiva (Akshay Kumar) and his sidekick
(Paresh Ganatra) make a living by looting people – from a
policeman to the aam janta . During one such robbery, the
PJ-cracking thief’s eyes fall on the curvaceous, salwar-kurta
clad Paro (Sonakshi Sinha). It’s love at first sight for Shiva.
He not only tricks Paro into believing that she too is in love
with him, but also coolly becomes a part of the wedding
his lady love has come to attend from Patna. The first half
of the film goes into establishing Shiva’s city slick chor
character and his romance with Paro.
Meanwhile, on one occasion he gets into a situation of
mistaken identity. First he is mistaken by a man as his lost
bhaiyya , and then a young girl insists he is her father.
When Shiva tries to find out why the young girl is hellbent
on calling him her dad, he finds a photograph of the girl
with his lookalike. He is a cop, Vikram Rathore.
In the second half, it is revealed that Vikram hails from a
village called Devgarh where he saved people from Babji’s
(played by Nasser) tyranny. Soon after the intermission,
Vikram dies and Shiva takes over as the cop. And he
becomes Rowdy Rathore! Unlike Vikram, Shiva isn’t always
beating and punching the burly goons, he’s quite a city
slicker who slyly destroys Babji’s empire in the village. You
don’t need great imagination to know what happens next
and how the film ends.
Clearly to watch this film you shouldn’t pay attention to
any of those nerves and cells in your body that look for
rationale, ‘coz if you don’t you will suffer.
Sonakshi Sinha’s character is an extension of her role in
Dabangg , and she thankfully has more dialogues in this
on. She is in the film to cast a spell on the hero with her
chikni kamar and scare the villain in the climax scene by
singing praises of her rowdy thief-turned-cop boyfriend.
Akshay Kumar does an able job of playing thief, serious
cop and eventually thief-turned-cop, Rowdy Rathore. His
character is obviously inspired from Salman Khan’s
Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg and Ajay Devgn’s Bajirao
Singham in Singham. The only difference is that Akshay
has enhanced the chor and cop character by adding his
kind of slapstick humour to it.
Rowdy Rathore has all the ingredients that you look for in
a masala entertainer – a larger-than-life hero, a heroine
who looks good and dances well, punchy and funny
dialogues, humdrum situations, loud music, burly goons
and a happy end. Yet it doesn’t impress you. Or maybe if
you are an Akshay Kumar fan and would like to watch his
version of a mustachioed cop, go for it this weekend.
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