BULLET RAJA- GOLI KE HUMJOLI

I am quite exhausted by Uttar Pradesh. I am fatigued by the glorification of uncouth men who take the law into their own hands, beating up people while keeping a black book of all the women they have slept with. As I mentioned in one of my earlier reviews, Bollywood certainly seems to be passing through a ‘crisis of masculinity’. Every movie these days seems to have a rural/small town bred hero, more than rough around the edges, prone to violence, and fond of the ladies. He spends his time beating up Prakash Raj or some other staple villain who is a politician or Don from the hinterlands. Bullet Raja tells the saga of  Raja Missra (Saif Ali Khan) and Rudra Tripathi(Jimmy Shergill) who have aged enough to qualify for a testosterone laden film like this.

It fires off with a shamefully vulgar and badly choreographed ‘item song’.  Mahie Gill forgets her sari and sings ‘Don’t touch my body’ in her barely there blouse and petticoat. What is even more disturbing is that a few hours later Jimmy Shergill who has just met Saif Ali Khan asks him why he hasn't thought of doing more than dancing with her. I would have thought its dark humour or dark satire, given the increasing crimes against women, but sadly its not.

Tigmanshu Dhulia has created certain expectations from his films after the fantastic Paan Singh Tomar and the juicy Saahib Biwi aur Gangster. Unfortunately the director chooses to play it Saif, opting for a commercial checklist, leaving large bullet holes in the script.There is very little time spent on exposition or establishing characters , focusing instead on Saif’s bid for supershtar status. 

So Raja (Saif) is on the run from goons for secret reasons only known to the scriptwriters. He appears like a misfired shot at a wedding where he meets Rudra Tripathi( Jimmy Shergill). After doing manly stuff like dancing, drinking and almost doing the naked lady from the dance, Raja and Rudra end up defending Rudra’s uncle from an attack. The ambush is organised by Chunky Pandey who has a bad Sajid Khan hangover, and sounds like Aakhri Pasta relocated to Uttar Pradesh. So Raja and Rudra do a Shootout in Tabela saving the uncle and his folks. He suggests they become ‘political commandos’, providing security while politicians make a mess across the state. While they initially resist citing vast employment opportunities and their resistance to violence, they succumb soon enough. They first avenge the death of  Rudra's uncle, and then bump off Aakhri Kachori and gang. R&R soon become come under the protection of Raj Babbar who leads a pack of Shuklas and Yadavs, usual suspects amongst filmy villains from UP. The duo soon abandon all noble intentions and proceed to arm twist, subvert the law, scar, scare, and kill as they tighten their grip on the state.However arrogance proves to be their tragic flaw and disturbs the delicate balance of egos and power. Gulshan Grover playing a rich industrialist who is financing both the ruling and the opposition parties, gets Raja’s best friend and shooting buddy, killed.

What follows is a needlessly long and unedited saga of retribution where Raja glowers and growls, mouths wise cracks and shoot’s em up! We miss the natural and restrained Jimmy Shergill who slips effortlessly into his role, unlike Saif who floats like a drop of oil on water. He is close but never fully immersed in the character, perhaps conscious of his image as a star. Ironic, considering the transformation he underwent to give us the brilliant Langda Tyagi. We miss the complexity and depth  of Tyagi. Saif fires with sincerity but just misses the mark. He is good in the action sequences, chasing, shooting and beating up in style but Dhulia never lets us in to what makes him tick. We don’t know anything about Raja or what drives him except his ego and later revenge. 

The supporting cast on the other hand gets some of the best lines in the movie and only highlight the gap between Saif’s struggle at authenticity and their natural performances. Ravi Kishen is enjoyable as a cross dressing sharp shooter who says, ‘aap support karo, hum visphot karenge’ and another minor goon who ponders delightfully on “Yeh humesha do kyun hote hain? Sholay mein bhi toh do thhe”. 

Gulshan Grover is enjoyable, as is the jail based fixer who has three cell phones and manipulates political strategy on Skype. It’s in these bylanes of Bullet Raja that Tigmanshu Dhulia’s touch sparkles. There is a cheeky one liner on the need for educated goons, dacoits who surrender on the condition of Bipasha dancing, and a hilarious moment where the kidnapper and hostages laugh together at a bad soap opera.  I wish there was much more of this and much lesser of Rowdy Raja ne liya revenge. 

 I am not going to waste too many words on Sonakshi Sinha who is determined to do mediocre, marginal roles, that give her lesser screen time than Saif's minor sidekicks. In fact this movie would have been far more fun if we didn’t have to sit through a silly desi disco number and a random romantic song just to justify her presence.  This movie could have been a very interesting bromance, criss crossing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Jai-Veeru. But alas, Dhulia is unfair to us and himself. Unless you are held at gunpoint, you can safely give Bullet Raja a miss and wait for it to come on TV. Sometimes, a remote is more powerful than a gun.