Before the release of Maruthi’s The Raja Saab, the audience was promised grandeur, humour, romance, and a touch of magic. Unfortunately for the Prabhas-starrer, whenever it makes an attempt at the above-mentioned romance, it tests your patience. The humour works in bits and pieces. And the less said about grandiosity and magic, the better. The ‘horror comedy romance’ never reaches its full potential after making you sit through an over-3-hour-long film.
The Raja Saab story
Raju, aka the titular Raja Saab (Prabhas) has only one love of his life despite what the women around him seem to think – his grandmother, Ganga Devi (Zarina Wahab). His world constantly revolves around worrying and safeguarding the woman who has what doctors think is advanced Alzheimer’s. She tends to forget everyone and everything around her, except for her husband, Kanakaraju (Sanjay Dutt), who has been missing for many years. A journey to bring home the old man uncovers dark secrets about his grandparents’ past and puts everything Raju loves in danger.
The Raja Saab review
Dr Padmabhushan (Boman Irani) describes Kanakaraju as a hypnotist in The Raja Saab’s trailer, but the film shows us that’s just the beginning. And yet, instead of exploring the potential the story holds, Maruthi wastes a huge chunk of the runtime setting up Raju’s unnecessary romances (yes, plural) with Anitha (Riddhi Kumar), Bessy (Nidhhi Agerwal) and Bhairavi (Malavika Mohanan), or in objectifying them. By the time he gets to the much-hyped 40-minute climax, you’re so ready to be done with this film that the giants, crocodiles, warriors and dunes thrown your way hardly make a dent.
What works in The Raja Saab
The Raja Saab is set in this mysterious haveli, which has an oddity at every corner that Kanakaraju built in the middle of nowhere. And when Raju, with his motley crew arrives there, you are intrigued enough to know what nonsensical, though fun, trial they have to pass through next. Some wisecracks and one-liners in the most serious situations cut through the fluff, as does a well-placed reference to Prabhas looking like Jesus (IYKYK). In the thick of the mind game between two key characters, Maruthi also effectively explores the depth of how easily Raju can blur the lines between reality and fantasy, sanity and insanity.
The Raja Saab is dragged down by unreached potential
The Raja Saab is filled with scenes that seem to be set up only to let you down the next moment. For example, Bhairavi gets to kick some serious butt in one scene. But before you can even cheer for her, her strength is sacrificed at the altar of Raju’s heroism. Even conflicts that seem big are resolved oh-so-lazily. Another fight scene involves the world’s sturdiest suitcase and gravity-defying stunts that are too hard to comprehend. All this while Thaman S plays Harry Potter and Ratsasan ‘inspired’ music in the loudest decibel possible.
Speaking of fights, every single time you notice Prabhas’ face shoddily superimposed on a dupe, it snatches you right out of what should be an immersive experience. As if that’s not absurd enough, why are the women in this film roaming around a haunted house in lehengas, sequinned sarees and thigh-high slit dresses? Surely, some practical clothing can be found in the magical wardrobe the house seems to possess, especially when you don’t know what you’ll be hit with the next second. Even worse, some of the cool-looking scenes promised in the trailer don’t even feature in the film. Including Prabhas’ grey-haired look.
In conclusion
The horror comedy genre isn’t necessarily new to Indian cinema or Tollywood. When films like Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) and Anando Brahma (2017) exist, it’s lazy to build an intriguing setup and throw some cool ideas at the audience to see what sticks. The Raja Saab’s aim might be to make you laugh, but the overall film needed more profundity and brilliance.
And right when you’re ready to forgo all this and are longing to go towards the exit sign, Maruthi announces a sequel, The Raja Saab 2: Circus 1935. By now, you don’t question why Prabhas is sitting in clown makeup or why the sequel is supposedly set in a circus. It is what it is!
