The Raja Saab, produced by People Media Factory, hits the screens after postponements. In this section, we review the latest box office release.
Plot:
In the present day, Gangamma (Zarina Wahab) has forgotten the shape of yesterday and the names of today… but one memory still burns bright. Her husband, Kanakaraju (Sanjay Dutt) is not gone, she insists. Her grandson Raja Saab (Prabhas), the only anchor left in her unraveling world, decides to chase that ghost of a promise. What begins as a tender mission to bring his grandfather home soon twists into something far darker. Because Kanakaraju has been dead. And he is now a cruel ghost.
Performances:
It's refreshing to see Prabhas light up the mood for the first time in many years. Just as Darling (2010) was an unexpected break from his action-hero persona, The Raja Saab is a much-needed break from the hyper-masculine streak. He dances more than ever, he has more heroines to groove with ever, he does more comedy than ever. However, his talent goes to waste due to lacklustre narration.
Sanjay Dutt is menacing, and the brief flashback in the first half establishes his evilness fairly well. Zarina Wahab is endearing, fitting into the role of a grandma. Nidhhi Agerwal, Riddhi Kumar and Malavika Mohanan are crushed by a boring rom-com track; their roles serve little purpose even if you account for the intended entertainment value. Samuthirakani's expressions don't register. VTV Ganesh, Satya, Prabhas Sreenu, and Saptagiri try hard to generate laughter. Boman Irani plays the role of a psychiatrist without deviating from the core of his character.
Technical Departments:
Thaman’s music was supposed to know when to creep in and when to back off. The background score, however, is generic. The songs (Sahana Sahana, Nache Nache) would have been tolerable in a meaningful script; they are the textbook definition of "forced".
Karthik Palani’s cinematography makes good use of the haunted haveli, but what is captured outside the mansion is artificial. The frames stay atmospheric, with shadows doing most of the work rather than flashy tricks. Rajeevan’s haveli design feels eerie.
The stunt work by Ram-Laxman and King Solomon is quite unimaginative. The action doesn't blend smoothly with the supernatural elements and breaks the film’s rhythm.
Post-Mortem:
Too many things in the film were afterthoughts, inserted after the production began. The hypnotism-hallucination juxtaposition is one such. Ending the film with a forced cliff hanger that gives the lead to a sequel is another.
The Raja Saab's crime is not that it is packed with cliches. It's that the cliches are absolutely low-effort. If there is a Church, there has to be a terminally-ill child on the premises, the nuns have to gossip/banter like hostel girls, the prime one among them should be an orphan who is smitten by the Good Samaritan hero, and someone has to invariably use inappropriate language during Sunday prayers. And, the most important of all, the Father has to be slightly comical. Director Maruthi's itch to sound super-cool Gen Z is annoying. He thinks a comedian referring to Lord Krishna as Krish makes his writing sound updated. He thinks using terms like 'drama queen' (without knowing their meaning) makes him so 2026. He thinks naming a comedian as 'RIP' so that someone can say 'Rest In Peace' is so pan-world.
The mansion scenes were supposed to be the saving grace. They, however, comprehensively lack the energy and narrative dignity a superstar vehicle deserves. Granted that the intent was to make an entertainer but the genre needed a switch immediately post interval. Why is Saptagiri parodying Chandramukhi? Because Maruthi wrote the scene in a Prema Katha Chitram draft a good thirteen years ago. What are Prabhas Sreenu, Satya (he is tanned and given protruding front teeth) and VTV Ganesh doing in a so-called "world" that is allegedly enormous enough to necessitate a sequel? The trick is familiar. The more the number of joker characters, the more the comic scares. Or, so Maruthi thinks.
We are introduced to Dr Padmabhushan as the world's best psychiatrist without being told what makes him so exceptional. He has discovered that spirits possess weak minds first, a basic insight your average Netflix subscriber can tell you confidently after watching five Hollywood psychological horror thrillers.
Every bad film offers one hopeless moment from which there is no going back. That scene in The Raja Saab is the one that immediately follows the torment of a key character: the rom-com scene involves the hero and all three heroines. They do 'Nache Nache' at the expense of the audience's sanity.
Closing Remarks:
The Raja Saab is a tonal disaster that mistakes dated slapstick for "cool" Gen Z humor and lazy cliches for a cinematic universe. While it is genuinely refreshing to see Prabhas shed his brooding "Alpha" persona to embrace comedy and dance, his efforts are completely cannibalized by Director Maruthi’s shallow writing and a disjointed screenplay.
