Rajadhi Raja - Movie Review - Mammootty, Lakshmi Rai

 Directed by     Ajai Vasudev
Produced by     M. K. Nasser, Stanly Silvester Consera
Written by     Udayakrishna, Siby K. Thomas
Music by     Karthik Raja, Berny-Ignatius
Gopi Sunder (Background score)
Cinematography     Shaji
Edited by     Mahesh Narayanan
Distributed by     Play House Release, PJ Entertainments (Europe), Nanma cinemas (Australia)
Release date(s)    September 5, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

 Cast

    Mammootty as Shekharan Kutty.
    Raai Laxmi as Radha.
    Joju George as Ayyappan.
    Siddique
    Mukesh Khanna
    Lena
    Taniya Stanley
    Nawab Shah
    Rahul Dev
    Unni Mukundan (Guest appearance)
    Shamna Kasim (Guest appearance)


 Shekharan Kutty is the manager at a Petrol pump, who also runs his own restaurant adjacent to it. He is living happily with his wife Radha and daughter. His peaceful life goes for a toes as few goons from the north enters the scene, who go after Shekharan and his family thinking he is not the simple guy who he portrays to be, instead the dreadful goon Raja from Mumbai.Who is Shekharan, who is Raja, what's their story, how all issues are settled forms the rest of the story.

The story is lifted from Rajnikanth's iconic 'Baasha' [The very same writers wrote 'Kochi rajavu' (2005) a rehash of Baasha again !!! ] but lacks the punch of the original. The film begins as a family film and shifts gears to action mode from interval block. The much talked about before release 'transformation' scene just fells flat ans instead of wolf whistles evokes yawn or (unintentional) laughter as Mammooty clearly looked uninterested in the proceedings. No matter how over the top or ridiculous the action scenes may be, the attitude of actor can make a difference, sadly here it isn't the case here. Mammootty not being a great 'mover' also had its -ve impact as he was just standing there swinging his arms and legs and the villains just comes rushing in and goes flying back.

The second half which begins with flash back sequences also fails to create the impact, Mammootty's weird Don getup also doesn't serve any good. From there own its just going with the proceedings for the audience till the end credits roll.

Ajay Vasudev shows promise as director, in the league of Vysakh. The movie has pace and there's not much of a lag or drag. The script is just rehash of rehashes and there's not even a moment of uniqueness or surprise element in it. It just evokes a sense of Dejavu and yawn. Cinematography was good, editing was efficient except mass scenes which were ruined by ages old flash cuts. Music was disappointing, a song including video lifted from 'Dookudu' and another one from a kids album. Action blocks lifted from Telugu movies like 'Brindavaanam' etc, scenes/story elements from 'Runway' 'Kanmadam' etc where also there. Action choreography was bad, should have kept the lead actor and gone with his image style and within his comfort zone. The dialogues were also ordinary as there is nothing worth mentioning.

Mammooty should stop doing such crap movies, if he looks this disinterested imagine how the viewers would be feeling. Joju impresses even though his role serves the same purpose Baburaj's role had in 'Kammath'. Rest of the cast just did what they had to, nothing worth mentioning.

In all Rajadhi Raja is not worth waiting time or money this festive season unless you are a die hard fan of Mammootty the star. To those who last week suddenly discovered some undead brain cells & 'logics' in their head, if those are still active please stay away from this film.

Verdict - Skip/Avoid