Ra.One - the Movie Review

This review was written two weeks before the movie released. Yes, I hadn't seen the movie before writing this review. (Yes, Thank God!!)J

Ra.One is a hit; but you already knew that.

But what remains to be seen if it can block the other busters and overtake Salman’s triplets- Bodyguard, Dabangg, Ready, or as a long shot, would it able to outperform the Robot and the Idiots?

And Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) the businessman, is leaving no stone unturned to make the pre release of the movie as interesting as possible. Starting with the well publicized tie up with international singer Akon to sing his first Hindi song, then the unexpected(?) leak of the same song ‘Chammak Challo’, to one of the most business savvy movie decisions of all times – having a cameo of the original Robo, Rajnikant (thereby expanding the appeal of the movie to a whole new demographic), Ra.One is definitely hitting all the right notes.

Also, what SRK’s been doing on the marketing side is simply amazing – besides the regular TV promos and ads, the Ra.One - You Tube collaboration is truly an Indian first and will soon become something like an industry standard.

So what’s working for the movie, you ask? Well :

• A good Diwali movie - The movie, a visual effects extravaganza, is releasing in the long Diwali weekend, one of the prime movie going seasons of the year. Also it’s coming across as one that’s got everything that a Diwali movie would need – one of our hugest stars SRK, a sexy heroine in Bebo, bebo… the jhatkas n the matkas of Bebo, bebo… some very cool songs and an overall good vibe about the movie. So this Diwali, if ur buddies n family say, “Guys, Lets go catch some movie”, which movie do u think they’d watch? J

• An SRK Diwali - The most encouraging news about the movie is that the only thing standing against SRK this Diwali is just the villain in the movie. Its SRK all the way this Diwali, with literally no other movie worth speaking pitted against the Ra.One machine. Sure there are the Rascals, there’s Himesh with a haircut, then a Zayed starrer (with SRK doin a cameo btw) and a bunch of other such small fries. It’s an SRK Diwali this year folks and it’s almost sure to improve Ra.One’s prospects.

• The well oiled SRK marketing mix – Unlike other Indian movies where the promotions start rolling about six-eight weeks before the release, R.O’s first TV ad was played ten months back during the World Cup semi finals in Jan this year. Adding an extra few levels of punch onto the regular forms of promotions on tv, print etc, what sets the R.O marketing on fire is the huge emphasis on the digital space. Twitter, Google Plus, You Tube, gaming are all been exploited by SRK to sell the film. Also brands that he does not endorse like Western Union, McDonalds, Ducati, VW etc are also associating themselves with SRK on this one, in addition to the ones he's already endorsing. And a killer move on the part of the SRK is bringing the demi god Rajni to play a cameo in the pic, thereby improving his chances of abnormal cash flows from down south, Mind it!

• And get this – R.O is already on track to recover 80% of its costs (160 Crs) even before it gets released from cable, home theatre etc, so that weird sound you hear near Bandra is actually SRK laughing all the way to the bank. Also, the superhero property that SRK is sitting on is extremely lucrative as there are always other means to monetize it – so don’t be surprised if you’ll soon hear about sequels, toys, cartoons, games, merchandise ….

So besides a natural calamity, what could prevent R.O from outsmarting the Idiots?

• Well, even though SRK’s dil hai Hindustani, he is still an NRI darling. While that did help some of his movies like ‘My name is Khan’, which bombed in the rustic hinterlands of India but was a bonafide bonanza internationally, SRK’s appeal in Bharat is shades lower than the other two Khans. Sure, people here will also see R.O in droves but SRK’s NRI tag may not exactly take it to the territory of the Salman. And that is a big issue as Bharat, as proved by Sallu bhai, Singam and Force, is today the bigger box office. Also SRK’s urban focused marketing may not help this cause. It’s the single screens that can take R.O to another level of the stratosphere.

• The movie word.of.mouth - While the movie would do amazing business in the Diwali weekend, it’s gonna be the movie’s strength that can sustain its collections in the weeks to come. If the movie falters here, sure it’ll still make many a moolah but would still remain under the shadow of Phunsukh Wangdu.

And as for my movie review for which you came here, well, with the recent phenomenal successes of movies like Bodyguard, Ready etc.., does it even matter what a review tells u…. J

Go for it – it’s definitely an Indian first and sign of the bigger things to come from Bollywood.

And let’s see if it can turn out into India’s biggest hit ever.

Again.

J

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J

Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost!!!! :)

A great philosopher once said, “Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Ae, Ae Ae Ae..” J And a country of a billion dreams is doing “the pocket TT” a la Salman. Initial reviewers of the movie said that Salman followed his last year’s blockbuster with such a bad movie. Today, it’s India’s third highest grossing movie. So who’s laughing now?

Another colorful news: Shah Rukh Khan is mega pissed that his song for his much anticipated Diwali release, Ra-One, has been leaked online. The song called “Wanna be my Chammak Challo?” done by International singer Akon (yes, SRK paid him a bomb!) has already hit half a million views on You Tube at the time of writing this post. And btw, it’s an awesome song. J

Elsewhere, Bollywood Ka Baap is smarting as his home production is being released on the same day as the home production of Box Office ka Baap, the Perfectionist Khan. When the latter refused to accommodate the former’s request for a reschedule, the former’s official quote to the situation, “Buddha Hoga Tera Baap!!!” J

Again, Perfectionist Khan refuses to attend the award functions in India where he is always a winner and he takes the trouble to go to those award shows where he loses (remember ‘Lagaan’). But we still love you, Aamir. J

While the Hollywood’s highest paid actor looked like he made one long movie, cut them into three different ones based on scenery and named them “Departed“, “Shutter Island” and “Inception” (is it only me who thinks Leo looks the same in almost all his latest movies?), our highest paid actor Rajnikanth, well, is simply Rajnikanth. His last three movies, “Robot”, “Shivaji“ and “Chandramukhi” were as different as chalk, cheese and charcoal, same formula notwithstanding….no wait, he too looks like he made one long movie and cut it into three based on heroine…oh, well…. J

Catfights aside, man fights prevail too here – Vivek Oberoi called a press conference one fine day and then he realized that he doesn’t have any good movie worth talking about to the press; so he talks about his never ending love to his lady love and how much she suffered from the other man in their life, a certain Khan. Today, Vivek still apologizes whenever the press condescends to talk with him (Yup, he still doesn’t have any good movies to talk about inspite some real raw talent).

Rani Mukherjee is upset that she’s not getting as many roles as she once did cos well, she’s looking very “healthy“ nowadays. So she vows that she’ll work up a killer bod and hit the gym with a vengeance. Latest reports state she is not able to give her dates to the gym. J

Everytime a Hritik movie comes out, his liplock comes back to the news- remember the Dhoom2 one which cost him an invite to Ash-Abhi’s wedding (Abhishek, as expected, has no idea ;)), or the Barbara Mori one (where the audience just preferred to fly kites rather than watch the movie!). Well, the latest is that Hritik’s liplock with Katrina. Who cares what happens to the movie… at least he got to kiss Katrina… rascal!

After dating half the Indian Cricket team, ‘Shanthi’ has moved on to another sport – this time, it’s Formula One, or rather to the scion of the Indian formulaone team. Oh yes, his dad also owns a cricket team.

When a superstar was fatally hurt on set, a country of followers prayed for the Coolie’s well being. He came back to health and glory and thanked his countless fans for their prayers. This was some 3 decades back. Last month, history repeated again with the robot star.

The first Bollywood movie was in Black and White. Almost 25 years after that, the first color movie came out in India in 1937. Today, Bollywood had taken flight with color so much that Bollywood single handedly colors the lives of a billion souls.

Colorful personalities. Colorful people. Colorful films.

Where else can you find so much color?

But in Bollywood.

Big fan.

J

HP is a world leader in bringing color to life. See how the colors of Bollywood can take flight with HP Laserjet printers here.

Now, for my box office, "Vote for me here"

J