Expectations and the pleasure of watching a movie go hand in hand. Huge expectations can make even a good movie seem average and not much of it can make an average movie seem good enough. This week’s release ‘Bullett Raja’ comes from a Director who has been successful in carving out a niche for himself; right from his debut film ‘Haasil’ to movies like ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ (won a National Award for Best Film and rightly so) 
and the ‘Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster’ franchise, here is a director who owes back to his roots when it comes to filming his movies. This time, Tigmanshu Dhulia attempts mainstream commercial cinema with mainstream actors and brings you ‘Bullett Raja’.
Raja (Saif Ali Khan) and Rudra (Jimmy Shergill) meet at a wedding by chance and become best friends. Fate has other plans for the two and they land in prison where they meet a fixer. Even if they are reluctant, both Raja and Rudra end up being ‘political commandoes’, henchmen to a powerful U.P. politician (Raj Babbar). There isn’t really much of a plot here but incidents occur and Raja rebels against the system; what follows is a revenge saga. Of course, in the meantime Raja also falls for a bong beauty and aspiring actress (Sonakshi Sinha) and has time to romance when he isn’t in a mood for some raw action.
The director has always filmed his movies in the heartland of India and this is no exception. Set in U.P., the characters speak the local lingo and the dialogues just add up to the look and feel of ‘Bullett Raja’ to a large extent. Evident in all his movies, Dhulia is clearly inclined towards politics and here too, it is a part of the story. But this is much more commercial than any of his movies so far and is aimed at the masses. No wrong intentions there but the director fails to make it a complete ‘paisa-vasool’ engaging entertainer and there lies the problem. To begin with, it doesn’t start well and has a silly item number (Mahie Gill) at the very beginning even before we are introduced to the protagonist properly. Dhulia gives Saif an interesting role but again fails to do justice to it by giving an equally interesting plot. There wasn’t even the need to shift the scene to Mumbai for a while where the three (Saif, Jimmy, Sonakshi) have no other purpose but to dance to ‘Tamanche Pe Disco’. Ditto for the scenes in Kolkata where Saif and Sonakshi have a duet. What is noteworthy is Saif and Jimmy’s on-screen bonding. It’s fun to watch them fooling around and cracking jokes while they are also doing their job. In a scene, one of the characters describe them by saying – “Hamesha do log kyun hote hain? Sholay mein bhi do the.” Dialogues like this make you want to forget the fact that ‘Bullett Raja’ is average at best yet quite entertaining. Music (Sajid-Wajid) is poor and not a single track is worth humming or recalling. Songs are not placed well and weren’t needed.
The rawness of Langda Tyagi in ‘Omkara’ (not that this one is anywhere near that performance) made more commercial and mass-appealing – Saif Ali Khan is terrific as Bullett Raja. How one wishes the plot had been good enough to do justice to this 
versatile actor. It isn’t one of the cool urbane characters Saif is known to play and he goes all out with this one too; be it the accent or the body language. Jimmy Shergill is among the most under-rated actors we have and the director gives him ample scope in the first half to stand tall along with a superstar. Jimmy has starred in most of Dhulia’s movies so far and though here, he doesn’t deliver a nuanced performance as ‘Saheb’, he is good. And that reminds me of Mahie Gill who is reduced to an item girl here though equally horny as ‘Biwi’. Sonakshi Sinha looks sweet (she plays a Bengali and Bengali girls are always perceived to be sweet) but it is just one of those unimportant roles in a big film. I doubt she loves to play safe and chooses roles only to have hits to her credit; ‘Lootera’ being the only exception and my choice for the best female lead performance this year. Vidyut Jamwal in
a cameo is okay and gets to do some stunts which it seems, he enjoys. Raj Babbar, Gulshan Grover, Ravi Kissen – all do their bit well.
Watch it or not: Yes – for Saif fans and also if you don’t mind watching an average commercial movie with some raw action and ‘dialogue-baazi’. Others can give it a miss.
At the Box-Office: I don’t see it crossing 100 cr even if it is aimed at the masses. Business will be best in single theatres and belts of U.P. Producers and Distributors will end up losing money or at best, just break even with an average BO Performance. Reviews will be mixed.
My Verdict
My Rating
This Raja had promised in the trailers – “Jab hum aayenge toh garmi thodi badh jaayegi. Aapko pata chal jaayega”… Aap aaye toh zaroor… par thode thande padh gaye!
