Rowdy Rathore (2012) Review

Its continuous action and extreme violence is as mind-numbing as continuous sci-fi action in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) and just as good.Rowdy Rathore is ably directed by Dance icon Prabhu Deva in his own style and he excels here as he did in "Wanted".He and Kareena are in a special appearance.It is a remake of the Telugu film Vikramarkudu.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of the producers,who started as a cinematographer and then became a director.Cinematography by Santosh is equally good,colours are vibrant and village landscapes are pictured beautifully.Sajid-Wajid's music is pretty good especially "Chinta ta ta chita chita".

Sonakshi Sinha plays Paro and has little of screen presence or on-screen charisma,though she does her part deftly here.Film always focuses on Akshaya Kumar who is in a double role.In the beginning half hour he seems not at his best but improves as the film progresses especially as IPS Rathore in action scenes.This is a movie made for masses as Akshaya does an excellent job here.Mushtaq Khan is funny as Baapji's brother-in-law and tries to tickle audience.Paresh Ganatra as 2G too is funny.The child artist portraying the part of Akshay's daughter, is really cute.Chandaniya ( Lori)comes several times in the movie and is nice heart touching song.

Shiva (Akshaya Kumar) is a common criminal who fell in love with Neeraja (Sonakshi Sinha).IPS Rathore's (Akshaya Kumar )daughter Neha is discovered by Shiva in a box,she thinks its her father since they look alike.IPS Rathore is posted in some village in Bihar terrorized by 'Baapji"(Nasser).IPS Rathore tries to finish off Baapji's reign of terror,but soon he is caught in a trap and left thinking he is dead.His colleagues revive him and his enemies come to know and follow him to the city where they mistake Shiva for him and attack him.IPS Rathore dies trying to save Shiva and his daughter.Shiva then becomes IPS Rathore and returns to village and ruins Baapji first financially and then just finishes off him and his empire.

There's a scene where a minister takes IPS Rathore as his personal bodyguard,just after Baapji's son is acquitted on basis of his insanity plea.Minister is in cohoots with Baapji and his son tries to humiliate him,first by asking one of the police constable under him to remove his uniform.But when Baapji's son asks IPS Rathore to do that he somehow tricks him into falling off and getting hanged by the police constable's belt.

There's another scene where Baapji's son kidnaps a policeman's wife and rapes her continuously for days.Somewhere the movie does seem like a western,chases on dusty village roads,fights atop rocky mountains and gorges below,reminding you of Gabbar and Sholay.Sonakshi has no remarkable features,looks pretty common so much so that you would not even remember her face or recognize her quite unlike her remarkable father Shatrughan Sinha.Sonakshi seems a cheap look a like of Shoma Anand,the wonderful funny actress that plays mother to five girls in "Hum Paanch" including Vidya Balan.Her brother Luv Sinha is much more dismal than her,how he landed a role in a Raj Kanwar movie is another question.Though Raj Kanwar is long dead to answer that.