tiki's Bollywood: Ra.One

[tikistitch]

The booty don't stop stop stop! Would you be surprised to know this has NOTHING to do with the rest of the movie?



Just a preface, so you'll see there's a bit (but only a bit) of method to my madness. I'm seeing a lot of "blockbusters," partly because they're easy to get here on Blu Ray, but also because I wanna avoid this common problem of academics like me, getting attached to some cultural phenomenon that most people living in the culture in question know nothing about. For example, my ex-boss and her colleagues were at lunch one day discussing some sorta Cuban folk bongo music they were all into, and then suddenly the entire table had turned to stare at ME, realizing that my husband is an actual Cuban. I told them, honestly, sorry, my husband listens to Led Zep. He comes from a professional family, and they kinda fail at being colorful natives.

So, Ra.One was one of those "most expensive EVAR/made most money EVAR" kinda thing. One down side, as you can clearly see from the music video, they try nowadays to make these things more "Western." However, after viewing the movie, I can definitely say, there's no fucking way they'd ever make ANYTHING like this in Hollywood. Not that this is a bad thing.

OK. The setting is London, and Shah Rukh Kahn is a nerdy video game designer with a regrettable perm, and his wife is played by the pretty nifty Kareena Kapoor. His kid loves playing video games, but is a bit embarrassed by his dad (this is really well played, as there's obviously a lot of affection between father and son). OK, there's a lot of business and computer blah-blah in designing the game, but SOMEHOW (magic!) the villain of the game escapes into the real world, and of course threatens the kid.

Fortunately, they also created a hero character, G.One, modeled after the dad, who they ALSO make escape to the real world. Hey, guess what, it's Shah Rukh Kahn in a DOUBLE ROLE! (I think double roles are like required by law in India.) OK, at first, the bad guy, Ra.One, is played by Tom Wu, the unfortunate dude who plays the Asian Best Friend (who is evidently the equivalent of playing the Black Best Friend in an American movie). Stuff Happens, there's a lot of wire work and a chase through London, but finally the hero, G.One, defeats Ra.One into a bunch of teensieh rubik's cubes, and the family flees to India.

So, an Intermission (yes, these movies have those) and then the movie swerves from being T2 to a sort of Making Mr. Right. (Anybody but me remember that one?) But then Ra.One regenerates, and THIS TIME he looks like Arjun Rampal. Arjun Rampal who has a VERY difficult time keeping his darned shirt on. *sigh* Anyways, another big dance number, more wire work, and amazing train sequence, and then THE FINAL BATTLE between REALLY HAWT Bollywood stars.

Overall, I found this movie very daffy and quite enjoyable. I'm not a fan of Western-style music, but dang, is this stuff ever earworm-y. But the best stuff for me, as I've hinted, were the interactions between the characters. The kid is precocious, but he is not annoying like a lot of child actors over here. And even though the movie lurches between slapstick and action sequences and some real tearjerking moments, all the actors come off as completely believable.

I notice that they do the Jackie Chan thing over the closing credits, showing outtakes and filming of some of the crazier stunts. "Look, we spent lots rupees dudes!"