The Rajasaab is a horror entertainer in which Prabhas plays the lead role, co-starring Malavika Mohanan and Nidhhi Agerwal. The film is directed by Maruthi and the music is scored by Thaman S.

Premise: Prabhas finally finds his long lost grandfather Sanjay Dutt, and it turns out he is recently found dead. More drama follows when it is revealed that it was Sanjay Dutt’s spirit that brought his grandson to him. And, the fantasy tale unfolds…

Writing/ Direction: A horror-comedy flick with a ghost bungalow in the centre, it is indeed a routine formula but the issues are much more as we have a larger-than-life hero on board. There is a convincing storyline and a conflict to form a passable entertainer. But a constant confusion prevails between building up the hero or concentrating on the plot. Either way, the writing is lazy throughout as random scenes are thrown at us. So much time is wasted on the heroines, the three ladies have separate tracks in ways they meet and greet Prabhas, leading to a love-square concept followed by a sensuous song with them all. First of all the situations are cringey, placed monotonously in ridiculous flow orders with zero continuity and abrupt transitions as well. Also, their absence would not have caused one percent damage to the story. The other commercial aspects are disappointing too, plenty of space for comedy with favourable artists. Even Prabhas is in the humour zone, which is probably the worst part of the flick as jokes nowhere click. Mass moments are poorly presented with weak staging and pathetic execution, low-quality VFX spoils the believability in action and the crocodile fight is the height of taking audiences for granted. Except for one hospital episode, no other cat and mouse situations carry any sort of tension. Sanjay Dutt’s character is said to be a complicated one by playing mind games, but there is no such smartness in the screenplay. Seems like director Maruthi applied the popular phrase ‘You are not the clown, but the entire circus’ on Prabhas in the climax, by showing him in the joker getup as a lead for the second part.

Performances: After Radhe Shyam and Adipurush, this is one such film where Prabhas looks unhealthy on-screen. Suffers to be natural during the humour portions and plenty of notable face-mapping shots for the fight sequences. Out of the three heroines, the director has made us believe that Malavika Mohanan has some involvement with the story during her initial scenes, it is just about time when we realize she is present only to serve glam. The other two girls such as Nidhhi Agerwal and Riddhi Kumar are completely useless to the subject. Ammu Abhirami gets a reasonable importance and does well in the flashback stretch, Anandhi is used just for a shot as a lead to introduce Prabhas. Neat role for Zarina Wahab, she is the link bridge for the whole drama but does not shine enough due to the underdevelopment of her character. Sanjay Dutt fits well as the baddie, but gets some gruesome elements on board which becomes disgusting to watch. Boman Irani and Samuthirakani are extra fittings, potential characters who were unfortunately wasted completely.

Technicalities:  Underwhelming songs by Thaman, not even a single bearable track, something that is rare from the musician who is always aware of the audience pulse. However, he has tried his level best to elevate the film with the background score which sounds pretty decent throughout, especially the climax feels so grand in terms of music. Not an easy film to handle in terms of cinematography as most parts of the film takes place inside a single location, however nothing pleasing with the visuals that are further ruined by the VFX team. Horrendous editing as the film misses to get even some basic stuff like continuity and seamless transitions right, the flow literally feels like ‘Kothu Parotta’. Nasty visual effects, flawed CGI shots with respect to animal and creature making, and applying softwares on Prabhas’ face was more bothersome.

Verdict: There is scope in the core conflict, sadly the film never captives on its strengths. The screenplay is messed up in every aspect with the never ending cringey comedy portions, tiring three heroine tracks, misfired horror and soulless emotional quotient.

THE RAJASAAB - Painful Watch!

Rating - 1.5/ 5.