Tweet
Bullet Raja
Released by: Hungama Entertainment
Released on: February, 2014.
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Vidyut Jamwal, Jimmy Shergill
Year: 2013
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Directed and co-written by Tigmanshu Dhulia, 2013's Bullet Raja introduces us to Raja Misra (Saif Ali Khan), a troublemaker who is introduced to us after quick intro scene (that ties into the film's finale) while being chased through town by some gangsters. When he sees a wedding procession he crashes it and hides away from the guys who are after him (we never learn why they're after him, they just are). And then he basically joins in the party, getting in on a sexy dance with a woman named Matali (Sonakshi Sinha) and befriending a dude named Rudra (Jimmy Shergill). The timing of Raja's unexpected arrival proves to be convenient when the family's trusted confidant, Lallan (Chunky Pandey), and a group of armed men attack, hoping to take out the uncle (Sharat Saxena). Raja, handy with a gun, saves the uncle's life and instantly befriends the man who encourages Raja and Rudra to join up with his gang. At first they're not interested but when the uncle is blown up? They change their minds.
They're almost instantly a force to be reckoned with, taking out rivals all across Uttar Pradesh and popping a whole lot of caps in a whole lot of asses. As the two men start to make a name for themselves, they come to the attention of a politician named Rambabu (Raj Babbar) who brings them on as his personal enforcers. When he needs a hit carried out, on that his former gunman Sumer Yadav (Ravi Kishan) couldn't follow through on, they pull it off and continue to work their way up the underworld ladder. Of course, this also makes an enemy out of Sumer, who has been hiding out in a Hare Krishna temple in drag plotting his revenge. Eventually Raja and Radru come to the attention of Balraj Bajaj (Gulshan Grover), one of the most powerful men in the province. This opens up a lot of opportunity for our two ambitious thugs, but at what price? And what will this mean to Raja's burgeoning relationship with Matali, who he has saved from Balraj's frisky clutches? When a supercop named Munna (Vidyut Jamwal) is called in to solve some problems for Balraj, all signs point to an ass-kicking, a few characters getting knocked off, and some intense and ridiculously dramatic revenge!
Bullet Raja is slick, action packed and almost completely devoid of any real character development. Obviously this is a pretty big strike against the picture and anyone heading into the movie expecting anything even remotely deep or original will be left sorely disappointed. If you're willing to turn off your brain and accept this as two hours and forty five minutes of senseless violence, goofy wisecracks, pretty girls and hokey romance however, Bullet Raja entertains even if it fails to leave a lasting impression once the end credits roll.
The characters are thin but the performances are enjoyable. Leading man Saif Ali Khan is obviously having a blast playing the tough guy here. He handles himself well in the fight scenes and the movie's frequently impressive stunt set pieces. He's cocky and arrogant in all the right ways and while his character's actions often times throw logic and common sense out the window, this is an enjoyably flamboyant performance. Jimmy Shergill is also fun to watch here, though his character is considerably calmer and more level headed. They make a fun pair, and once you throw the lovely Sonakshi Sinha (who played the female lead in Rowdy Rathore) into the mix, things shape up well, even if she and Saif Ali Khan fall in love pretty much instantly and without any real reasoning outside of including the requisite romantic angle in the picture.
It's also a kick to see Vidyut Jamwal show up here. He shows off the same crazy martial arts skills here that served him well in Commando: A One Man Army are once again very impressive. He and Saif Ali Khan, of course, have a pretty serious brawl here and the scene in which Munna single handedly takes down a random gang of bandits that are puzzlingly hanging out in the middle of nowhere gives him further opportunity to strut his stuff. Ravi Kishan and Chunky Pandey are also fun as greasy, creepy bad guys though they're both a bit underused.
The song and dance numbers in the movie don't fit as well as they could have, but they're definitely flashy. The first one is really just Raja bumping around the wedding party making eyes at a bevy of scantily clad beauties. We get a love song, of course, and we also get a fun piece where Raja and Radru prance around just as they're starting to hit the big time. There's also a completely out of place disco party sequence that's bizarre and completely unnecessary but entertaining enough. Unfortunately none of the songs are subtitled on this release. The movie dabbles in politics here and there but only in minor ways. It makes some interesting jabs about corrupt political officials and a government on the take but fails to make much out of it. This is more about some tough guys running around smacking one another with logs and 2x4s, romancing the ladies and shooting dudes than much else. And on that level, at least, it's fun.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Bullet Raja arrives on region free Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 2.35.1 widescreen. This was shot on digital video so the image is immaculate, there's obviously no print damage or grain of any sort. As you might expect, the colors really shine here, you'll notice this from the opening shot where the cameras pans up from some lush, green grass and then through the wedding dance and onto the romantic musical number that takes place later in the movie. Everything really pops here, it's impressive. Detail is not mind blowing but definitely well past what DVD would be able to provide while skin tones look lifelike and natural. Black levels are solid and there were no obvious compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues to note.
The main audio option on the disc is a Hindi language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix. Optional subtitles are offered up in English only and outside of a few spots where the translation might be a little off they translate things nicely. As to the quality of that lossless mix? It's excellent. The song and dance numbers sound great, particularly the first one that takes place at the wedding, and they consistently make great use of the front and rear channels to really fill the room and provide some pretty solid bass. Likewise, the action scenes demonstrate some impressive directional effects as bullets zip past you and 'ping' off of metal car doors. Punches and kicks have some solid 'thud' behind them to really drive home the impact while the dialogue stays clear. Levels are nicely balanced and all in all, this is a really solid mix. An optional Hindi language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is included as well but if you've got the hardware to handle it, the lossless track is the way to go.
Extras on the disc are slim, limited to three featurettes that run about five minutes each and cover the making of the movie's three core song and dance numbers. Outside of that we get two bonus music videos, menus and chapter selection. Sadly the trailer has been left off of this release, though the Blu-ray case comes packaged in a cardboard slipcover with some fun alternate cover art on it.
The Final Word:
If it's not the most original story ever told, Bullet Raja is at least a pretty solid action movie even if the disjointed and seemingly random narrative is hard to look past sometimes. The fight scenes are well shot, they feature some impressive stunt work and on top of that they're plentiful. Seeing Saif Ali Khan square off against Vidyut Jamwal is pretty cool and if this isn't particularly deep, it is at least good superficial fun. The Blu-ray is light on extras but it looks good and sounds even better. This was an enjoyable time killer.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
