Raja Natwarlal – Movie Review

Emraan Hashmi is back in a character as a street smart conman which he played in Jannat and Jannat 2. His recent ones Ghanchakkar and Ek Thi Daayan were a complete departure from the commercial Emraan Hashmi films. They were for the niche audience.

Raja (Emraan Hashmi) makes money tricking people in the Three Card Monte. He is aided by his friend Raghav (Deepak Tijori), who solicits ‘targets’ and induces them to bet bigger. Part of the money is used for helping kids to pay their school fees. Balance of the amount is ‘blown’ up on Ziya (Humaima Malick) in a dance bar.

Raghav has brought him up in life and treated Raja like his younger brother. Raja’s greed to make a quick buck lands him in a mess while trying their hand in a ‘bada daav’ (big game). Despite, Raghav’s caution and warning that big money means big risk, Raja insists that they go ahead and rob a target of Rs 80 lakhs in a ’40 minute job’. But it happens to be Vardha Yadav’s (Kay Kay Menon) money. Vardha is a billionaire who has made his money swindling people and other illegal means. Very soon, Raghav is tracked and shot on the spot, which is witnessed by Raja.

Raja starts off like an immature kid, but gradually, this journey of a boy becomes a man witnessing the cold blooded murder of his foster brother. He makes a resolve to become the biggest scamster that the country would ever know, while hitting back at the don in the guise of a businessman in South Africa.

Yogi (Paresh Rawal), a master scamster, is now out of the game of scams. He gave it up during his peak and is now living in reclusive in the hills in Dharamshala, leading a peaceful life. Raja had an idea that his foster brother Raghav often mentioned of Yogi as the ultimate in con games. Now that his brother is no more, Raja has only one mission in his life. To avenge his brother’s death. For this he goes all the way to Dharamshala, pleads and begs Yogi to accept him as his “Shagird” (Trainee).

Initially reluctant to help this young boy, Yogi sees a burning desire in him as Raja wants to bring down the villain, while he says “I do not want to kill this man (Kay Kay Menon) with a bullet but want to avenge my brother’s death by stripping him off everything he has got”.

Emraan and Kay Kay Menon have come up with scintillating performances. The character of Varda Yadav is so brilliantly established that the steely looks from Varda sends chill down your spine. A no-nonsense businessman has no other weakness expect that he is an ardent cricket lover. He collects memorabilia of the cricketing legends. This is the only door open for Raja to avenge his foster brother’s death. Raja takes full liberty of Vardha Yadav’s maddening obsession for the game, and the carrot offered by Raja to the multi-millionaire to become an owner of one of the Cricket Teams at the hurriedly called CL T20 auction.

This would be the biggest con of Raja’s life and at stake is his own life.

The final con game-plan is so hurriedly depicted that there are several instances when one wonders, how would this is logically possible. But it is explained towards the end of how the game was so meticulously planned.

Vardha Yadav is convinced by Raja to bring in a Bearer Check of Rs 100 Crores. The bidding begins and is interrupted by a Police raid, which is tipped off by Raja’s girl friend Ziya, as she is promised by the copy that her boyfriend would be left scot free if she keeps them informed of the timings and process of the game of conning a Hundred Crores.

Raja Natwarlal is again aimed at a much larger audience, has a unique story and has an ending that you can’t guess. Yet, the music of this film is a let down, nor does the songs take the story forward. Sometimes it is irritating as here the viewer is waiting to see what will happen next, and he is thrust with a love song instead.

So its time to welcome the biggest scamster in Indian history – Raja Natwarlal.

For ENLARGED PICS, click on the Thumbnails:

Credits:
Produced by – Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Director – Kunal Deshmukh
Story Writer – Parveez Shaikh
Music Director – Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyricist – Irshad Kamil
Editor – Anand Subaya
Cinematography – Raaj Chakravarti
Background Music – Sandeep Shirodkar
Choreographer – Remo DSouza
Production Designer – Mayur Sharma
Screenplay – Parveez Shaikh
Dialogue – Sanjay Masoom