The Raja Saab review: Prabhas’ fantasy comedy is a royal mess of missed opportunities!

Directed by Maruthi, The Raja Saab is an over-ambitious spectacle that collapses under the weight of its own grandiosity, owing to hollow writing and a bloated runtime.

A royal heir uncovering dark secrets in a haunted mansion with elements of horror, comedy, fantasy and psychology - the first glimpse of The Raja Saab had an exciting energy around it. This blending of meaty genres, if executed properly, had the potential to be a game-changer for Indian cinema and maybe our answer to Hollywood gems like theBeetlejuice orThe Haunted Mansion but alas it turned out to be a classic case of a missed opportunity! 

The Raja Saab opens on an intriguing note involving comedian Satya, who breaks into a haunted palace, clutching an urn filled with ashes of an unclaimed body, only to get trapped inside the mysterious property. The brief scene does a decent job of setting the film's spooky-yet-quirky tone, hinting at the supernatural mischief the movie attempts to offer, even if it doesn't fully capitalize on the laughs or chills right away. We are then introduced to Raja (Prabhas), who lives with his grandmother Gangamma (Zareena Wahab), who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and only remembers her husband Kanakaraju (Sanjay Dutt), who set out to catch hold of a thief decades ago but never returned. She urges Raja to search for him - a pursuit that entangles him in a web of mysteries, magic and mayhem!

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As desis who grew up on grandma’s bed times stories about bhoot-pret, revenge from beyond the grave, betrayal by those closest to us and tales of black magic, we're practically wired to love stories like this. Hence, the plot of The Raja Saab felt promising on paper; a family forced into a life of misery due to tantric powers of a greedy man, who is brought to justice years later, by the clan’s charismatic heir! While the core idea brimmed with potential, the film failed miserably due to its poor execution.

Watching The Raja Saabfelt a lot like trying to have a conversation with your best friend who's making one questionable life decision after another, while you're also buried under a mountain of work and can't fully focus on either. The film, especially in the first half throws a lot towards you all at once - jump scares, hypnosis, forced comedy bits, family drama, mass hero spectacles, romance angles and more. Half of the plotlines feel confusing or disconnected because everything’s crammed in without any space to breathe. Nothing keeps you invested other than the grand scale and you just keep hoping it will come together well in the end. But it just doesn’t. The character arcs lack conviction, there is heavy focus on the granny-grand son dynamic but that too fails to provide the film with any emotional grounding and the love angles with three heroines - all hurriedly mounted, with no substantial impact on the story, further adds to your confusion of watching it. 

The proceedings get slightly interesting at the point of interval but the second half, which unfolds mostly inside the haunted palace, quickly loses steam despite its impressive visual scale, psychiatric themes, and lavish production design. The story turns predictable, the action sequences drag unnecessarily and misplaced romantic songs further your miseries. Boman Irani’s character as a seasoned psychiatrist who steps in to guide Raja and the group to confront the evil spirit, brings a few welcome moments of depth and maturity to the chaos. However, his role wraps up too abruptly, leaving you with a sense of frustration and wishing for more of what could have been a compelling supporting arc. 

On the performance front, Zareena Wahab as Raja’s grandmother Gangamma delivers a sincere performance as an erstwhile royal who is now just a doting matriarch grappling with memory problems. Sanjay Dutt as the antagonist Kanakaraju looks out of touch and is the biggest disappointment of the film. The female leads Malavika Mohanan, Riddhi Kumar and Niddhi Agerwal lend decent support in their limited screen-time. Prabhas looks stylish, however his return to comic roles fell prey to poor writing. His timing does evoke a few scattered laughs but you rarely connect with the emotional dynamics of his character, or get awed by the elaborate action sequences he is a part of, handing you nothing but a colossal disappointment in totality. 

Overall, The Raja Saab is a tedious fantasy-horror-comedy that promises too much and delivers too little!

The Raja Saab is playing in theatres near you!

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