RADHE is the first film starring a superstar to have been released in a hybrid format. Radhe stars Salman Khan, Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff and Randeep Hooda as the lead cast and is directed by Prabhu Deva.
This is definitely not the most wanted Bhai film, but the die-hard Salman fans might just find a reason to cheer him on, yet again.
Director Prabhu Deva is entrusted with an oft-repeated plot and there’s not much he can do. The confrontations between Salman and Randeep show the director’s expertise, so do the sequences between Salman and Azaan, but moments such as these are extremely few. The latter half, especially, could’ve done with some interesting twists and turns. Also, after a point, one genuinely feels that the writers have run out of ideas. The climax is arresting, but we have seen far better and more exciting action-packed endings in Salman’s films in the past.
Jackie Shroff appears as his comical, insecure senior and Disha Patani, a fantastic dancer with sketchy acting skills, can also be seen in a thankless role that insults everyone’s intelligence. The naivety of her character gives her little scope to perform and also dilutes the gravity of the subject at hand. Women are usually not given their due in director Prabhu Deva’s movies, and here too, we see an objectified, air-headed character with no depth or ambitions/interests of her own.
For such a typical big-ticket Bollywood potboiler, most of what Radhe features, is on expected lines. For such films, the battle is always about striking a balance between falling for the clichés and offering some novelty, whilst keeping the entertainment quotient high.
We’re living in unprecedented, heartbreaking times. If we are to watch cinema, it has to be the kind that feeds the soul. This movie is depleting and leaves you tired.