Radhe (2021): Old Wine in an Even Older Bottle

Review first published in portal MadAboutMoviez: Radhe

Some stars have made careers out of making “masala” entertainers, like Rajnikanth, Mithun, Akshay to some extent; and audiences don’t really care for reviews or others opinions on their movies, since they want to watch unadulterated entertainment. Our most wanted bhai’s movie, also falls in this category.

Of course, in last 5 years, Salman has given us some very watchable movies like Sultan, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Bharat, Tiger Zinda Hai etc; but these are few and far in-between. Rest of the other movies like Kick, Race3, Dabanng series are just money making ventures, and everyone involved knows it.

Coming to Radhe, this movie works more as a sequel to 2009 movie “Wanted”, where Salman played the cop Rajveer, who goes undercover as Radhe. In this movie, he is known to be a no-nonsense cop with 97 encounters to his credit. And he seems to be the only cop who can cleanup Mumbai.

So, we are back in the 1990s and 2000s when drug business was notoriously handled by cartels. In movies like Sarkar, it was shown, how an outsider comes with the idea of dealing in drug while the crime syndicate had limited themselves to kidnap, extortion, and hafta-vasooli. Similarly, Rana makes his entry in a new city to start drug distribution. They don’t show the source of the drugs, from where its coming, and how the cash is being handled, because they don’t want the innocent audience to worry about the business model.  Just take it that, drugs are being used heavily by teenagers. How they are lured into, also goes unanswered. So, we should assume that it’s like Lay’s chips and no one can eat just one.

Rana is ruthless in his approach, has no business ethics, no morality, and definitely no life. He works day and night from dingy locations, so he has no taste for finer experiences of life too. His only aim is to expand his business, but for no apparent reason. No one knows what the big hurry is. If he is suffering from chronic disease that needs cure or some other ailment. That’s a secret, and even the writers had no clue.

So, enter Radhe into the frame, who is exact opposite of Rana. He has a life, is flirtatious, aspiring model, and employed with police department. He has a chance meeting with Diya whom he befriends, unknowingly his boss, ACP Avinash’s younger sister. ACP Avinash is in all his elements as he manages to bring out the inner Johnny Lever in him. A bumbling senior who doesn’t command the respect of his officers, but is bereft of this critical piece of info, since the director hid it from him. So, poor chap puts in a lot of effort, not knowing that in a Salman movie, it will go unnoticed.

Anyways, after few flirtatious sessions, Radhe & Diya are all set to tell the three magical words: Lights, Camera, Action! That’s the clarion call for the climax when all hell breaks loose, and Radhe chases down Rana for the final showdown as he begins the Swachh Bharat movement.

Jackie Shroff as ACP Avinash has the most amount of fun, without sharing any responsibility. He just ambles his way in and out, without any commitment; and that’s how serious his role is. Disha Patani as Diya is like a Russian doll who does exactly what she is meant to do, be decorative, sweet looking, naïve and a bit frivolous. She plays her part well, coming from that small cameo she had in Bharat, she gets to do a little bit more than that in Radhe.

Salman as Radhe is phenomenal, as he sings, dances with Jacqueline in an item number, advices his colleagues about duty, beats up the goons, romances Diya, and becomes hero of the common man. For an actor to carry the movie on his ageing shoulder is no mean feat. But he is ably supported by Randeep Hooda who moonwalks through the show. His raw action sequences, straight out of the 2017 Korean movie “The Outlaws” from which this movie was remade, is gritty. Hooda’s gait and style, his hairdo and the long overcoat, just adds to that invincible feeling of the character Rana, he is playing.

Another thing going for the movie is its length, which is at a merciful 105 minutes only. Its not stretched out needlessly, which means, the director Prabhudeva and his team have made a concerted effort to end the movie before the audience wears out. After all, too much of bhai can be injurious to mental health.

Its old wine, in even older bottle, but the label is brand new. Chalo, whatever is there, is just entertainment. SEETIMAAR !!!