Movie Review/Bullet Raja- A reasonably decent attempt

First things first, I am not a great Saif Ali Khan fan, the single driving force for me to saunter into a cine-plex for watching Bullet Raja, first day was Tigmanshu Dhulia whose body of work is exemplary enough to command such respect.

Bullet Raja deals with the Political-underworld (read Bahuballi) nexus of Uttar Pradesh & how the life of a common man (read men) changes after involvement with them. Raja Misssraa (yes u read it right - Saif Ali Khan) is an unemployed youth & Rudra Tripathi (Jimmy Sheirgill) is a courier guy in Lucknow. A chance encounter brings them together making them friends & thereafter landing them in jail. From there, the start of conversion of a common man to a dreaded Bahuballi/Gangster Starts & Raja-Rudra duo start dominating the UP mafia of course under the protection of a politician Ram Babu Shukla (Raj Babbar) who provides them police protection also. A criss-cross interaction with a rich Marwaadi Businessman Bajaj (Gulshan Grover) makes them vulnerable & Bajaj with the help of Sumer Yadav (Ravi Kissen) kills Rudra.

Thereafter the movie is all about Raja's revenge from Bajaj & then Sumer & other political angles as Ram Babu withdraws support from Raja & also Police becomes his enemy as they call upon Special Force Inspector Arun Singh Munna (Vidyut Jammwal) to finish Raja.

There are loads of characters in the movie, but the ones that stand out are Jimmy, Raj Babbar, Vidyut & to an extent Saif Ali Khan. What I expected was a polished attempt from Tigmanshu Dhulia, unfortunately it was a bit let down as the movie's inconsistent pace & the unwanted love angle between Raja & Mitali (Sonakshi Sinha) are the prime deterrents.

The movie starts ok, picks up well, but then the entire Mumbai sequence leading up to Tamanche pe Disco Song is a total waste & can be totally edited out, Again it picks up & at the interval point leaves you yearning for more & a great 2nd half.....but the 2nd half is again a topsy turvy drive making it a reasonable but slow watch. It picks up in pre-Climax with the entry of Dashing Action Man Vidyut Jammwal & the finale twist is what you have always expected in Tigmanshu's movies.

Length is 138 minutes, A reasonably decent attempt, could have been lot better if Pace could have been good & Love angle totally wiped off. In cognizance with its name, there are a lot of bullets & bullets fired, not much blood & gore & otherwise a clean film. Dialogues of Tigmanshu's films have always been acidic & they are no exception here. A reasonable try from the director of highly realistic films to venture into commercial cinema first time with A-listers. Yet could have been better...2.5*