Towards the middle of the film, Shahid Kapoor throws a powerful challenge towards Sonu Sood in a killer ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ style. Sonu Sood too seems adamant but Shahid who his half his size seems even more aggressive and convincing that he means what he says. As he walked off and audiences clapped, hooted and whistled for the hero, I too couldn’t resist myself from cheering for this terrific actor who always should have got such kind of adulation and response from moviegoers. And with R…Rajkumar, when he finally exudes such a reaction, it’s an experience in itself! Way to go, dude!

The story of the movie: Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor) arrives in the town of Dhartipur where two rival gangs headed by Shivraj (Sonu Sood) and Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi) have wreaked havoc. Rajkumar soon wins the trust of Shivraj and is admitted into his gang. On the other hand, he falls for Chanda (Sonakshi Sinha) who too develops feelings for Rajkumar. Problem arises when his work and love life clash, resulting in disastrous consequences or in other words, loads of pyaar-pyaar-pyaar and maar-maar-maar!
R…Rajkumar has a very unusual entry of the hero and heroine that sets the mood. Prabhu Dheva’s direction is a bit haphazard that spoils things. But the script has tons of entertaining moments that compensate for the glitches. Be it Rajkumar being saviour for Shivraj, twice or Rajkumar wooing Chanda in his unique, funny style or Rajkumar beating the baddies - R…Rajkumar’s first half is great fun. The film goes on a different level at the intermission point (as mentioned in the opening paragraph). Sadly, the second half is not as great as the first but nevertheless, it keeps the viewers engrossed. The climax is stretched but makes for a great watch.

R…Rajkumar belongs to Shahid Kapoor. The other actors give their best but Shahid single handedly transports the film to a different league. One hasn’t seen Shahid in such an avatar ever and he ensures that he doesn’t disappoint. It’s fun to see him beating, dancing, romancing and doing clownish acts to tickle audiences’ funny bone. And don’t miss his wayward dance in the finale…Shahid rocks big time!

Sonakshi Sinha as always plays a role that she’s essayed before countless number of times. But she performs with ease and with finesse and hence, no complaints. Sonu Sood looks every inch a menacing villain. Same goes for Ashish Vidyarthi but he brings the humour too which was fun and quite unexpected. Asrani brings the house down in the dream sequence scene with Vidyarthi. Mukul Dev has a significant part to essay in the film and does a good job. The actress playing Bindu (is it Kavitta Verma?) is quite hot. Out of the item girls, Charmme Kaur (Gandi Baat) leaves a mark. Prabhu Dheva makes his customary appearance in a song and steals the show with his dance moves. Other actors too play their part well.

Pritam’s music is energetic and gels well with the film’s mood. Except Kaddu Katega, all the song work big time. The intro tune of Saree Ke Fall Sa is well utilized in the opening credits. Sandeep Chowta’s background score is loud but witty at selected places. K Ravi Verma’s action is rocking and one of the highpoints in the film. Shiraz Ahmed’s dialogues are sharp and clapworthy. Prabhu Dheva’s story is formulaic but had all the ingredients of a mass entertainer. Screenplay (Prabhu Dheva, Sunil Agarwal, Ravi Sundram) and direction (Prabhu Dheva) however is messy at some places and this was a big problem with the film that could had been easily avoided. However, Prabhu Dheva manages to pack in enough entertainment in the film. Also, projecting Shahid, who has a chocolate boy personality primarly, as a rough-and-tough action hero was no easy task and Prabhu Dheva comes out with flying colours in this regard. Also, there are too many songs in the film but all of them are seamlessly incorporated in the film which was also praiseworthy. If only the flaws were taken care of, this would have been another Rowdy Rathore!

Some of the best scenes:
1. Rajkumar’s entry
2. Rajkumar meets Shivraj for the first time
3. Rajkumar turns saviour for Shivraj for the second time
4. Rajkumar goes to kill MLA at the station
5. Rajkumar saves old man from house on fire(hilarious!)
6. Rajkumar at Chanda’s house
7. The intermission point
8. Drama at clothes shop
9. Rajkumar bashes Parmar
10. The climax

On the whole, R…Rajkumar is a fine massy entertainer that makes for a great watch despite the shortcomings. The first half is extraordinary and Shahid Kapoor unleashes his never-before-seen avatar which is enough reason to watch this film. At the box office, the film should work till Dhoom 3’s release at least, on December 20. After all, this film deserves it. And most importantly, Shahid deserves to have a big, big hit!

My rating-*** out of 5!