Consider this story.
You are a woman constantly stalked by a lecherous man who makes kissing noises at you every time he sees you.
And then one night, he breaks into your bedroom and catches you unbutton your kurta. To your horror, he then takes off his shirt and says, “Now, we are even. You've seen everything I have.” You ask him to leave. He refuses and lies down on your bed.
Horrified? Well, that was just another love scene from Bollywood. Sonakshi Sinha plays the girl and Shahid Kapoor is the lecherrous Rromeo... Rrajkumarr!
What's worse, the girl then becomes the trophy when the hero challenges the villain that he will be the one to remove the girl's sari and honeymoon with her on a specified date. Thus starts the match and the fight for the girl's sari. Who will be the rightful winner? Go ahead, take your kids because this is a U/A film. What's worse, every woman in the film is either a sex object, an item dancer... or a rape victim (a girl gets raped in a police station with no consequence to the story, just as a sidelight).
R... Rajkumar is everything activists have been fighting against. Blatant sexism, glorification of stalking, sexual harassment, objectification of women and endorsement of lewd behaviour by a powerful mass media. Not just item songs, even the romantic song the hero sings to his girl is all about how he wants to talk dirty to her. (‘Gandi baat’)
Prabhu Deva's film stoops to new lows in an attempt to cater to the lowest common denominator and the unabashed sexualisation and reduction of the girl into a prize for who is stronger makes for a dangerous and disturbing new type of “heroine”. Because, she is, in fact, the victim who the makers want us to believe could actually fall in love with a lecherous stalker who rightfully should be in jail for multiple murders.
At the end of the film, she is awarded to the mighty murderous killer of her other suitor. All this would have been laughable if this was set in the Stone Age. But no, this is a modern-day story of might is right. If you can kill for the girl, you can take her and stake your claim for her sari.
R...Rajkumar is downright crass, irresponsibly insensitive, extremely disturbing and in very poor taste.
Genre: Action
Director: Prabhu Deva
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood, Mukul Dev
Storyline: A rowdy takes on his boss for the girl he loves to stalk
Bottomline: Rrabidly Rregressive!
