Movember’s Moustache Movie Madness – ROWDY RATHORE – 2012 (Bollywood)

Movember’s Moustache Movie Madness Prerequisites

Lead Actors / Characters:             Akshay Kumar & Akshay Kumar

Rockin’ the ‘Stache:                        Check!

Moustache Only:                            Check!

Length of ‘Stache existence:        Entire Movie. Check!

Bonus:                                             It’s a dual role. So it’s double the Moustache. And there’s twirling of said ‘staches too! *Giggle*

The Review:

Prabhu Deva was a choreographer for Indian movies in the 90’s, who is so good at what he does, he even fulfilled his life long dream by sharing the stage with Michael Jackson. In 2009, he turned Director with a big star and a big hit… WANTED. Years later, we get another massive entertainer from Prabhu Deva in the form of the biggest Masala movie of 2012… ROWDY RATHORE.

Rating:

3 Out Of 5 Laddoos

I’ll confess something before we continue: I’m a huge ass fan of novelty cinema. The shit that’s awesome ‘cuz it’s bad or cheesy or just throwbacks to genres of back in the day. ROWDY RATHORE is a complete throwback to 80’s and 90’s action movies, from the songs, scenes and even the premise of the movie itself. Let’s not forget to mention the awesome-ness that was Moustaches in the 90’s… is also featured prominently in this one.

This is a story about doppelgangers: One is a small time con man (Shiva) while the other is a rough and tough Cop with unwavering principles (Vikram Rathore). The con man gets mistaken to be the Cop, and the misunderstandings ensue. It all culminates in the Con man becoming a better person as he finishes the righteous quest that the Cop started, to protect a village of simple people from the tyranny of a criminal family. Simple and awesome!

ROWDY RATHORE is light hearted and awesome. It doesn’t try to be awesome; it’s engineered to be awesome. Akshay Kumar in the dual roles is hilarious. The action is top notch, as most South Indian film Directors’ action sequences usually are. The comedy is bang on, super cheesy in the right spots along with some innovative story telling in others.

It’s an entertainer. Don’t look for genius cinematic drama here… it’s fluff. It’s awesome fluff. If that’s not evident when Vikram Rathore strokes and twirls his Moustache after a kick ass action scene, symbolic of his pride… then you should probably stop watching and move on.

Prabhu Deva has shown himself again as being a great Director who, more than anything else, knows what the audience wants. ROWDY RATHORE is geared to be exactly what Indian movies started off as being, escapism for the lower middle class society of India, who relish in seeing larger than life performances, action and naïve ideologies portrayed on the big screen. Everything about this movie is reminiscent of Bollywood circa 1990.

Akshay Kumar gives a great performance by returning to his action roots, as Vikram Rathore the self-righteous Cop, while he gives another of his pitch perfect comedic performances as Shiva the con man. Everything about this movie is a tribute to a decade of films. The styling of the film is very 90’s, even Kumar’s dance moves fashioned after some legendary actors of the time.

Sonakshi Sinha is ‘the girl’ in this film. Her 2^nd performance after her debut in DABANNG is nothing special. She’s a cute girl who can act, but she’s just the balancing of the gender quota for this film. Nothing more. Also: Her belly button is oddly shaped.

ROWDY RATHORE will either be loved, or hated by the audience. It’s an action entertaining masala film, meant to be enjoyed, whistled at and cheered!

How much did you hate or love `Rowdy Rathore`?

Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @theshahshahid