Film: Ra.OneDirector: Anubhav SinhaCast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami, Tom Wu Rating: ***1/2

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Shah Rukh Khan and director Anubhav Sinha seemed to have cared a damn as they have borrowed in generous doses from wherever they felt it was necessary for their own magnum opus.

The biggest inspiration seems to be Terminator 2 — right from the black sunglasses, the villain chasing a kid and running into his saviour, the signature neck movement of the villain, bike chase sequences, the villain running faster than a car, the robot eye scanning, liquid metal fusing  back to form the villain’s shattered body, the robot imitating human acts and emotions, the disfigured face before the final fight… the list is endless and this Hollywood film’s remnants are sprinkled lavishly all through the movie.

Shah Rukh and Anubhav have genuienly done their best to make a Bollywood version of an American superhero. Shah rukh, ofcourse, has used all his ‘connections’ to increase the star value of the film (remember the Om Shanti Om song?) so there’s Amitabh Bachchan lending his voice, Rajinikanth making an appearance as Chitti (his Robot avtar), Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra too.

This he has topped up with his SRK sense of humour that will leave you smirking (At one point he fights three female warriors, who he calls sisters of Bruce Lee, named Iski Lee, Uski Lee and Sabki Lee). Corny jokes, many of them cliched too, hilarious situations — some forced, some natural, an assortment of stars, top-of-the-line special effects, action — the film has not left out on any department to cash in on the popularity scale (it’s the costliest Bollywood film, after all). The storyline is also very simple: The guy is a clumsy geek who can’t seem to get anything right and is trying real hard to be a hero for his own son. He builds a videogame and the villain jumps out of it into reality…

But the real story is the way the film is carried forward and the special effects. Barring the sequence where CST station is shown crumbling down (it’s a Mumbai landmark associated with a recent tragedy, the superhero should have saved it, but surprisingly he doesn’t), all the special effects are a visual treat. Arjun Rampal disappoints a bit, while Kareena looks good. The film’s ‘science fundas’ have been simplified for the aam janta.

So, go ahead and watch it. It’s worth a worth. It might be not be a good idea to watch it for the second time around though.