Chiragdeep International’s Rangeela Raja (UA) is the story of twin brothers, as different from each other as cheese and chalk.
Vijendra Pratap Singh (Govinda) lives in India, is married to Sivranjani (Digangana Suryavanshi) but sleeps around with other women at the drop of a hat. Obviously, Sivranjani is not happy in the marriage. Vijendra is rich and doesn’t care for anybody’s feelings. Providing him girls are his secretary, Sharma (Govind Namdeo), and driver, Padampath (Shakti Kapoor). In fact, Vijendra employs girls in his office so that he can sexually exploit them. There’s one girl, Natasha (Mishika Chourasia), who doesn’t give in. Yet, he employs her and sends her to Hong Kong for training.
Ajay (Govinda), twin brother of Vijendra Pratap Singh, returns from abroad to now settle in India. He has bid goodbye to materialistic possessions and wants to lead an ascetic life. But when he sees his sister-in-law in distress, he leaves his ascetic lifestyle just to bring his wayward brother on track. Ajay, Sivranjani and Ajay and Vijendra’s unmarried sister now hatch a plan to set things right by stopping all the nonsense Vijendra has been doing. Frustrated, Vijendra goes to Hong Kong and satiates his carnal desires by raping Natasha.
Ajay learns of this and appoints Natasha as the CEO of the family business. He even tells Vijendra that he has gotten married to Natasha. Vijendra is also shocked to learn that his brother and wife have fixed the sister’s marriage with his business rival, Yuvraj (Karan Anand), whom he had played dirty with in the past by planting a girl with the intention that he’d have sexual relations with her. Obviously, Vijendra tries to stop the marriage as he considers the Udaipur-based Yuvraj to be a womaniser. Vijendra also can’t digest the fact that Ajay is now married to Natasha as he himself had raped her in Hong Kong. He orders his men to kill Natasha who, he learns, has gone to Udaipur to finalise arrangements for his sister’s marriage. But when Vijendra realises that his wife had gone to Udaipur in place of Natasha, he and Ajay rush to save her as the men would otherwise kill his wife.
Soon, it emerges that Yuvraj is not a womaniser. It also turns out that Natasha is pregnant with Vijendra’s child. Vijendra agrees to accept the child when it is born but Natasha would rather give the child to the barren Sivranjani. Driver Padampath, by now, has also joined Ajay and group to reform Vijendra. As for Sharma, he has run away after murdering his own wife for having a clandestine affair with Vijendra.
Does Vijendra mend his ways?
Pahlaj Nihalani has written a story which is hotch-potch and which contains elements that were popular in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It is impossible for the audience of today to feel involved in this kind of a story. His screenplay is one of complete convenience and doesn’t care for logic whatsoever. Consequently, the drama fails to entertain, engage or involve the audience. Emotions are completely missing. Comedy falls flat on its face. There is romance but it is far from being heart-warming. There are so many plots and sub-plots that they soon start testing the patience of the viewers as it becomes difficult to keep track of all the drama.
Dialogues, written by Khalid Azmi and Raj Verma, are entertaining at places.
Govinda does well in the double roles. But the point is: why will the audience today accept Govinda doing exactly what he used to do even 20 years back – more so, because he looks old and overweight. Mishika Chourasia makes a dull debut as Natasha. Digangana Suryavanshi is so-so as Sivranjani. Anupama Agnihotri can’t act to save her life. As Alekha, girlfriend of Ajay, she is pathetic. Karan Anand leaves a fair mark in the role of Yuvraj. Shakti Kapoor is quite entertaining because he at least caters to the front-benchers. Govind Namdeo is alright as secretary Sharma. Prem Chopra leaves a mark in a tiny role. Others are routine.
Sikander Bharati’s direction is jaded and looks dated. Like the script, the film’s narrative style also belongs to an era gone by. Ishwar Kumar’s music and Mehboob’s lyrics don’t add much to the film. Chinni Prakash’s choreography is fair. Amar Mohile’s background music is more functional than anything else. Siba Mishra’s camerawork is reasonably good. ND’s Arts World’s art direction is commonplace. Tinnu Verma’s action is average. Sanjay Sankla’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Rangeela Raja is a clichéd film which doesn’t belong to today’s times. It will, therefore, not find too many takers at the turnstiles.
Released on 18-1-’19 at Maratha Mandir (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Vishal Distributors. Publicity: so-so. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.