Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Humaima Malick, Paresh Rawal, Kay Kay Menon, Deepak Tijori

Direction: Kunal Deshmukh

Rating:**1/2 stars

After romancing cinematic sweethearts like crime-thrillers and romantic sagas this time Kunal Deshmukhs has returned to cine arena with a simple yet lovable con-saga thoroughly marinated in the zests of romance, sequential humor and mild thrill.

Certainly it's not for the first time that we have been exposed to jiggery pokery rhapsody by out Bollywooders. Even in the past, movies like "Ladies Vs RickyBahl", "Special Chabbis", "Oye Lucky Lucky Oye", "Bluffmaster", "Bunty Aur Babli" have made it to celluloid and have managed to secure a place for themselves in the good-books of the viewers. So keeping in view the success percentage of aforementioned movies up-till some extent one can conveniently say that if the man sitting behind the camera knows the art of churning various relevant condiments pertaining to this ilk of cine ballads, then there are enormous chances that one may end up getting a huge bunch of praises and accolades from the viewers and those scrutinizing the quality of the end product.

Anyhow as stated above that this is not for the first time that we are witnessing a cine yarn circumscribed around the core of skulduggery, but hitherto we have witnessed them in a different light where the main objective of the story teller had been to charm the viewers at the strength of induced humor. And in that matter "Raja Natwarlal" is thoroughly different from its predecessors.


As far as premise of "Raja Natwarlal" is concerned then it's the story of a flimflammer, Raja (Emraan Hashmi) who along with his swindler buddy Raghav (Deepak Tijori) con the people in order to survive in Mumbai. Despite being a crook Raja, who is in love with a bar dancer Zia (Humaima Malick), is no less than a Robinhood at heart who is always ready to help those in need at the drop of a hat. Everything remains fine for Raja and Raghav till the time Raja decides to go for a "Lamba Haath" after overhearing two men discussing a plan about making a big money. And in order to materialize his idea Raja teams up with Raghav and cons two men whose conversation Raja eavesdropped at a pub.

But alas! the duo end up being in trouble because the money which they looted belonged to a cricket obsessed, varlet mafioso Vardha Yadav (Kay Kay Menon) residing in Cape Town. Soon after getting the sniff of hoodlums who dared to rob his money, Vardha gets Raghav killed. After seeing his elder brother-like companion Raja decides to avenge Raghav's cold blooded murder and approaches Yogi (Paresh Rawal), a highly proficient swindler who has now relinquished the world of skulduggery and is now residing in Dharamshala. So does Raja succeeds in convincing Yogi to succor him in avenging his friends murder. To know watch this pleasing bilker cine saga "Raja Natwarlal".

Well be it Kunal's being in the robe of a writer or assistant director for his previous cine gems, whenever he has teamed up with Emraan most of the times he has succeeded in leaving a pleasing impact. And even in "Raja Natwarlala" camaraderie of Emraan and Kunal has once again thrived in appealing the masses.


If we talk about the story-line of "Raja Natwarlal" then there is no denying the fact that plot of the movie is pleasingly simple and intelligible. Sans any redundant embellishment or twist and turns Raja Natwarlal's plot remains engrossing especially in the first half. But just like any other cine cantata of Bollywood even story-line of "Raja Natwarlal" has it's own set of deficiencies. At times it looks a bit chunky due to high predictability coefficient and some of the missing links especially the ones which would have added more authenticity to the shift of the story from India to Cape Town and vice versa. But keeping in view the larger perspective one can't deny that it's the engrossing writing of Parveez Shaik because of which plot of "Raja Natwarlal" keeps viewers immersed in the onscreen proceedings. With just a few psyche-captivating rhetoric marbles, dialogues of Sanjay Masoom are strictly OK.

Screenplay of Raja Natwarlal is indubitably brilliant and gripping, particularly in the first half where you don't get even a single trice to take off your gaze from the celluloid. But after culminating the first half at a curiosity inducing juncture, flow of narration begins in dull mode in the second half with obtruded emotional melodrama poking in this otherwise smoothly proceeding cine narration. And the thing which further diminishes the over all brilliance of Raja Natwarlal's screenplay is that obtruded bunch of forgettable aural ditties, which come to the fore at regular intervals in order to inflate the run time of the movie. Editing of of Anand Subaya is brilliant in first half but losses it sharpness in the second. Cinematography is of Raaj Chakravarti is good and the man up-till great extent succeeds in performing what he is suppose to.


As far as music is concerned then unlike other Emraan Hashmi starrers this one thoroughly lacks those croon-worthy melodies. In-fact it won't be wrong to say that in music department "Raja Natwarlal" is thoroughly impoverished.

After "Ghanchakker" debacle this time Emraan has returned to the big screen with a heartening performance where he conveniently succeeds in making viewers go gaga over him. Newbie Humaima Malick doesn't have much screen presence and is only made to appear on the celluloid, whenever our male protagonists has a craving for romance or singing. If we talk about acting prowess of Humaima then she still needs to go a long way but in-spite of that she manages to convince the audience with her confidence. The two most versatile thespians accompanying Emraan i.e. Paresh Rawal and Kay Kay Menon are in top form and as usual succeeds in delivering one of the finest performances of their lives.Especially if we talk about Paresh then the man looks simply brilliant and it's his onscreen camaraderie with Emraan which not only makes "Raja Natwarlal" a delightful watch but at the same time keeps some of the noticeable flaws overshadowed.Deepak Tijori in a cameo is just OK.


To sum up, probably "Raja Natwarlal" may not be one of the best jiggery pokery rhapsody of Indian cine history, but it certainly is an engrossing cine saga garnished with some brilliant performances of Emraan and Paresh and their radiant onscreen camaraderie. So in-spite of some flaws prevailing in it, I am going ahead with two and a half star out of five for this engrossing con-tale.