Prabhu Devaa and Salman Khan’s Wanted had a timely twist and comic action.
The antique Radhe has neither.
What it has is Salman Khan wishing his audience Eid Mubarak with his entry dialogue.
Will that be enough even for Sallu’s die-hard fans?
Don’t do this to yourself, Salman. Your Eid followers want biryani, sheer khurma and just a little more effort from you.
Look at the vital boxes.
Story, screenplay: A relic about a suspended wonder cop being called in to take care of Rana, a new drug lord in Mumbai. Ho-hum, saw the much-repeated suspended super cop in the tautly-made Nagarjuna starrer Wild Dog on Netflix just a while back.
Dialogues: If Vijay Maurya’s screenplay is unexcitingly short visioned, his lines don’t go beyond the overused ‘Ek baar commitment kar liya toh main apne aap ka bhi nahi suntan hoon.’ Unless ‘Swachch Bharat, I’ll clean this city up,’ is considered ceetee maar worthy.
A song exhorts you to ‘Ceetee maar’. But what do you cee tee maar at?
Also Read: On Radhe Release, Payal Dev Shares Experience Working With Salman Khan
Jackie Shroff, Radhe’s buffoon-like senior, who wears his sister’s short dress for comedy?
The ancient romance where Radhe pretends to be an aspiring model and Diya (pretty Disha Patani) has no clue he’s a cop with 97 encounters and 27 transfers under the multi-layered clothes?
The songs which come as fillers like they did about a decade and a half ago? There’s even an item song by Jacqueline Fernandes with heart-shaped sets that doesn’t take your heart away.
The choreography which doesn’t have one new ceetee maar move the way Sallu’s buckle once danced on its own?
The humour that’s restricted to bumbling cops, a bare torso sequence and a jog with the clueless heroine?
The action which starts off well with Radhe’s entry, a shrapnel of glass scraping the baddie’s cheek, but ends up in a bathroom and atop a burning helicopter, without a single fresh punch or location?
Every time Salman delivers a flying kick, there’s ‘Wanted, Wanted….Radhe Radhe Radhe…’ in the background. We get it, this is the Wanted team.
But what you feel like chanting is, ‘Wanted, wanted…a screenplay, screenplay, Radhe Radhe Radhe…’
Salman set the bar high many Eids ago with Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It’s lowered to floor level with Radhe.
The fans deserved a better Eidi from Bhai.