namashi_1 'Raja Natwarlal' despite minuses, pulls off A Decent Con! A well-paced second-hour & commendable performances, sort of make up for its flaws. 'Raja Natwarlal' Synopsis: A small-time con man seeks assistance from his mentor with an intention of setting scores with a gangster.'Raja Natwarlal' begins well, but the romantic-track involving the protagonist & his lady-love, is bland. Also, why do they break into a song, almost every time they meet up? Seriously, what were the writers thinking, especially while penning this part? But, 'Raja Natwarlal' redeems itself in its second-hour. The con is consistently engaging & the series of events are cleverly executed. In short, a mostly lifeless first-hour, is saved by a nicely done second.The Screenplay has some true merit, a but a dead-on-arrival romantic-track, plays a spoilsport. Kunal Deshmukh's Direction is pretty good. Cinematography is fine. Editing is, also, is just about fair. Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is melodious. Performance-Wise: Emraan Hashmi is perfect. He enacts the revenge driven con-artist with admirable ease. Humaima Malick is strictly okay. Kay Kay Menon is convincing as the villain. But its Paresh Rawal who steals the show. He's brilliant. Deepak Tijori is excellent in a brief role. On the whole, 'Raja Natwarlal' is a watchable fare.

ahwaan_padhee Raja Natwarlal - the name didn't ride on any big hopes prior to its release. It marks the fourth collaboration of director Kunal Deshmukh and Emraan Hashmi and that too outside the Vishesh Films camp. A con- caper at its heart, Natwarlal entwines all the possible elements of a typical Hashmi potboiler - drama, revenge, twists and the customary lip locks.The Plot. A street-smart thug named Raja(Hashmi) inadvertently crosses paths with a deadly Cape Town-based don, Vardha(Kay Kay Menon, deliciously menacing)when he, along with mentor Raghav(Deepak Tijori), steal away a hefty sum from his men. Raghav is killed by Vardha's men and Raja swears revenge.He takes the help of a rather cynical ex-con guru Yogi(Paresh Rawal)in devising a royal scam to rob the don off all his ill-acquired wealth. With an agenda that they would auction a fake cricket team to Vardha as the sport is ostensibly his only weakness, the stage is all set for the battle of wits!Reportedly inspired from the 1973 Hollywood flick, Sting, Raja Natwarlal manages to keep you hooked with all its twists and turns. With an undercurrent of humor and crisply written dialogues, the narrative springs out good sequences , particularly when Raja and his motley of con-men stage a fake meeting of Vardha with the cricket board Chairman with a pest-control-in-progress tag outside the room. What doesn't work here is the love track between Raja and his girlfriend, Ziya(Humaima Mallik) and the monotonously choreographed dance-bar numbers. And every time, the action ticks off , it is soon ruptured by stupidly placed songs .Even the beautiful picturizations amidst the scenic locales of Cape Town and the music by new-find Yuvan Shankar seldom do the damage control. It would also require a suspension of disbelief for the discerning viewer to see how an overtly incredulous tycoon gets tricked in the name of a fake cricket league.With a mediocre intensity this time, Emraan Hashmi pulls off the act efficiently. He imbues Raja with a steely resolve and manages to give an emotional depth to the character. The movie redeems much of its lost strength from accomplished stars like Paresh Rawal who is superb as the satirical con-coach and mouths hilarious two-liners and Kay Kay whose performance is near immaculate. It was rather disappointing to see the talented Mohd Zeesan Ayub(Raanjhana) wasted in a sliver of a role as the mute hit-man .Humaima, who proved her potential in Pakistani films, hardly impresses here and is reduced to an average glam queen.Sumeet Nijhawan(Maazii,Diskhiyaoon) is adequate as the wicked policeman.Raja..isn't a great film, but at the same time doesn't disappoint you with its mischievous shades.

Shiraj Dakshy Kunal Deshmukh and Emraan Hashmi combo is back after their successful association in Jannat & Jannat 2.This time Kunal chooses a subject of a con man Raja (Emraan Hashmi) who after doing small con jobs with the help of his mentor Raghav (Deepak Tijori) wants to do a big con job so that he can fulfill his dream of marrying the bar dancer Ziya (Humaima Malik). The con job goes wrong and Raghav is killed by businessman cum mafia don Vardha Yadav's (Kay Kay Menon) men. Raja sets out to take revenge from Vardha Yadav by coning him with the help of famous con artist Yogi (Paresh Rawal) and sell him a fake cricket team worth One Fifty crores. The rest of the movie covers how Raja and Yogi execute their con act… Story by Parvez Sheikh is promising but where the movie loses its grip is with Parvez's screenplay with too many sub plots of hit man, corrupt police and the love angle which actually poses a hindrance in the narration and slows down the pace with its songs which look out of place especially the first half. The screenplay also has too many loopholes; some con acts look too convenient to be true. It is the climax which is impressive and brings the sub plots together. But it could have been better paced. The script had all the makings of a good con movie but falls short as most part of the movie the screenplay looks scattered and lacks cohesiveness.Dialogues by Sanjay Masoom complement the genre and narration well with subtle humor and are realistic.Emraan Hashmi has improved tremendously especially after "Shanghai" he does complete justice to his character Raja. It is Paresh Rawal who steals the limelight with his fantastic portrayal of Yogi; it is always a delight to watch such a brilliant actor perform. Kay Kay Menon is back with his impressive portrayal of the cunning and shrewd Vardha Yadav, he gives face to a true villain of Bollywood who is menacing as well as unpredictable, a true delight. Humaima Mallik's debut act is nothing to write home about but she somehow does a decent job. Deepak Tijori makes a comeback with Raghav and he creates an impact with his brief role. Rest of the cast also does a good job.Music by Yuvaan Shankar Raja is average and does not create too much of an impact. Cinematography by Raaj Chakravarti is good but nothing out of the world.Kunal Deshmukh tries to balance between being realistic and fictional, but fails a bit on the realistic front and goes a bit overboard with cinematic liberties becoming too fictional. Nevertheless Kunal's attempt is good and better than many movies which released in the recent past. Do not expect a "Special 26" and you won't be disappointed. I will go with Two & A Half Star….

loveyourlife Similar in vein to films such as Snatch, Hustle and Life of Crime; this Emraan Hashmi starer will probably rank as one of his best films and is a welcome uplift after the mediocre Ek Thi Daayan. Hashmi should be applauded for taking risks with films that other much bigger names in Bollywood don't. He may not have the star power of the Khans but, with the exception of maybe Amir Khan, he has recently been willing to experiment with roles a lot more. Here he's paired with Humaima Malick in her first Indian film and she does a decent job as the girlfriend in tow; whatever India's verdict on her debut, she will still have her outstanding lead role in Shoaib Mansoor's "Bol" under her belt. Kay Kay Menon flips form psychotic to ice cool villain at the flick of the switch but, as always, he never fails to deliver and is believable as the rich and corrupt antagonist. The assassin who is hired to kill Raja (whoever the actor is) is excellent despite minimal dialogue and limited screen time. One of South cinema's biggest music directors, Yuvan Shankar Raja, turns in some modern numbers that just may linger; either way, thankfully these items numbers don't detract from the narrative too much. Just suspend disbelief because of course a lot of the twists in the plot are totally implausible but we need to remember, this is fiction with the sole purpose of entertaining the masses. Not an imperfect film but miles better than most releases Bollywood has had to offer in this genre this year.