Review : Main Raj Kapoor Ho Gaya : Reliving Raj Kapoor’s cinematic philosophy!

In everyday life almost everyone has an idol, especially from filmdom. ‘#KapoorKhandaan’ known as the first family of #Bollywood boasts of many superstars. From the earlier generation #RajKapoor had impacted many lives through his body of work and the philosophy he imparted through his films is way of life for many. Raj Kapoor was called a tramp due to the characters he played in his films and the common man he played always connected with with the viewers. Similarly an actor and a director #ManavSohal has been an ardent fan of Raj Kapoor and his philosophy. Through Main Raj Kapoor Ho Gaya he has tried to relive that philosophy.

Raj (Manav Sohal) is an effervescent youth who falls to the charms of a lovely lady, Suman (Arshin Mehta), and she too reciprocates. They get married but the destiny has something else in mind. In an unfortunate incident Suman dies and Raj loses interest in life. He becomes an alcoholic and his childhood friend Laxmi (Shravani Goswami) looks after him by providing food and shelter. Actually she is in love with him since childhood but can not voice it out to him. Raj is totally engrossed in Suman’s memories and despite no earnings he and his friend (Kanchan Pagare) manage to get their daily quota of drinks, thanks to the booze booth uncle (Virendra Saxena) who is fond of Manav. Raj saves a girl (Nazia Hussain) from the clutches of goons and since she has lost her memory gives shelter at his modest house. He calls her Madam ji and seeing the selfless goodness of Raj she starts liking him. Since Raj being constantly engrossed in Suman’s memories, what transpires after and in between forms the crux of the story.

Manav Sohal who plays the titular role has also directed the film. The story is heavily loaded with Raj Kapoor’s philosophy of stories showcasing common man’s plight and relationships. There is a lot of predictability in the plot and the haphazard way of storytelling can’t grip audiences’ attention. The length of the movie (138 min) is too long and the editor should have trimmed it. Music is the strength of this film and there are a couple of hummable songs. Manav Sohal is constantly dressed like Raj Kapoor’s tramp look from his films. His dialogue delivery as an alcoholic is poor as some of the dialogues are inaudible. His single dimensional portrayal fails to impress. Shravani Goswami emotes well and Nazia Hussain has done well. Arshi Mehta looks good and does justice to her small role. Virendra Saxena and Kanchan Pagare have done a good job.

***