Such collections were always on the cards, considering the songs (Gandi Baat, Saree Ke Fall Sa) had done the trick while the promos were accepted too. Oh yes, there were spoilers in the party though, what with majority of critics panning the film with some of the worst reviews of the year reserved for it. There were a handful of average and good reviews too but largely, there wasn’t any chance given to the film. However, audience had a choice of its own and this was reflected in some consistent numbers that the film gained over the weekend.

As a result, around 29 crores came over the weekend for R… Rajkumar which has given the film a good chance to fight it out during the weekdays. Solo release as well as absence of any competition whatsoever has helped the film’s prospects and since there is hardly any competition in the coming week, R… Rajkumar should continue to find audience, especially in the single screens. This must indeed be good news for Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha who were hunting for a good earner this year.

Other release of the week, Club 60 got good reviews and sparse release, hence resulting in hardly any collections coming its way. It would soon be hunting for audience in the home video circuit.

The story is handpicked from the land of opium growers where the age old rivalry between Shivraj (Sonu Sood) and Parmar (Ashish Vidyarthi) is the norm of the village named Dhartipur. Shivraj strikes gold when he hires a man Romeo Rajkumar (Shahid Kapoor) who is neat with his work and beats zestfully. However Shivraj and Romeo suffer a massive fallout when they both fall for Parmar’s niece Chanda (Sonakshi SInha).

While Parmar and Shivraj end their opium rivalry and decide to become relatives finally ending their tussle, Romeo challenges Shivraj that he will marry his lady love on the same day that is decided for his wedding to Chanda.

Henceforth begins Romeo’s journey to win over Shivraj at every step and make Chanda his own. Will Shivraj fail to marry Chanda and fail the challenge Romeo posed to him? Or use his power to crush his former protege? Watch R…Rajkumar to know how the story unfolds.

Shahid Kapoor to his credit is in good form. He delivers a few genuine laughs and shows a flair for fights! Intense and enjoyable, perhaps the only flaw with his work was he wasn’t enjoying his role enough. The infectious gusto of the actor is indeed there but the scorching screen presence of the lead man is clearly half done.

Sonakshi Sinha is unfortunately the female Prakash Raj of the acting world. She is there is every freaking film, delivering the same role each time rendering no new flavor to her character. There is running joke I crack to my friends about her, how you can cut her scenes from any of her films and paste it in her next, it would do. She is becoming boring and since the girl has shown caliber before, wasting herself in roles where she is called lollypop is unfortunate.

Sonu Sood is not exemplary. Missing the viciousness of Chedi Singh, neither is he a perfect lecher or outright evil. With cocky lines and the brutal smile, he works just average but not exceedingly impressive.

The supporting cast can might as well be ignored because they were that unremarkable.

R…Rajkumar is a below ordinary, at best Prabhudheva’s most modest work till date. Rating 2 on 5

The Dabangg era may just be nearing its end. With everyone from Ranbir Kapoor (Besharam) to Sanjay Dutt (Policegiri) trying to enter this space but with no luck going in their favour, courtesy audience showing a red flag to their outings, the whole pitch of R... Rajkumar, the last of the desi action films this year, is seeing a different pitch for itself.

As per the makers, the Shahid Kapoor starrer is far removed from the masala space of the Salman Khan starrer that led to many a clone being built during last three years.

"Instead, the film is being positioned as the romantic action entertainer with the USP as the 'youngest action hero' on screen in the current times. Even there, Shahid would have limited engagement with goons and scenes centered on one 'mukka' resulting in 'ten-men- flying-in-the-air' would be drastically reduced," informs our source.

As a matter of fact, when the original script was shared by producer Viki Rajani with Prabhu Dheva and Shahid, the director as well as the actor liked the script. However after coming on board, Prabhu Dheva decided to turn around everything in the film except for the core premise and wrote it in his own style.

Eventually, R... Rajkumar turned out to be a film that had a style of its own without falling into the trap of several clones floating around in the market. Also, Prabhu Dheva worked on the entire story and screenplay himself, hence lending his own style to the narrative.

Confirms Viki Rajani, who has produced the film along with Sunil Lulla of Eros, "We are definitely not getting into the Dabangg space with R... Rajkumar. We have not gone overboard in making Shahid a superhero. Instead, he is this young guy who does what a hero has to do."

He goes on to add that at the core of it, R... Rajkumar is not just a wham-bang entertainer but instead a romantic action movie, a genre that hasn't been explored for a long time.

Says Viki, "We have had action comedies or action dramas in last few years but there hasn't been a romantic action film for long. R... Rajkumar fills that space. There are songs, dances, fun and a lot of action too. It is a wholesome family entertainer. Shahid is doing stuff that no one has done before. He is a hero but not like a Salman in Dabangg or Akshay in Rowdy Rathore."