Revolver Rani

Cast: Kangana Ranaut (Alka Singh aka Revolver Rani), Vir Das (Rohan Kapoor), Piyush Mishra (Balli), Zakir Hussain (Udaybhan Tomar), Pankaj Saraswat (Govind Tomar), Mishika Singh (Newsreader Payal), Kumud Mishra (Tomar), Preeti Sood (Gutki), Salim Javed (Puneet), Jamy Jafery (Mithilesh Singh), Zafar Khan (Bheem Singh), Rahul Gandhi (Jay), Abhijeet Shetty (viru), Pathy (CEO of OZO), Deana Uppal (Nisha), Nikunj Malik (Zahira), Sanjay Singh (Home Minister)

Genre: Political Drama, Dark Comedy

Direction: Sai Kabir Shrivastava

Production: Raju Chadha, Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures, Nitin Tej AHuja, Rahul Mittra

Story / Screenplay: Sai Kabir Shrivastava

Cinematographer: Suhas Gujarati

Editor: Aarti Bajaj

Studio: Wave Cinemas Ponty Chaddha, Moving Pictures, Tigmanshu Dhulia

Distribution: Wave Cinemas

Music: Sanjeev Srivastava

Lyricist: Shaheen Iqbal and Puneet Sharma

Release Date: 25^th April, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 13 minutes

The Plot:

Revolver Rani - a satirical and unusual love story set up in the backdrop of politics. The female protagonist of the movie is Alka Singh Aka Revolver Rani (essayed by Kangana Ranaut), who is part of the hostile territory of Chambal, the land of rebels, dacoits, politicians, bullets and blood. Only fragile alliances and deadly enemies are there and Alka often is the target. For Alka, there are no friends, she can’t trust anyone. This movie is about Alka, the eponymous heroine in the film, aggressive, though at times emotionally vulnerable, her bold political stint and even trying to win love with power. Various issues viz. the political games / manipulations / rivalries, the battle for power, corrupt politicians who use people’s money to build their palatial houses etc. are also highlighted.            

Alka loses election to Udaybhan Tomar (Zakir Hussain) in Gwalior. Her sole agenda now is to expose Udaybhan in front of the public and emerge victorious. And on the other side, Udaybhan and his people just want to finish her off. To break Alka, Tomar gang kidnaps her romantic interest Rohan Kapoor (Vir Das), a wannabe Bollywood actor, Alka like a true Revolver Rani saves Rohan amidst gunshots. She also succeeds in her attempt to expose Udaybhan to the world, but then her priorities in lives change.

Alka is an interesting character in the movie. She is in need of love in her life. She flashes her metallic bustiers imported from Venice, wears outlandish Turkish pants, jackets, dark glasses, frizzy hairdo. Tanned complexion is given to her. Rohan calls her Coco and his logic for this is that she is hard from outside, but soft inside. And Rani calls him back Chamcham (no logics).

Balli Mama (Piyush Mishra), Alka’s uncle and principal advisor plays a pivotal role in her life. Balli Mama takes major decisions on her behalf.

Newsreader Payal (Mishika Singh) takes a dig at the manipulations, exaggerations, misinterpretation of the facts which have become a part of journalism currently. Her news-piece Sagat Samachar highlights the trivial things also as breaking news. At times, her script has film lyrics as well.

What happens between Alka and Rohan? Does their love blossom ? What role Balli Mama play in her life ? What happens to the animosity between Tomar Gang and Revolver Rani ? Who emerges winner (or rather strong)? How does the political scenario shape up? Who takes whose sides? Does Alka’s people remain faithful to her during her tough times? Do Tomar gang pay for their political corruptions / manipulations?  The movie definitely answers these questions.

Director / Story / Screenplay:

Sai Kabir Shrivastava has definitely been able to give a dark comedy to Bollywood. He has broken the mould with a fierce Revolver Rani who is at par with any male gun- toting political counterpart.

Cast and their Performance:

Kangana Ranaut as Revolver Rani aka Alka has definitely given an excellent performance. This role is a complete turnaround to her role in Queen.   

Vir as Rohan Kapoor and a wannabe Bollywood actor, does not have much dialogues in the movie. He just has to react or surrender to the situations helplessly. As per the script, he is successful in projecting his character.

Piyush Mishra as Balli Mama of Alka and Zakir Hussain as Udaybhan Tomar have given noteworthy performances.

Music:

Music is composed Sanjeev Srivastava. Lyrics are by Shaheen Iqbal and Puneet Sharma. Music is just average. Asha Bhosle has given voice to ‘Kaafi Nahi Chand’, Usha Uthup has sung the title song ‘Revolver Rani’.

Moments to watch out for

This movie is absolutely not my preference, but if without getting biased, if I say, then Kangana Ranaut’s moves are noteworthy.

Thumbs up:           

Only and only Kangana Ranaut. Watch this movie if you love dark comedy.  

Thumbs down:

Please don’t watch this movie, if you want some real humour. You may not enjoy the gun shots and the political gameplay.

One-Liner:

‘Revolver Rani’ though breaks the mould of ‘Rani’ (Queen) but this remains dark like its genre, a dark comedy…

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)