A visual spectacle that runs on effects alone, with little story beneath.
Verdict tier Mixed, lukewarm or divided, on a scale of Unfavorable, Mixed, Recommended, Exceptional.
Not streaming in India
Critic consensus
Critical reception for Ra.One was divided, with most reviewers landing in the mixed-to-average range. The film's visual effects and technical spectacle were the most consistently acknowledged strengths across reviews. However, many critics felt the narrative was incoherent or hollow, with the film described as lacking emotional depth, tonal coherence, and meaningful storytelling beyond its surface-level entertainment. A handful of more favorable voices pointed to Shah Rukh Khan's performance and the film's entertainment value, particularly for younger audiences.
Positive = 6.5/10 and up · negative = below 5/10
AI-generated summary of 12 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyFrom the papers
Top critics first, then by score · not-rated last · updated
Top critic
Film review ·
Ra-One is sure to usher in a crackling Diwali at the box office and give the audience paisa vasool entertainment, with fine performances by both Shah Rukh and Kareena. Even young Armaan is efficient. Go have a blast.
Top critic
Film review ·
RA.One is like a colourful Popsicle that looks tantalising, tickles the palate while it lasts, but leaves no particular after-taste. Sound and fury? Loads of it. Significance? Not much.
Top critic
Film review ·
Like the spaghetti and curds concoction that Shah Rukh digs into in an early scene, 'Ra.One' is clearly an acquired taste.
Top critic
Film review ·
It is a superstarry slurry sludge, with just the occasional consolatory sparkle.
Film review ·
On the whole, RA.ONE is a solid entertainer, no two opinions on that. It's not merely a great looking film, but also has soul, which is so essential to strike a chord with the avid moviegoer. As for the business prospects, RA.ONE is sure to shatter all previous records and set new ones, in India as well as internationally. The film will be the new yardstick for measuring success. It has Blockbuster written all over it!
Film review ·
On the whole, Ra.One has the novelty factor and visual effects as its greatest plus points. It may be lagging in the other departments but these two – novelty and visual effects – will definitely see the high-budgeted film make profits for all concerned. Looking to the almost unprecedented hype and huge craze for the film and its grand opening, it will sail past its safety mark in the first week itself (after considering all the other sources of revenue too) and then go on to yield profits.
Film review ·
Even though die-hard fans will freak out, SRK'S G.One lacks the chutzpah of Main Hoon Na's Major Ram, where he similarly vanquished a terrorist called 'Raghavan' at the end.
Film review ·
For teenagers, this should definitely be a delight.
Film review ·
For me it's a one time watch if you're curious, best saved for DVD and will be quickly forgotten. A massive opportunity gone to waste!
Film review ·
Look at the film. The fuss was necessary! Producers make plans of a franchise obvious with the final scene. That, I fear may have G.One with the wind. But then you never know, right? Seriously.
Film review ·
Ra.One seems to have been put together rather half-heartedly -- a song forced in here, a handful of laughable special appearances there (including an unforgivable one of Superstar Rajinikanth) and a little slapstick comedy and rona-dhona thrown in too.
Film review ·
Watch it for the special effects and for 'Chammak Challo'. Don't expect it to woo you the way other SRK films do, because it isn't the same.
From our readers
16 ratings · user score 6.2
That V stands for villain, vicious, violent, virtual and victorious. Almost victorious till he is destroyed and dies (presumably). Well, it is a welcome move to name the movie after a villain. There are fewer earlier movies like Jewel Thief , Don , Ghajini but this is the first time Bollywood has a digital or virtual villain that is a delight as well as sinister character to watch. Curiously RAM (Arjun RAMpal) plays Ravan and adds monstrosity in a brief role. The movie has a simplistic storyline – win of good over evil. But when digital effects and graphics are added to it, it gives an awe-inspiring feeling. And watching in 3D is out-of-the-world experience. If the movie is taken as a video game too, it is definitely the next level. We don't need to compare it with Hollywood, where Indian and Chinese technicians work among others. The same technology does wonders in India among Indians. We have the brains and the result is amazing. Just like US call centers, soon we will have Hollywood studios setting up offices in India. After all cutting costs matter. The super hero is totally Indian. He neither wears a hood, goggles or underwear unlike the Hollywoodies. He is truly Bollywood original. For Hollywood superhero, he saves the world or cities. In Bollywood, the superhero's world centres on his family so he saves his family members. All Indian movies have heroes, who are SUPER. In Hollywood, he is taken as a super-human entity. Shekhar Subramaniam (SRK) along with his wife Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) and son Prateek (Armaan Verma) lives in London. He is a video game developer. While Prateek expects Shekhar to be a superhero, he is no where near it. Prateek also loves villains. To win over his son, Shekhar with the help of his colleagues (Tom Wu and Shahana Goswami) creates a digital/virtual villain Ra.One (reminds you of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , 1818), who can be played online in a deadly encounter. Prateek plays the game but leaves it mid-way. Ra.One advises him against it but Prateek goes off. Ra.One in a fit of anger, assumes human form. He must track Prateek and kill him as he has dared to defeat him. In the process, he kills Wu, Wu's mother, Shekhar and even Dalip Tahil (gaming company boss). But Hindi movies cannot exist without a hero so G.One (SRK again in a digital clone-Jivan, GONE, etc) is given birth to counter Ra.One and to protect Prateek and Sonia. Now the location shifts to India. Now it is up to G.One to save his world (read family here). And this is the marvellous point in the movie. Ra.One has finally emerged as a humanoid (Rampal, finally) and he fights a battle to the finish. He is dangerous, deadly and dynamite. He will stop at nothing to extract his revenge. He even takes Ravanous 10 forms but tragically his 'shadow' gives him away. The villain must be vanquished and so he is. Farishtey bhi hote hain lives on. But ravan kabhi nahin marta (despite yearly jalana ). So you can expect a sequel with G.One brought back to 'life'.
After months of hype, anticipation & exhaustive publicity, "Ra One" has finally hit the screens on the day of festival of lights. With Salman ruling the roost since the past two years, it's high time that SRK regained his throne as the Baadshah of Bollywood. As opposed to all his previous ventures which inevitably portrays him as the quintessential lover with his hands spread out & skewed posture, this time around he has touched upon the topic of superheroes. With "Enthiran" having set a bench-mark, it's now about raising the bar & SRK has busted about 150 Cr to ensure that's it on par with Hollywood. But the question now is whether it will be a profitable venture??? In the present day, video-games are a rage among the youngsters be it "Final Fantasy", "Resident Evil" etc., & this is the very concept that is being dealt here. Shekhar Subramanium (SRK) is the master brain of Barron Industries who are one of the world leaders in video gaming. However, Shekhar always fails to impart much of an impact on his son Pratheek (Armaan Verma). It is in this process of being his son's hero, that Shekhar comes up with his latest invention "Ra One", boasting of a villain even powerful than the hero. Just as things starts to fall into place, all hell breaks lose when Ra One enters into the real world with the aim of killing Lucifer (Pratheek's gamer name). In order to protect Pratheek, the most logical solution seemed getting the hero of the game, G One into the real world. So will Pratheek's desire for a powerful villain spell his own doom??? There is no denying the fact, that we Indians do cosy up to the sci-fi flicks churned out by Hollywood while imparting a step motherly attitude to our own efforts in the same genre. This is usually due to the lack of perfection & at times purely due to a pre-conceived notion that it feels illogical when we attempt it. Without doubt, SRK & Anubhav Sinha has taken a huge risk in making this dream a reality. Anubhav was ably supported in the scripting by Kanika Dhillon, Mushtaq Sheikh & David Benullo; and frankly speaking the concept was truly interesting. Unlike Hollywood, where money isnt much of an issue recreating such a venture onto celluloid in India would require a strong financial backing & SRK along with Eros has more than ensured that. The VFX team under the watchful eyes of Jeff Kleiser ("Stargate" fame) was a revelation & has come up with the best effects ever seen in India. The same goes for the stunts by Andy Gill & Spiro Razatos, with stunning visuals by V Manikandan & Nicola Picorini. The music by Vishal-Shekhar was fantastic to say the least with "Chammak Chalo" & "Criminal" rendered by Akon setting the charts on fire. SRK as G-One was pretty good, but hasnt done anything that would make us look at him with awe unlike Rajni who blew our minds away with "Enthiran". It might be due to this very fact, that SRK has roped in Rajni for a guest appearance in his Chitti avatar, which had the audiences in a frenzy. Arjun Rampal as Ra One appears only in the 2nd half & he definitely looked menacing while Kareena as Sonia has imparted a decent act . However it was Armaan, who has delivered the best performance in the movie as he seemed confident & doesnt seem overrawed by the presence of such huge stars. Verdict: Over all the movie was impressive with an interesting concept which was brilliantly executed. However, unlike "Enthiran", we definitely feel that there was scope for more death defying stunts as it seems too few & far apart for a movie of this scale. The movie will have a killer opening & without sounding boastful I believe that it's on its way to being one of the biggest hits ever. In short, I believe that you guys should definitely give it a try for its technical perfection!!! Rating: 3.5/5 Regards...Ben
We have all seen the media juggernaut and hype built up around this SRK movie from nearly half a year. From the moment I saw the first trailer, I knew this movie wouldn't try to break any new ground in terms of story telling because lets face it, nobody wants to experiment with such a huge budget riding on the movie. I expected lots of comedy and some good cgi effects. I didn't go into the theaters expecting an Iron Man and so I didn't hate the movie. Quite the contrary, I enjoyed it. Also the effort put by SRK to do something different, putting his name on the line should be highly appreciated. Shekhar Subramaniam is a Tamilian who works as a game developer in a multinational company in London. To impress his son, he programs a game in which the villain is more powerful than the superhero and they both have artificial intelligence embedded in their programs. But due to another new technology by which the waves around us can create solid objects, the villain, Ra.One emerges out of the game with a vengeance to kill "Lucifer" aka, Shekhar's son. Along his quest in finding out who the real Lucifer is, Ra.One kills Shekhar. To save him and his mother Sonia, the superhero G.One comes out of the game and thus begins the story of Ra.One. THE FLAWS: Lots of low-brow humor which is not in good taste, like G.One spanking Kareena, the gratuitous shots of the female anatomy (I thought this was supposed to be a family friendly affair), Ra.One saying after killing a grandma - "I hate Chinese", lots of pelvic thrusts and crotch grabbing and many others like this. Another flaw is the direction and editing which doesn't gel the story. Hell, even Rajnikanth's "Endhiran" (Robot) had a great flow to the story. The kid, Prateek (Lucifer) is just like any other sheltered rich kid. Beat the idiot and make him understand what is right or what is wrong. Don't give into his every whims and desires! I didn't like the kid's performance one bit. Somebody give him a haircut while giving him acting lessons too. The message of good always triumphing over evil comes off as ridiculously cheesy. The actors, nor the story could convince me of this message. Many scenes in the movie reminded me of Endhiran (Robot) which is not necessarily a bad thing, but just a little nag of mine. But in terms of special effects and entertainment value, this movie is way superior to that one. We all know Kareena can act wonderfully if the script is right, but here she's reduced to nothing more than an eye-candy. That is very disappointing to the say the least (though I'm not complaining because she's gorgeous and I loved her in the song-dance sequences, and the comedy scenes). In my opinion she got over the death of her husband way too quickly. The villain Ra.One was under-utilized in my opinion. Again, these faults lies with the director. Lots of people say G.One acquired human emotions too easily and he felt empathy when there shouldn't have been none in the first place. I have to disagree with most of you here. Ra.One and G.One had an evolving artificial intelligence which led them to have emotions and grow their personality. But the writing doesn't actually show this properly. And just because a guy wears cool dark glasses, a black jacket and looks menacing doesn't automatically make him a Terminator or Mr. Smith. THE GOOD: This is the first of its kind in such a huge magnitude in Bollywood, lets give it some leeway. I hope it paves the way for more intelligent sci-fi/superhero movies in our industry. SRK's acting is really top-notch. He is hilarious as the Tamilian and when the time came to be a superhero, he did good. Many scenes in Shekhar's hometown were completely likable. The special effects were awesome for a Bollywood movie. You can see that they went for the Transformers-esque effect when Ra.One transforms. One more brilliant addition to the movie was the use of guest stars in Rajnikanth (with his trademark ROBOT movie dialogue). Then Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra's scene was straight out awesome in the old Hindi movie style, of the hero saving the day and getting the girl. The fight scenes, every one of them were awesome! What little screen presence Ra.One (Arjun Rampal) had, he was a force to be reckoned with. And what can I say about the music and songs - they are PERFECT! Loved all the songs in the movie. The climax left a glimmer of hope for a possible Ra.One - Part 2. If that happens, I just hope its more intelligent, well written and Anubhav Sinha is nowhere near it. For the first step in trying to create an Indian foothold in the world movie stage which has now been dominated by Hollywood films, I have to say Ra.One is off to a solid start. It was an experimental cinema woven in commercialism and grandeur production values. FINAL WORD: It all depends on what you expected from this movie. You just can't expect a DDLJ, nor a niche superhero movie. For what it was advertised - a sci-fi movie where the superhero has a heart of gold, this movie was quite entertaining. To each his own, you just have to watch "Ra.One" and decide for yourself. Just kick back, relax and let go, you may enjoy it. 7/10
Ra.One is definitely the best film of all time.The way it has used all the elements of an entertainer,it deserves not just praise,but also a watch by all ages. The way of imagining a game in real life,and that too a superhero game in which the villain is comparatively more powerful than the hero is amazing and heart winning.The VFX and action,along with a tight story and screenplay, music,performances make it a sure shot winner,which not only entertains but also wins hearts.The concept of bringing virtual characters into the real world using their action figures and computers is a thing I'd surely appreciate.I won't say much as I have already described how much I liked this movie. On the whole,RA.One is the finest film that comes from the Indian film industry that deserves repeated watches and praises.A HART winner!
great concept,actions,vfx spoiled by poor screenplay n direction
Great super hero from bollywood
the film not that bad I do not know why every body here the film good try srk
Indian filmmakers do make films which strike chord with the audiences, and they do this thing with all the genres. Anubhav Sinha does the same with the film RA - One which isn't just a great film, but also raises the bar of Indian action and science fiction movies to a next level, and also at par with Hollywood. Such subjects need to be handled with care. Anubhav Sinha has managed to do that efficiently. Shah Rukh Khan is just amazing, brilliant and terrific, both as the meek father, and the superhero. He delivers a great performance and gives the viewers the feel of a superhero. Arjun Rampal as the main villain does perform brilliantly. He is superb in every part and cool action with visual effects add to his character's intensity, which can be seen in case of every actor. Kareena Kapoor's role is good and she does it well. Her portrayal of a stylish mother worked well. Besides, Armaan Verma, the surprise package of this film, rocked it completely and managed to steal the show with his awesome histrionics, performance and stunts. Coming to music, this one is another terrific yet entertaining soundtrack from Vishal and Shekhar. Coming to its biggest plus points, the action and the VFX are perhaps the best ones I have ever seen in any Indian film. You will hardly find any flaws in the visuals of the film. Both the action and VFX have been executed with brilliance at par with Hollywood. Coming to the storyline, Anubhav Sinha deserves a special praise for bringing something new and different in front of us on the big screen. Overall, RA - One is a complete entertainer that has biggest strength in its content and is a different kind of superhero film. Go, watch it with your family, in better sound and video system!
very good movie ,some action scenes are excellent,some action scenes feels idotic
'Ra. One' is not satisfied with a skilled execution of a water thin plot premise. It has to add some songs, some masala moments, a novelty factor and some scintillating visual effects to add up. And it does add them. Which is good because there's so much to enjoy here. But all of it comes startlingly down because the worst performance in the film is delivered by its otherwise nuanced star- yes, I am talking about Shahrukh Khan. Kareena Kapoor delivers much better with her emotional coherence. Director Anubhav Sinha is too indulgent in the craft, and that's to a measure so drastically up that writer Kanika Dhillon, at that point, doesn't even know what to do now with the characters. So she deeply delves into pointlessness and borrows from Disney and Marvel's graphic characters and ends up adding eighties-level heft to the basic plot. That's what makes it 'Ra. One' a holy mess- serviceable, bearable even- but not overtly enjoyable.
Credits
Shah Rukh KhanShekhar Subramaniam
Arjun RampalRa.One
Kareena Kapoor KhanSonia S. Subramanium
Shahana GoswamiJenny Nayar
Priyanka Chopra JonasThe Desi Girl
Sanjay DuttKhalnayak
RajinikanthChittiHindi films like Ra.One
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