Director: Karan Butani
Cast: Aayush Sharma, Sushrii Mishraa, Vidya Malavade, Jagapathi Babu and others
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 2 stars
Looks like, saving the nation is the current flavour of the season and filmmakers are encashing on it. Director Karan Butani’s Ruslaan is yet another addition to the bandwagon. However, Ruslaan is a mix of Mission Kashmir and a bit of the Tiger franchise but certainly has a surprisingly single screen appeal to it. Great action, heroic entries but predictable execution, Ruslaan is a below average affair in totality.
Ruslaan (Aayush Sharma) loses his parents in a tragic event and soon after, Mumbai’s celebrated cop Sameer Singh (Jagapathi Babu) and his wife adopt him. Against his father’s wish, Ruslaan joins forces only to discover the real culprit behind the country's destruction. Mantra (Vidya Malavade) and Vaani (Sushrii Mishraa) help Ruslaan to get to the conclusion. Will Ruslaan unmask the source or lose his identity for his country? This is what Ruslaan is all about.
Karan presents his male protagonist in the most obvious way, from firing guns in a stylised way, chase, playing with the technology with ease, there’s absolutely nothing new about the character. In fact, most of the uniform men on-screen are stubborn, be it Hrithik Roshan of Fighter or Varun Tej of Operation Valentine, Ruslaan is just one of them.
Majority of the flaws lie in the screenplay, cringy and dated dialogues, even the shot-taking could have been in sync with modern day. The question here is how can Bollywood characters get away with any damn thing and happily refuse to be logical!
Vidya, although has the meatiest role, she passes almost as a leading lady of the film. Debutante Sushrii does light action, romance the hero and does skin show when needed, making her as an apt counterpart in a film like this. Jagapathi Babu looks dapper but his Hindi dubbing is questionable.
Aayush impresses with his action and stunts and even looks technically sound but sadly, he too couldn’t save the film from being watchable.
Ruslaan is a showreel of Aayush’s talent and nothing beyond that.
