I saw RajaSaab today, I have had it downloaded in my phone for weeks now, but because I had other movies I wanted to see, I have been skipping it, so I went in expecting at least a decent time from Prabhas, and I came out more confused than entertained,I was really confused , I came out with a big headache.
The story follows Raju, a simple young man living quietly with his grandmother, Gangamma, who's dealing with Alzheimer's, despite everything she's forgetting, there is one thing she holds onto with everything in her, her long missing husband, Kanakaraju, gone for about sixty years at this point, she keeps insisting Raju bring his grandfather back to her, and one day, Raju stumbles across an old photo of this grandfather he is never even met, and that is what sends him off on this whole journey to Hyderabad to track the man down.
Along the way, because no Bollywood or Tollywood hero's journey is complete without romantic detours, Raju meets Bessy and falls for her almost immediately, then, as if one love interest wasn't enough to juggle, he meets Bhairavi, who ends up falling for him too and joins him on this search for his grandfather, so already you have this man balancing two women's feelings while also trying to solve a decades old family mystery, which honestly, pick a struggle.
Their search eventually leads them to this abandoned, haunted mansion tied directly to Kanakaraju, and this is where the movie tries to shift gears into full horror territory, Inside this mansion, they start uncovering the real truth about Raju's grandfather, and turns out, the sweet husband Gangamma has been longing for isn't exactly who she remembers him to be, there is a much darker family history buried underneath, tangled up with an old queen's story and some hidden fortune, and slowly the film peels back layer after layer trying to reveal what actually happened all those years ago.
Now here's where I have to be honest, because the setup itself isn't a bad idea, a grandmother's fading memory, the grandson chasing down family secrets, a love story wrapped inside a mystery, that is genuinely compelling material to work with, but the execution just did not do that premise justice at all, the movie throws basically every single horror comedy cliché at you within minutes, haunted mansion, black cat, self playing piano, rocking chair moving on its own, a portrait with eyes that follow you, and instead of leaning into that camp and having fun with it, it all just feels tired and predictable instead of charming.
And dont get me started on the pacing, because at over three hours, this movie really tests your patience, there were stretches where I genuinely felt like the story had lost itself, jumping between comedy, romance, and horror without ever fully committing to one tone long enough to build real tension or real laughs, having three women all pulled into Raju's storyline also felt unnecessary, like they were there more for glamour and song sequences than actually adding anything meaningful to the plot.
Even Prabhas, who I usually enjoy watching, felt like he wasn't given much to actually work with here, the chemistry between him and his grandmother was honestly one of the only parts that consistently worked for me emotionally, everything else around it just felt like noise competing for attention.
By the time the mansion's secrets are fully revealed, you would expect some kind of payoff that makes the wait worth it, but it just left me feeling like the movie promised so much more than it actually delivered, beautiful sets, heavy visual effects, big budget energy, none of that saved a story that could not decide what it actually wanted to be.
Rating: 40/100