Ra.One: Difference between revisions

Not to be confused with Raavan

Ra.One (Template:Lang-hi) is an upcoming 2011 Hindi science fiction film directed by Anubhav Sinha, and starring Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal in the lead roles. It also stars Shahana Goswami, Dilip Tahil and Chinese-American actor Tom Wu in supporting roles. The film is produced under Khan's production company Red Chillies Entertainment and was originally scheduled to release in the summer of 2011. However, due to extensive post-production work involving special effects and its 3D conversion, the film was pushed back and is now set for release during the Diwali weekend of October 26, 2011.^[2] Ra.One is expected to release in both 2D and 3D formats^[3] across India, along with its dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu.^[4] Rajinikanth will shoot for the special sequence in the film on October 4, at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. "In the sequence he will deliver his super-hit dialogue from the film Bhasha", added the source.^[5]

A father(Shekhar Subramanium) trying hard to 'fit-in' in his son's badass world. A son(Prateek Subramanium)is trying hard to 'dude-up' his dad from 'aiiiyyyo' to 'YO!'. And a mother(Sonia Shekhar Subramanium)lost in translation between her husband's 'ingeva' and her son's 'innit'. While Shekhar was trying every trick in the book to woo his son, get 'dude-ified' and 'up his coolness quotient', his son had given up on him. Just when the father-son duo hit a deadlock, Shekhar strikes gold when he designs one hell of a game. Finally it all starts falling in place. The family comes together only to find themselves in the middle of a crash. Not just a hard drive crash but a crash that would drive them to disaster and make their lives go - KABOOM!!! All hell breaks loose when the game that was meant to be played with, starts playing them.^[6]

• Shahrukh Khan as Shekhar Subramanium / G.One
• Kareena Kapoor as Sonia Shekhar Subramanium
• Arjun Rampal as Ra.One
• Armaan Verma as Prateek Subramanium a.k.a. Lucifer
• Shahana Goswami as Jenny Nayar
• Satish Shah as Iyer
• Dalip Tahil as Barron
• Rajinikanth in a Special appearance Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
• Priyanka Chopra in a Special appearance as "The Damsel in Distress"^[7]

According to director Anubhav Sinha, Ra.One has been in the making for over four years. He explains, "We invested as many as two years into the pre-production of the film, the actual filming was spread through one full year and then the post-production has been a year long process as well".^[9] In a 2011 interview with Rediff.com, Shahrukh Khan explained that Ra.One stands for "Random Access: Version One" as well as the mythological character Ravana.^[10] Special effects creator Robert Kurtzman was assigned to design the suits of Khan and Rampal's characters. In July 2011, it was announced that the film would release in both 3D and 2D formats, thus making it Bollywood's second 3D project after Haunted – 3D (2011).^[3]

Reports of similarities between the film and the 2010 release Enthiran have been surfacing since the film entered principal photography. When asked about the comparison, Khan noted: "They [both] are different films. I will not like to talk about anyone else's film but Rajni sir is respectable to all of us."^[11]

As a way to make his character more believable, Khan decided that he would perform his own stunts in the film.^[12] In 2010, Kareena Kapoor was signed on to play the female lead whilst Arjun Rampal was later approached for his role of a villain. During an appearance on the chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Khan stated that Jackie Chan was "approached for a role in the film". Khan had reportedly sent Chan the detailed script of the film, along with the action sequences and a brief synopsis of his character;^[13] it was later confirmed that Chan would not be part of the project.^[14] In July 2010, Khan announced that Chinese-American actor Tom Wu would be part of the film.^[15] Actors Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra were confirmed to make cameos in the film.^[7]

Ra.One's shooting was originally supposed to begin in Miami, USA, but due to budget concerns this was scrapped.^[16] The first phase of filming began in India in March 2010 and continued till May in Mumbai's Film City and Goa.^[17] While filming, Khan admitted to finding difficulties with the rubber-made costume that was specially designed for his character: : "The costume was designed in a way that I had to take the help of girls to get into it and vice-versa. I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink much in between the shoots. By the time, the shooting of the film was wrapped up; I ended up losing ten kilos."^[8] Production of the film's second and third phase occurred with the entire cast in London, and ended in August,^[18] which included a heavy duty action scene involving Khan and Kapoor.^[19] During this period, a picture of Kapoor's character was also revealed to the media.^[20] The film's final phase commenced at Filmistan Studio in December 2010 and was shot over seven days.^[21] The remaining portions were shot in Mumbai and completed in July 2011. While shooting for the film in Mumbai, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Yash Raj Studios, to watch Khan at work.^[22] In order to celebrate the film's completion, a wrap-up party was held at the end of the month in Mumbai.^[23]

The soundtrack of Ra.One was composed by Vishal-Shekhar whilst the lyrics were penned by Atahar Panchi, Vishal Dadlani and Kumaar. In addition to composing the film's soundtrack, the music directors brought together the 200-piece Prague Philharmonic Orchestra to record the film's background score, making Ra.One the first Bollywood film to have its score finalized in an overseas territory. They said, "Shahrukh and Anubhav wanted a particular sound and we have managed to bring it alive for [the film]."^[24] Director Anubhav Sinha announced that the soundtrack would also feature two songs recorded by Senegalese American R&B singer Akon.^[25] The makers of the film have complied with international copyright laws and have obtained the license to use Ben E. King's song, "Stand By Me", on which they have based the song "Dildaara".^[26]

Originally released on 12 September 2011, the film's entire music album was leaked online two days earlier.^[27] four months prior to this, the rough version of "Chammak Chhalo" was leaked on the internet in May 2011.^[28] In August, T-Series sent a legal notice to a jewellery brand for illegally using the unreleased song at the India International Jewellery Week 2011, asking for a compensation of ₹ 2 crore.^[28] The film's music launch took place in a huge set at Mumbai's Film City where performances were seen by the film's music directors and cast members. Radio Mirchi ran a contest through which it gave its listeners a chance to not only attend the music launch event but also meet the stars of the film.^[29] The event was attended by over 700 people from various media outlets and was also telecast live on YouTube.^[29] Ra.One became the first Bollywood film to sell the rights of its music launch telecasting to a television channel.^[30]

Upon release, the album was met by overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars, concluding: "Ra.One has brilliancy written all over it and is clearly a huge winner all the way. It isn't just the grandest score of the year but is also one of the hugest ever that has come out of Bollywood. Music here not just meets the huge expectations but also surpasses it at various junctures, hence making it a satiating experience for the listener. A definite choice of the season." ^[31] Sukanya Verma from Rediff.com gave it 3.5 stars and adding Ra.One has a grand soundtrack: "Vishal-Shekhar eventually succeed in emulating that all-important larger-than-life appeal. There's no denying this. Ra.One, with all its pomp and pizzazz, is a thoroughly enjoyable soundtrack. It's grand. It's great. It's, well, give it a shot."^[32] Indo-Asian News Service rated the album favourably and said: "To cut a long story short, the album delivers big-time as composer duo Vishal-Shekhar pack a killer punch. RA.One, therefore, lives up to expectations and perhaps even surpasses some. It's more than worth it, it's a winner all the way."^[33]

In March 2011, it was announced that the television broadcasting rights for Ra.One had been sold to Star India for a record sum of ₹ 35 crore, officially surpassing the previous record of 3 Idiots for ₹ 33 crore, to become the highest-sold Bollywood film ever.^[34]

Ra.One's first look was unveiled by Khan on his Twitter page on January 1, 2011.^[35] Several months later, director Anubhav Sinha announced that he would be launching two teaser trailers of the film during the 2011 Cricket World Cup, a prior nine months before the film's actual release date.^[36] Asked about why he was launching the film's trailer so early, Sinha commented, "Ra.One is not a Bollywood film that [the audiences] have seen before. The kind of size and magnitude that the film has requires it to be slowly introduced to the audience and that is the very purpose why we are starting the whole communication so early."^[36] The film's first theatrical trailer was released three months later to the public. As a way to promote the theatrical trailer, Khan was accompanied by the director on a five city tour, which included such places like Delhi, Chandigarh, Indore and Ahmedabad.^[37] Khan further reported that he would be travelling along with his co-stars (Kapoor and Rampal) to 25 different cities over a period of five months to promote the film.^[37] During the same event, a 3600 ft long fan mail collecting audience wishes and messages for the film was also launched.^[37]

In early September, Red Chillies Entertainment launched the official channel of the film on YouTube where several song and theatrical promos were released to the public.^[38] The company is investing around ₹ 18 crore for the film's online promotion.^[39]

On July, Red Chillies Entertainment declared a tie-up with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) to build a full cycle game of the film on PlayStation which offers more than 20 game environments. The video game, called "Ra.One - The Game", would be available on PS2 and PS3, and will make its debut in September 2011 before the film's release. making it the first Bollywood film to have a game based on it.^[40] In addition to launching the video game, Red Chillies also collaborated with UTV Indiagames to design a social game based on the film. “This is different from what we have done so far in Bollywood. Games have been used as part of the marketing strategy. But these (social games) are just one-off games. In the case of Ra.One, we work with the character and create stories around it,” says UTV Indiagames chief executive Vishal Gondal.^[39] An investment of around ₹ 4.5 crore, the game would be based on the character of G.One and would be launched across platforms like mobiles, tablet PCs, the direct-to-home platform and social networking sites like Facebook.^[39] According to the company's digital and new media head Shailja Gupta, the idea behind the digital marketing is to create a franchisee for Ra.One. She explained, "Social gaming is just one part of the digit marketing strategy. The unique part of the social game is the integration of merchandise and gaming."^[39]

As a way to promote the film and increase the its franchising business, Red Chillies announced that they would be collaborating with UTV Indiagames to develop digital comics based on the film's characters. The comic available for the mobile platform would have weekly episodes and would serve as a prequel to the events happening in the movie. Shahrukh khan himself has written the story to the graphic novel. ^[39] Moreover, an official G.One store was also launched on the film's official website, where people could buy merchandises related to the film. Products included back to school items, limited edition toys, as well as many other things. Red Chillies has designed the toys in-house, and has them manufactured in China. A range of 50 products will be sold in more than 3,500 stores and e-commerce sites. ^{[41] [42]} A jewelery line inspired by the symbol of Ra.One in the movie was also unveiled in an event at Mumbai, The line comprises accessories for men and women, including necklaces, bracelets and mobile charms, each piece has the distinctive blue colour that is a part of Shahrukh Khan's outfit in the film.^[43]

• Official website
• Alternate website
• Ra.One at IMDb