Rudraksh (film)

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Rudraksh
File:Rudraksh film poster.jpg
रुद्राक्ष
Directed by Mani Shankar
Produced by Nitin Manmohan
Sohail Maklai
Screenplay by Mani Shankar
Story by Mani Shankar
Starring Sanjay Dutt
Sunil Shetty
Bipasha Basu
Isha Koppikar
Narrated by Amitabh Bachchan
Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Cinematography T. Surendra Reddy
Edited by Mani Shankar
Distributed by Karma Entertainment
Release dates
 13 February 2004
Running time
 135 mins
Country India
Language Hindi

Rudraksh, (English: The Power to Possess) directed by Mani Shankar is a Bollywood science-fiction horror film starring Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Bipasha Basu and Isha Koppikar. The film has many references to Ramayana ("The Path of Rāma"), one of the most famous and influential epic poems of India.

Plot

Good and sinful are two sides of a same coin. If good grows in strength so does evil. Finally there comes a point when one must overcome the other.

Dr. Gayatri (Bipasha Basu) is an Indian American paranormal researcher at University of California, researching esoteric practices like voodoo, spirit possession, magic and healing powers. She seeks the hidden knowledge that goes into such practices, the knowledge that cannot be explained by science or logic.

Her search for answers brings her and her team of scientists to India. In India she comes across an uncommon man named Varun (Sanjay Dutt) who is gifted with special intuitive and healing powers which he claims to have developed through meditation. He can affect people's minds through his mental powers. He is a blend of Indian philosophy and modern culture, a master at martial arts and a devotee of Lord Hanuman. He heals people by absorbing their pain. He worships and trains by day, while working as a bouncer at a club by night.

Gayatri is immediately impressed by Varun’s powers to take away pain and disease from people and cure them. He becomes the subject of her study.

After a few experiments by Gayatri, Varun has an insight about the existence of a dark power that is hidden. Many questions crop up in his mind – what is this dark force and what is its source? He knows that the force is linked to Ravana's Rudraksh, which is hidden away from the world.

This is not a normal Rudraksh. It carries in its seed the powers that can transmute humans into new species. The bearer of this Rudraksh will have supernatural powers beyond imagination. In the language of science, it was a multi-dimensional hologram in the form of a seed.

Meanwhile, Bhuria (Sunil Shetty), a Rakshasa, mentally communicates with Varun in a dream-space and offers to becomehis brother, so they can share their power since neither of them can utilize full power of the Rudraksha alone. Varun, being a good person, straight-away refuses friendship with a rakshasha but Bhuria continues his attempts to join their powers and manipulate Varun.

Meanwhile, Gayatri finds about a madman speaking some strange words which cause changes in people. Gayatri tests the effects of those sounds on a rat, and notices strange mutations and changes in functioning of the rat's body. Suzy, Gayatri's research assistant, hears those sounds directly, becomes possessed, starts working for Bhuria and tries to kill Gayatri, but Varun fights her and saves Gayatri, after which Suzy commits suicide by spider-climbing the side of a building and losing her grip near the top.

Varun and Gayatri thus set out to discover this Rudraksh, the reality of Bhuria and also find certain answers for Varun's own self. Their perilous journey leafs through the most rugged terrains of the Himalayas to the mysterious ruins of the legendary King Ravana's palaces in Yala, Sri Lanka.

He thus finds how Bhuria, a poor but wild and arrogant labor contractor in excavation team of the Rudraksha, transformed into a powerful Rakshasha & possessor of supernatural powers, that the words spoken by the madman were actually an ancient verse, a Rakshasha mantra, and that the real aim of Bhuria is to use the Rudraksha and Rakshasha mantra for spreading evil and hatred in the world, thus effectively restoring the rule of rakshashas once more.

It thus, once more becomes a battle of good vs. evil, where either must overcome the other.

Reception

Rudraksh was a commercial success with collections of Rs 49.8 million in three weeks after its release. But the Film was panned across the spectrum of reviewers for its tacky visuals and its actors hammy performance which didn't help the already amateurish screenplay.[1] Even film critic Taran Adarsh, known for being quite lenient with his ratings, criticized this film's screenplay.[2]

Cast

Soundtrack

Rudraksh
File:Rudrakshalbumcover.jpg
Compilation album by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Released
12 December 2003 (India)
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Label
Producer Nitin Manmohan
Sohail Maklai
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy chronology
Kal Ho Naa Ho
(2003)Kal Ho Naa Ho2003		 Rudraksh
(2003)		 Lakshya
(2004)Lakshya2004
# Song Singer(s) Duration Composers
1 Ishq Khudai Krishna, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Shankar Mahadevan, Shweta Pandit 5:21 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
2 Ishq Hai Nasha Nasha Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan 4:13 Vishal-Shekhar
3 Dil Ki Aahein KK, K.S. Chitra 5:03 Shashi Pritam
4 Kya Dard Hai Instrumental 5:46 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
5 Rudraksh Kunal Ganjawala 4:01 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
6 Rak-rak-rak Shankar Mahadevan, Gayatri Ganjawala, Kunal Ganjawala 6:17 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
7 Ishq Khudai- Remix Krishna, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Shankar Mahadevan, Shweta Pandit 8:02 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
8 Bole - Dole Bhaumik, K.S. Chitra, Sandeep, Shashi Pritam 4:21 Shashi Pritam
9 Kya Dard Hai Richa Sharma, Shankar Mahadevan 5:40 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

See also

References

  1. ↑ Box Office for the week ending <03/06/2004>
  2. ↑ Movie Review by Taran Adarsh
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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