“R… Rajkumar doesn’t have any negativity attached” – Viki Rajani

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

December 6, 2013 - 11:42 AM IST

It is a big day for producer Viki Rajani. Though he has enjoyed a success earlier this year with Table No. 21, with R... Rajkumar he is stepping into the big league of mega budget extravaganzas. With a set up that boasts of big names like Prabhu Dheva, Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Eros, Pritam and Sonu Sood, the ingredients are all there to cook up a 'masala' dish. This is exactly what one expects from the film.

“R… Rajkumar doesn’t have any negativity attached” – Viki Rajani

Finally everyone knows what does R stands for in R...Rajkumar. It must have been some shift though to move from Rambo to Romeo, right?

Yeah. We had first planned it as Rambo Rajkumar, something that everyone is aware about. We had the title registered. In fact we had also applied for a trademark in India and had all clear on that front. Then in last six months we started getting letters from advocates of the US production company that it was not right for us to use their brand name 'Rambo'.

You relented pretty soon though.

We thought why to unnecessarily do something that offends anyone and also gets us into a legal hassle. Our movie is a clean and fresh project. Unlike Sylvester Stallone's Rambo, it is not that Shahid is playing this war veteran who is coming back and killing everyone around. However we quickly worked on the strategy and brought in 'R...' so as to bring in some good intrigue. It worked for all involved.

You must be thrilled with some constant increase in buzz and hype that the film has enjoyed ever since the promo has been out, and especially once the songs went on air?

Absolutely. Compared to other promos that were floated in last couple of months, we got a much better response. There have been all around positive reactions coming in from other quarters as well. There has been no negativity attached to the film.

Apparently, Prabhu Dheva brought in some positivity to the script as well once he stepped in and re-wrote the whole thing.

Prabhu Dheva is a master in putting an essence of everything in a film, be it drama, romance, action or comedy; he is a natural in such things. He is like that only when it comes to the characterization of a hero in his films. The way a hero talks and walks is something that comes naturally for Prabhu Dheva, something that he brings and projects correctly on the screen. He knows the pulse of the audience and this is the reason why you see a right aura on screen when it comes to a film being a 'masaledaar' outing. Prabhu Dheva has excelled in all departments.

Meanwhile Sonakshi appears to be someone who is really enjoying her time in front of the camera.

It is real fun working with her. As a matter of fact, this has been the case with my entire cast and crew. There has been no politics or back biting. Everyone loves and respects each other. Coming back to Sonakshi, she is looking really fresh and bubbly in the film. Her character too is really 'bindaas'. Moreover, her chemistry and pairing with Shahid is quite pleasant.

On the other hand Sonu Sood appears to be playing an out and out villain here?

He is playing a negative role in the film. Shahid works for him and they both fall in love with Sonakshi. Sonu has a personality of his own. His screen presence and dialogue delivery are great.

Earlier this year, your Table No. 21 with Eros enjoyed critical as well as commercial acclaim though 3G couldn't cover the distance. However R... Rajkumar is the biggest of them all. How is your collaboration with Eros coming in handy?

It is all quite good. As a studio, Eros has a knack of marketing and visualizing the film in the same manner as a producer sees. It is one of the best set ups in India. We are doing a couple of more movies very soon. I am in the process of casting now. One of these films is 10 Janpath. I am also making a film with Rahul Dholakia.