Cast: Prabhas, Sanjay Dutt, Malavika Mohanan, Riddhi Kumar, Niddhi Agerwal, Zarina Wahab, Satya, VTV Ganesh, Prabhas Seenu, Boman Irani, Ammu Abhirami

Crew:

Cinematography by Karthik Palani
Music by S Thaman
Editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Written and Directed by Maruthi Dasari
Produced by T.G. Vishwa Prasad, Ishan Saksena
Release Date: 09/01/2026

Prabhas has taken a gap of almost two years post his Kalki 2898 AD for the horror fantasy epic, The Raja Saab. T.G. Vishwa Prasad and Ishan Saksena have produced this huge budget film over 3 years. Maruthi Dasari has written and directed the film as he is an expert in handling horror comedies. Prabhas also loved to do something different from his big budget action epics post Baahubali. Let's discuss about the film in detail.

Plot:

Raju (Prabhas) loves his grandmother Gangamma (Zarina Wahab) to the core. She has advanced alzheimer's disease. She calls him Raja Saab as she belongs to a Zamindar family. But he doesn't believe in her stories yet he wants to search for her husband Kankaraju (Sanjay Dutt). She remembers only him and Raju wants to bring him in front of her eyes to see her happy. They find a clue of years that Kanakaraju is in Hyderabad. He takes an amount of Rs.5 Lakhs from his childhood sweetheart Anitha (Riddhi Kumar) for bribing police to search for him.

In Hyderabad, he falls in love with Besse (Niddhi Agerwal). And he gets to know that his grandfather is a cheat and he took Rs. 3 Lakhs from Besse, which Raju donated for a child's heart operation. Meanwhile, Raju gets to know that Besse is going to be a Nun and he accepts advances from Bhairavi (Malavika Mohanan). Who is Bhairavi? What is her connection with Kanakaraju and Gangamma? What is Kanakaraju's real face and motive? Watch the movie ot know more.

Analysis:

Prabhas looks active and smart in this film. His acting prowess is on full display in the pre-climax portions and climax. He proved yet again that his screen presence and star image help in pull off any sort of a sequence. But his character lacks the similar kind of magnetic pull that many of his iconic films did provide in the past. Still, he maintained high energy and delivered his best.

Riddhi Kumar, Malavika Mohanan and Niddhi Agerwal fought for who can act worse than the other in many scenes. But they are stunningly beautiful and their pretty looks add glam quotient to the film. Zarina Wahab and Ammu Abhirami as Gangamma are good and believable. Mainly, Zarina Wahab delivered her best in this inconsistently written role. Boman Irani is good but underutilised and Sanjay Dutt is fine. Satya and others comedy did not work as anticipated.

S Thaman's work is not upto the standards that he had set previously. His songs and BGM score are undermining and to be fair, the movie also did not allow him to excel. Kartik Palani's cinematography is good and production values are grand as the budget is visible on screen. VFX and framing could have been much better and they lack any sort of deep meaning that we normally associate with such psychological horror films.

Maruthi looked greatly confused and gravely overwhelmed by the occasion throughout the film. He did not have the sharpness he showcased in his writing in films like Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy and Prati Roju Pandage, Prema Katha Chitram. The comedy did not have innovation and the visual effects seemed too artificial at many places. More or less, the movie looked like filler episodes till the final moments which did not help in creating any sort of emotional connect with the audiences.

Throughout the horror, comedy and fun elements have been so randomly placed that the entire film feels random. When you're touching psychological horror concepts using ghost and other supernatural elements in the same breathe feels like a stretch. Maruthi got a life-changing opportunity but he did not really live-up to the hype and buzz that surrounds a Prabhas film with The Raja Saab. Brain Games needed a much better set-up and pay-off to work best.

Bottomline:

The Raja Saab fails in having a proper emotional connection and things don't work as anticipated.

Rating: 2.5/5

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