Rudraksh is a 2004 Indian

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language

science fiction action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Mani Shankar Mani Shankar is a Bollywood film director, holographic technology expert, writer and speaker. He is best known for introducing computer-generated imagery to India, and for designing the world's first holographic political campaign, which he ...

. cinematography by

T. Surendra Reddy T is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet. (For the same letterform in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, see Te and Tau respectively). T may also refer to: Codes and units * T, Tera- as in one trillion * T, the symbol for "True" in l ...

starring Suniel Shetty,

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

Bipasha Basu Bipasha Basu Singh Grover (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress and former model. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films. Basu is the recipient of numerous accolades ...

and

Isha Koppikar Isha Koppikar (born 19 September 1976) is an Indian actress, model and politician who has mostly appeared in Hindi cinema. She has also acted in several Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Marathi films. Background Koppikar was born in Mahim, Bombay (n ...

. The film has many references to epic poem

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

("The Path of Rāma"). The film released on 13 February 2004 to a negative response by critics and was declared a disaster at the box office.

Plot

Dr. Gayatri (

) is an Indian American

paranormal researcher Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

, researching esoteric practices such as 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. She comes across Varun (

), a man who is gifted with special intuitive and healing powers which he claims to have developed through meditation. He is a blend of Indian philosophy and modern culture, a master at martial arts and a devotee of

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

. He worships and trains by day, while working as a

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...

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. He explains that the force is linked to

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. ...

'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 is a 'multi-dimensional hologram' in the form of a seed. Meanwhile, Bhuria ( Suniel Shetty) mentally communicates with Varun, so they can share their abilities since neither of them can utilize the full power of the Rudraksha alone. Varun refuses, but Bhuria continues his attempts to join their powers and manipulate Varun. Gayatri finds about a set of strange words which cause changes in people when spoken. She tests the effects of those sounds on a rat, and notices strange mutations and changes in the functioning of the rat's body. Suzy, Gayatri's research assistant, hears those sounds directly, becomes possessed and starts working for Bhuria. Suzy tries to kill Gayatri, but Varun over powers her and saves Gayatri, after which Suzy dies while trying to escape. 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 leaves 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 the 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. End of the day, the fear maker monsters are always unliked.

Cast

as Varun Deshmukh * Suniel Shetty as Bhuria Kapoor *

as Lalli, Bhuria's girlfriend and a contract killer. *

as Dr. Gayatri Singh *

Kabir Bedi Kabir Bedi ( pa, ਕਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੇਦੀ; born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other European countries in three media: f ...

as Pandit Ved Bhushan, a saint and Varun's father. * Farhad Shahnawaz as in Supporting Role *

Vinay Varma Vinay Varma is an Indian actor, script writer, and casting director who primarily works in Telugu and Hindi films. Career Vinay Varma, founder of Sutradhar started out as an amateur theatre practitioner. He has been involved with theatre f ...

as Mantrik * Agnes Darenius as Suzy, Dr. Gayatri's research assistant * Negar Khan *

Virendra Saxena Virendra Saxena (born 23 November 1951) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi theatre, film, and television. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Saxena is known for his character roles as well as his unique voice. He has acted in ...

as security guard

Reception

Critical response Rudraksh opened to a negative reception by critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film 1.5/5, stating,"Rudraksh rests on Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty's shoulders and both enact their parts with utmost sincerity. Dutt seems to be enjoying his work and it shows on screen. Shetty too is up to the mark. The get-ups of both Dutt and Shetty would also be appreciated.Bipasha Basu does an okay job, while Isha Koppikar leaves an impression in a negative role. Kabir Bedi is alright. Nigar Khan sizzles in the dance track. On the whole, Rudraksh proves the adage 'All that glitters is not gold' absolutely right. The film has gloss, no soul, which will take a toll on its overall business." On the critical aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 38%, and a rating of 2.7/10 by IMDb. The film stands among the lowest rated Bollywood films of all time. Box Office Rudraksh had a fairly decent opening day, collecting ₹1.10 crore on its first day, followed by ₹1.17 crore on its second day and ₹1.30 crore on its third day, taking its opening weekend collection to ₹3.57 crore. The film collected a total of ₹5.12 crore in its opening week, and ended up with a domestic lifetime collection of ₹5.97 crore, and was declared a as a "Disaster" by Box Office India.

Soundtrack

References

External links