Govinda , the king of comedy, is back in action with Kalyan Singh's 'Raja Bhaiya'. A film directed by Raman Kumar, 'Raja Bhaiya' has a title synonymous to 'Raja Babu', Govinda's earlier hit. 'Raja Bhaiya' is said to be one of Govinda's last comedy films and supposedly the "icing on the cake". The cast includes Govinda, Arti Chhabaria, Sadashiv Amrapukar, Ajit Vachhani, Anang Desai, and Sheela Sharma. Nadeem Sharavan and Surendra Sodhi have given the music of the film. Lyrics are by Sameer and Maan Singh Deep.
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The filming of the movie was completed in astounding 38 days, which sounds incredible. The backdrops of the film include the beautiful city of Hyderabad and the fast-moving city life of Mumbai. Aarti Chhabria, the female lead, tries hard to give a memorable performance. Her performance in many ways is similar to Sridevi's in 'Sadma' (where she portrays a mentally challenged girl). Govinda's comedy adds sugar 'n' spice to the film, which makes it a hilarious family entertainer.
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A hilarious comedy, which revolves around 'Raja Bhaiya', a character played by Govinda. Raja Bhaiya (Govinda) is a character inspired by his earlier hits like 'Raja Babu', 'Bade Miyan Chotey Miyan' etc. Bhaiya from 'Raja Bhaiya' suggests that Govinda is a chap from Uttar Pradesh who talks in Bhojpuri and wears a typical Kurta Pyjama and jacket. This is a love story of a simple village guy and an urban girl who suffers from amnesia (loss of memory). It revolves around the makeup and breakup relationships of the duo. Pratibhaa ( Aarti Chabaria) is a happy go-lucky girl who is brought up by her two uncles -- Sudesh Sawhney ( Anang Desai) and Prem Sawhney ( Ajit Vacchani ) .
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A girl who is enjoying her life meets with a car accident on her 21st birthday. This makes her family worried because her death will deprive them of wealth and property. Eventually the girl lands up in Sarangpur village, which is Raja Bhaiya's village. Chhaya and Maya seduce a brahamachari (lifelong bachelor) Raja. His widow mother Dulari brings up Raja. A mamma's boy by nature Raja is benevolent towards one Chaubeyji (Sadashiv Amrapukar) who takes Raja's innocence for granted and makes fool of him. Pratibhaa ( Aarti Chabaria), on the other , is rescued by Raja's mother. Instead of finding girl's parents, the mother brings girl home because the girl has lost her memory. His mother calls her Radha and even insists that the girl stays with them.
So, Radha alias Pratibha ( Aarti Chabria) stays at their house and Raja attempts anything and everything possible to get her out of the house. He even tries to get himself kidnapped by dacoits, but even that fails. However, the more he tries to avoid Radha the closer the girl gets to him. This leads to a point when the mother gets them married in spite of Raja's disapproval. But destiny takes a turn, the rigid orthodox heart of Raja softens towards Radha, as she miraculously saves Raja's mother form fire.
Now, Radha's uncles -- Sudesh and Prem-become restless when they are unable to find their niece. Her uncles announce a prize of one lakh rupees. Chaubeyji informs Prem of her whereabouts. Uncles discover their niece and take her away to Mumbai. Raja decides to bring his wife back home and here the fight begins. This makes the film a hilarious entertainer as Raja disguises himself as Dr. Chandola (played by Rakesh Bedi). Raja wins the heart of the girl and teaches her family a lesson. The film ends on a winning note.
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An ordinary film, which has nothing new to offer. A run of the mill story with ordinary performances. Only Govinda shows some promises with his performance, the rest are simply ordinary. Aarti Chabria fails to impress with her acting, which needs polishing. She tries to do a Sridevi act (in 'Sadma') of mentally unstable girl. She neither has the talent nor the versatility of Sridevi to justify the character. She irritates initially. Her motorcycle act looks artificial. It's ridiculous to see mentally unstable girl in designer wear ghagra-choli singing and dancing around trees. No wonder that director Raman Kumar has extracted the best out of Govinda, but the story lacks the pace and spontaneity that Govinda films have shown like in his album. Nadeem Shravan along with guest composer hardly give anything meaningful or entertaining. Music seems to be stale and outdated though Udit Narayan tries to infuse some romantic yearning with 'Tu Jo Hans Ke Muskuratai Hain'. Sunidhi Chauhan gets chirpy with 'Kehta Hai Mera Jiya……' The rest of the songs are soul-less melodies. Mahendra Verma's action is okay. Choreography of Rekha Chinni Prakash is full of Jhatkas matkas, giving them true colors of Govinda's film.
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