Rudraksh (2004) User Reviews

How to F**k-up a brilliant story

[arnuld-mizong · 2/10 · 5 February 2010]

A long time after watching Rudraksh, I saw a movie titled Munna Bhai MBBS. I was quite surprised how a simple story line can be made into spectacular movie. Enter Rudraksha, learn how to f**k up a spectacular storyline, totally unseen concept in Hindi movies into a disaster. My friend forced me and took me to this movie's first day first night show and we repented a lot later.

As of 2010, I have never seen any Hindi movie, who has such original storyline. I felt hurt that they spent all the money into turning it into a piece of crap. They could have donated that money to UNICEF or The Venus Project, at least it could be useful for building a good social environment. If the movie could have been made as original and as spectacular as story line, it could have changed the way people think about Hindi movie industry.

A good idea, gone horribly wrong!

[Sherazade · 3/10 · 31 January 2006]

I think the director and writer for this film did not see eye to eye. If they did, they would have known that they had a very good idea, which they poorly executed. With a script like this, you need a big budget to fulfill your dreams. Come on! we are in the 21st century! and you are making a science fiction film like we are back in the 1950s or worse! The script was solid, the actors were wasted, and there was only little the audience could do to suspend their disbelief! Better luck next time. See this film only if you are in the mood for mediocre stuff that might put you to sleep, or send you jumping off a bridge! It such a shame to see such a talented star cast go to waste!

Wasted idea.

[riddhimaakaritu · 2/10 · 9 August 2020]

Such a great idea, but the execution ruined everything. Why can't the film makers wait for a script, technology, resources which do justice to the idea?

Saturday Night Fever meets Indian Myth (may have a tiny spoiler)

[marta2046 · 1/10 · 12 July 2005]

This movie is proof that even the most interesting concept can be destroyed and made into an (unintentional) comedy by a crass producer.

Not even Roger Corman would take a story about the destruction of the world by demons and cast Baywatch-type babes as scientists or have recurring dance numbers breaking out between "dramatic" scenes of murder and mayhem. The sets are so incredibly CHEESY, the wigs and fake beards so obvious, the babes so "Pamela Anderson", I started thinking it was intended as a comedy... but NOOOOOOO- it's meant to be serious.

In the "Final Battle" the Evil Demon, (Sunil Shetty) is dressed like John Travolta in Saturday NIGHT FEVER. He multiplies into more "disco dancers"-- one of them in a pale blue suit(!!!!)

IDEA: Someone do a remake as Woody Allen did in "WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY". Make it into the comedy it was never intended to be, but should be!

I felt sorry for Sanjay Dutt, who played Varun. He's a serious actor and deserves better. I hope he got paid big bucks for that humiliating experience.

Painful&Gulliable

[Herag · 7 March 2004]

I think the movie was made with a limited budget, since the wigs are shared by Sunil Shetty and Sanjay Dutt,no expenses were incurred for hairdressers. There are few extras running around with boxes with Apple insignia on them which are set to motion by the command of a seductive Doctor Gayathri (played by none other than the Bengali Bardot, Bipasha Basu) who tries to scan the inner workings of Varun. This Casting seems to be direct result of her quest for "meaningfull roles" as compared to roles where ice cubes are used to arouse her senses (Jism).Here a non-touch massage technique is used by Varun (her facial expression seem to indicate that the results were the same as the ice cube). Varun (played by Sanjay Dutt),an accomplished actor, somehow goes around giving an impression that he has not been paid for this particular assignment or he has totally given up his hopes on the Awards for the time being), and he seems to take it on Buran? (played by Sunil Shetty).Then there these Desi characters who are speaking in English and American characters talking in Desi and as far as subtitling of tentacals: good day !!!.

Worst film ever of 2004

[varghesejunior · 1/10 · 23 April 2011]

It may be tempting for someone to watch Rudraksh,because it has a top starcast,is said to have Matrix-like special effects,action,etc. etc. But believe me,it's not worth.Not even a bit comparable to the Hollywood thriller. The long and short story-a supernatural story,about a fight between evil and good. Talents of a veteran actor like Sanjay Dutt are simply wasted in this circus of a film. Suniel Shetty is the same as in his other films.

Two ladies with no better work keep moving around the two main characters. Music is unremarkable.The villain also dances and pretends to play piano in this film!

Even if you have no better work, you shouldn't watch Rudraksh.

Handle with care

[sudhirsekharan · 1/10 · 16 March 2005]

... now i've seen it all.

This is no doubt one of the worst movies in existence... the plot is the worst crap ever cooked up by any bird brained scriptwriter. The same must be said of every other person who had anything to do with the movie. I was completely unhinged for a couple of hours after watching this movie. Right in between the innovatively $H!t lines to corny scenes between the leads, lies the plot...

a monkey typing away at random would come up with a plot good enough to beat the $H!t out of this...

The saving grace for the movie is the fact that it is so very bad that you might actually enjoy tearing it to pieces.

To finish ... it is a movie i would wish my very worst enemy to watch , strapped in a chair, with eyes fixed open ... right to the very end

A pleasant surprise

[gothgarg · 8/10 · 25 November 2005]

After being told many times that the movie was crap, I decided to have a go at it, well prepared for the worst. But I was pleasantly surprised to find I did not find the movie bad at all! It is rare to find decent sci-fi quality in Bollywood movies. This movie fills that void. Agreed, it may not be upto current Hollywood sci-fi standards, but its a step forward for Bollywood. Agreed also, that the story may have twisted the epic (Ramaayan) that it is based on, which could only have augured unwelcome to Indian sensibility for having touched a sacred mythology, but creativity should be welcome. After all, nothing obscene was suggested or dis-respect accorded to the epic. The storyline is about events eons after the downfall of the Asur Dark Lord Raavan, vanquished by Sri Raam. A chance archaeological find bestows some powers to our corrupt villain (Sunil Shetty) - who is then tempted to the dark side and seeks to bring the days of Asuras back to the middle kingdom - Earth. But in true eastern Yin-yang/Rajas-Tamas tradition, every extreme on one side implies existence of an extreme on the other side. Our hero (Sanjay Dutt) gets the powers of the opposite side and as expected, good wins over evil. All in all, a decent fanfare. CGI was a bit drawn-out, but well done. Kudos to the team.

Confusing but good

[springsunnywinter · 7/10 · 5 June 2007]

I was quite surprised to hear that the film is original because it was a great idea. The movie had a lot of Indian mythology and the use of advance modern technology that looked really good. It was a bit confusing because I don't know what Rudraksh means before I saw the movie but the technology and the SFX were amazing. The casting was great & the film would be nothing without Sanjay Dutt he is certainly one of my favourite actors and I don't think I would've liked the film if he was not in it. Rudraksh is quite similar to the The Matrix like they go into another world and their hair style & clothing changes but Rudraksh was better because in The Matrix they took 2 solid hours to explain what doe's Matrix means and it was slower than my grandma but in Rudraksh they only took about 5-10 minutes to explain what Rudraksh means and was narrated by Amitabh Bachan's fantastic voice after that it was fast paced sci-fi thriller. I think it is the second Bollywood sci-fi after Koi Mil Gaya. The best scene is when Sanjay & Sunil were sword fighting on top of a tower in another dimension and Sanjay had red eyes.

Rudraksha - a main stream movie that delves into the ancient powerful mysteries of the Vedas, Rudrakshas and the Divine.

[shivabhakta · 20 February 2004]

Happened to see "Rudraksha"...looks like the very first main stream Hindi movie that deals with the chakras, the power of Rudrakshas, powers of the divine - presented in a very non-descript commercialized fashion. Takes the mantra tantra mythology etc etc in a matter of fact manner, and runs with the plot - lots of shlokas and mantras are the background score and movie producers/directors seem to be followers of Lord Shiva. Story line is the battle of good over evil but lots of techno-glitz and special effects, something there for everyone, catered to the masses. Movie starts at a point that is connected to the Great Lanka War (Ramayana), seemingly inspired from Indiana Jones. Seeks to portray divinity in a very different light, in comparison to the traditional Indian movies...very differently to a point where it might not be acceptable to some.. I think this might very well lead to a resurgence of the populace to pursue the divine. (haven't finished watching it).

If you are mildly curious, might be worth a see.

Breakthrough in Indian cinema!

[AishFan · 10/10 · 22 March 2004]

This movie is a breakthrough in Indian cinema!!! For the first time, I have seen such an intelligently made Hindi movie. The team of the movie most definitely did a tremendous amount of research in Hindu mythology, archaeology, biology/anatomy, genetics, Einstein's theories, and on and on. What mesmerized me the most is that this mythological/sci-fi fare is actually quite possible, which is very frightening. The depth of the interesting concepts was jaw-dropping. I particularly found the comparison of God/Brahman to a Divine Internet very fascinating. The cast, with their innovative costumes and get-ups, helped give a fresh look to the film. The sets, including an archaeological site, a science lab, a humble home, ancient caves, and a multi-dimensional "matrix" gave this movie a completely fresh feel. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy gave a fantastic score that keeps the feel of the film intact. The songs were also picturized magnificently. Everyone gave a great performance. Special effects were cool but not very convincing, but it's a good amount and quality when looked at the humble budget of the movie. I applaud the intelligent makers of this film that absolutely left me spellbound!

Thought Provoking... just not on the topic!

[corpusdomini · 26 February 2004]

This movie was thought provoking in many ways. First of all... one wonders when bollywood actors may learn to tone their "acting" down a little. Secondly, people living in the west are not always dressed for a rave! Third... oh what the heck! This movie could have been interesting and entertaining. I am glad to see that bollywood is taking interest in tech-savvy sci-fi like movies. But this was a disaster! The plot is like swiss cheese - full of holes, but the plot was never bollywood's strong point anyway. The acting was pretty bad, another one I can forgive. The special effects are getting better, still no cookies! But for god's sake, why was the action so aweful? The fights were disgusting! I mean... several decades of movies with the song-dance-fighting formula results in this travesty? The dances for that matter were re-hashed re-hashes of old recycled trash copied millions of times over from Brittney and Christina videos, and done badly!

My time was pretty much wasted as I sat there yawning... and I am not a regular Bollywood bashing snob either. I haven't seen too many of the recent releases. However, I have seen Samay which I thought was a thousand times better than this garbage.

nice concept of indian mythological yoga......its real.

[taywadelakhan · 10/10 · 3 May 2021]

Nice animation... nice action and nice concept of 7 chakra meditation.

Appalling in nearly all aspects

[appleJag · 28 September 2004]

I will give this film one piece of credit, it has attempted to break the mould in Indian cinema. But the quality of the film was so unbelievably poor, it deserves to rank in the utter depth of IMDb's ratings. Bollywood has the income to finance large products but they won't because of the greed that surrounds the industry. Hopefully another attempt will be made to try to create something original, and hopefully far better than this. This film was absolutely abysmal, appalling, and in certain parts made me cringe in disgust at the movie making. I feel ashamed that such low quality movies are made from my mother nation.

An Epic Movie! Awesome Blend of Cutting-Edge Science, Stunning Visuals, Mythology and Seduction!

[fuadkhan2002 · 8/10 · 29 December 2016]

Wow! I loved this movie! It starts out like an Indian version of Indiana Jones, and ends up looking more and more like The Matrix, Species and the Mahabharata! Mani Shankar is an absolute genius, and his creative and directorial brilliance is on plain display for all to see here. Sunil Shetty plays Bhuriya, a common man who happens to stumble upon the all-powerful stone called Rudraksh, which carries the demonic influence of past deities. He is aided by the ravishing Isha Koppikar, who looks absolutely stunning in her role of the evil she-villain. Enter Bipasha Basu, the University of California scientist in search of the powers hidden within these ancient relics and the human psyche itself. Sanjay Dutt appears in a The Crow like avatar, battling the evil character of Sunil Shetty's. The background, visuals, special effects and locales are absolutely mind blowing, as is the combined sexual charisma and sensual appeal of Bipasha and Isha. A treat for the eyes, complete with very interesting references to DNA technology, genetic mutations, electromagnetic fields, three dimensional holograms, parallel universes, archaeology, Hindu mythology and the human brain. Total paisa wasool in every respect!

Astounding (Read Laughable) flick that never ceases to surprise you!

[mad4cinema_ · 17 February 2004]

Okay, so we all know that this is the modern day interpretation of some obscure scripture. Yes, modern it is indeed, Bollywood style ofcourse: Where they think everyone in the west dresses like a hooker!

It starts with a scientist in minis and hot pants (!) investigating some healer who can absorb pain [rip off of The Green mile] of his subjects. Typical Bollywood style, girl fall falls for guy, and next scene we have the hip-shaking-on-the-streets...errrr I mean hip-shaking-on-the-ancient-temple [for this movie] sequence.

I guess all the scientists should go to Bombay to learn some raw hip moves.

Then out of no where, this evil guy jumps in, complete with his babe of a moll. We get to see Bollywood take on the Matrix with some terribly low-end results. Then you have lots of sankrit [what the hell is THAT now???] mumbo jumbo thrown in, and God I couldnt even bother watching the end.

This movie was a total mess. The director probably was on a high after his first flick played on people's cross border delusional fantasies and even managed to earn some much needed money, so he thought I might go a few steps ahead and totally 'revolutionise' the film making - yep! this guy truly seems to have global (if rather naive) aspirations :))!!. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, they are not be realised with 'Rusraksh' - over the top dialogues, some hilarious [albeit unintended] situations and an obscure plot from some weird book about animals and snakes takes this movie down, and buries it deep down the pile of Z-grade trash flicks.