The Raja Saab Review and Rating

Movie Title: The Raja Saab 

Casting: Prabhas, Malavika Mohanan, Niddhi Agerwal , Riddhi Kumar,Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani ,Zarina Wahab ,Vennela Kishore , Brahmanandam and Yogi Babu

Director: Maruthi 

Producers: T.G. Vishwa Prasad (Vivek Kuchibotla)

Banner: People Media Factory

Music Composer: Thaman S

Cinematography: Karthik Palani

Editor: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao 

Stunt / Action Choreography: Ram Lakshman, King Solomon 

Visual Effects: Kamala Kannan 

Production Designer: Rajeevan Nambiar 

Sound Design: Sync Cinema 

Associate Producers: Raja Subramanian, Sunil Shah 

Creative Producer: SKN 

Release Date: January 9,2026

Filmycycle.com Rating : ⭐⭐⭐

The Raja Saab: Visually Appealing Saab (3/5)

Pan-India Star Prabhas is back with a Horror Fantasy drama titled, The Raja Saab. Directed by Maruthi is film has Nidhhi Agerwal, Malavika Mohanan and Riddhi Kumar as the female leads. Co-starring Bollywood stars like Sanjay Dutt and Zarina Wahab in the crucial roles, the movie is out on January 8th itself with night shows all over India. Let’s Review it.

Synopsis:

Raju (Prabhas) arrives in Charminar in search of his grandfather Kanakaraju (Sanjay Dutt), who mysteriously disappeared several years ago. Although Raju has never seen his grandfather, he is determined to find him for the sake of his grandmother, who is in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Kanakaraju is the only person she can still remember, and driven by her longing, Raju tirelessly continues his search.During this journey, Raju falls in love at first sight with Blessy (Nidhhi Agerwal) and also finds himself drawn to Bhairavi (Malavika Mohanan) in a dreamlike, trance-like state.

As the search progresses, Raju reaches a grand palace located in Narsapur. This palace is known for a chilling legend it has an entry, but no exit. What hardships do Raju and his team face inside this mysterious palace? Why is Kanakaraju wandering within it like a spirit? Does Raju manage to fulfill his grandmother’s heartfelt wish? How much risk does he have to take to make it happen?

Performances:

After a long time, Prabhas is seen in a fun, light-hearted role. At places, his comedy timing seems to follow Akshay Kumar’s style, but fans are sure to enjoy it thoroughly. There is some discomfort because his look keeps changing from song to scene to fight, but Prabhas manages to cover it up with his timing. Moreover, the hospital sequence and the scenes where he plays mind games with Sanjay Dutt bring out emotion and sentiment quite effectively.

Even though there are three heroines, Nidhhi Agerwal can be called not just the main heroine, but practically the only heroine. Malavika and Riddhi appear more like character roles and never really feel like heroines. That said, although all three actresses present their glamour on screen without creating any issues for the censor certificate, none of them truly manage to impress in terms of glamour. Nidhhi and Malavika’s looks are not very appealing, and Riddhi, in comparison, looks very petite next to Prabhas.Despite the lack of clarity in Sanjay Dutt’s character arc, he impresses with his strong screen presence.

Although the role of Gangamma, the grandmother played by Zarina Wahab, has good value, it is not utilized properly. Boman Irani’s role is brief, but it helps in speeding up the narrative. The characters played by Samuthirakani and VTV Ganesh make sudden entries and exits.

Sathya, Saptagiri, Prabhas Sreenu, and others keep attempting to generate comedy, but their efforts largely fail to evoke laughter.

Analysis:

Director Maruthi deserves appreciation for attempting to reinvent the fun angle in Prabhas that fans and regular moviegoers have been missing for a long time. However, blending psychology into the horror and fantasy genre does not really work effectively. Although the mind-game episodes feel somewhat fresh, the way they are dragged out fails to engage the audience. In a 189-minute film, it is definitely not enough if only the last 30 minutes turn out to be good.

Most importantly, the old-man getup of Prabhas which had excited everyone right from the teaser release being completely removed from the film comes across as a major disappointment. Similarly, the track involving three heroines, which was said to be included especially for Prabhas, does not work at all. Overall, Maruthi comes across as fairly okay as a writer, but as a director, he fails to make a strong impression.

Technical Department:

Although Thaman’s music is good, there is a lack of clarity in the mixing. As a result, both the songs and dialogues are not clearly audible in many places. The Sahana Sahana song is good and stands out as the highlight of the album.The cinematography work is good, but keeping the film bright throughout, instead of matching the visuals to the emotional tone of each scene, fails to properly guide the audience.

More care should have been taken with coloring and CGI. While the episode portraying Sanjay Dutt’s character as a Brahmarakshasa is fairly effective, the repeated use of the cat and jump-scare shots four or five times does not leave much of an impact. Above all, the funeral sequence in the climax is very clearly shot on a green mat, which is quite evident on screen. For a film made on a budget of ₹600 crores, such obvious green-mat shots are something the makers should be ashamed of.The production design and art department made sincere efforts to bring grandeur to the film, but the excessive and weak CGI work ends up diluting that impact.

Verdict:

Altogether, in The Raja Saab there are many such ideas that end up misfiring. Most importantly, the comedy does not land properly. Even though Prabhas makes an effort, those scenes do not consistently evoke laughter everywhere. Overall, it can be said that “The Raja Saab” does not impress much, except for Prabhas’s comedy timing and the graphics in the last 30 minutes.