Taken for a royal ride

Raja Rajendra

Kannada (U) **

Cast: Sharan, Ishita Dutta, Ravishankar, Sadhu Kokila, Sharan, Vimala Raman

Director: Pon Kumaran 

One wishes this genie of comedy was bottled never to be uncorked. Alas! the spirit is let loose and you have a retching comedy — Raja Rajendra.

 
The duo of Sharan and Kumaran unleash complete tripe in the name of three hours of chock-full fun. Their gags are so asinine that they don’t work at all. 

Raja Rajendra revolves around Bottle Mani, an imposter imposed on a palace whose resident ruler Neelakanta Raju cheats death like a cat with nine lives. With his three sons-in-law eyeing to usurp the property, and a resident priest in cahoots with them, the imposter is bought to drive the knife in the royal’s heart.

But the imposter only keeps saving the raja. The ruler’s only other angelic guardian is Swathi, the priest’s daughter. Ishita Dutta as Swathi is the only saving grace. The less said about the rest of the film, the better.