Well! Badshah has done it. Throughout the making of the film he kept on announcing to whoever was willing to listen (TV channels, tabloids, etc.) that it was a gift to his son Aryan, one he would remember all his life. Shah Rukh Khan has given his son and all teenagers — including those from ages six to 60 — the best gift of 2011 in the form of Ra.One.

And in doing so he has consolidated his position: for both his Badshah-hood and his numero-uno position were at stake before the film hit the screens. Those trying to dethrone him were none other than Salman Khan with an array of box-office hits, all remakes of South Indian films which pleased the front benchers with crass humour; and the near infallible Aamir Khan with his support to different genre of films and his uncanny knack of making the right buzz at the right moment — however phoney — but still managing to impress the masses and raking in the moolah.

In contrast, SRK has this habit of sounding brazen, sometimes pompous and yet at other times very humble which in recent times resulted in him getting bad vibes from media and the janta alike. But with the release of Ra.One, the bad press seems to have faded away. Why should a moviegoer care about so-called tiffs with friends as long as at the end of the day the thing he has to offer is a complete entertainer?

The story line is simple: like most kids Prateek (Armaan Varma) loves skateboards, enjoys rock music, is a techno freak and is hooked to computer games. He is embarrassed by his father Shekhar Subramanium (SRK playing a delectably bumbling Tamilian Brahmin) who loves to eat curd-mixed noodles with his hands. Shekhar’s wife Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) who looks gorgeous with added pounds on her frame is busy with a thesis of men-oriented cuss words. Her grouse, “Duniya mein sirf maa, behenoon ki hi kyun galiyan hoti hain? Baap, bhai ki kyun nahin?”

Luckily for Prateek, his father works in the gaming department of Barron Industries, and it is at his suggestion that Shekhar cajoles his colleagues and boss to let him create a game in which the villain is stronger than the hero, and nearly invincible.

The programme to represent the villain in the game is known in computer language as Random Version.One. So when the team of game writers is hunting for a name to represent the villain, they hit upon Ra.One (pronounced Raavan who is the demon king of mythological epic Ramayana). My only wish is that every villain in the world be as handsome and hunky as Arjun Rampal aka Ra.One. And the superhero to counter the villain is G.One (pronounced Jeevan which means life or the saviour).

The latter, of course, has to be Shah Rukh Khan who plays the double role of Shekhar and G.One.

So far, so good. Shekhar goes a step further and infuses artificial intelligence in both the characters providing flexibility to the game player to change the identity of Ra.One to any character of his choice. Ra.One starts off as briefly being Tom Wu (Akashi), then for a microsecond, Kareena Kapoor and ends up as the main villain Arjun Rampal. Both Ra.One and G.One have H.A.R.Ts, an electronic device that empowers them to play according to the situation created by the game player. The first player of this game is Prateek who stops playing at mid-level as he is pulled off by Akashi to go home. Angry at being left mid-game, Ra.One exits the world of gaming to enter the real world and kill Prateek.

From here onwards the sci-fi drama begins. Films nowadays have plenty of crashes, cars flying in the air, actors running over roof tops of speeding trains (Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom II), heroes jumping over cars, buildings, taking long leaps (again Hrithik in Krrish), but somehow SRK’s stylised run (he is trying to match Amitabh Bachchan’s style), makes it appear very real even though we know it to be a VFX effect.

As far as the special effects go, Ra.One is in no way less than any of the multi-million dollar Hollywood flicks and is at par with films such as Transformers, Mission Impossible, Iron Man, etc. That is, as long as you are willing to ignore the penultimate scene where Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus suffers devastation due to the impact of a derailed local train and G.One prevents it from ramming into Lord Ganesh’s statue. From where did the idol appear, don’t ask!

Films are fun and no one likes the “papa don’t preach” stuff. Sample this: G.One holding a pack of cigarette and telling Prateek, “Har saal hazaroon loag cigarette peena chorr dete hain; kyun ke woh mar jaate hain!” or him asking a group of school kids not to do stunts on the train top after he himself jumps down a speeding train.

A rounded Kareena looks glamourous and all she does in the film is dance to numbers composed by the Vishal-Shekar duo.

Apart from Akon’s Chammak Chalo, Shafqat Amanat Ali’s Oh, Rehunama, Dildara, Dildara is also beautiful.

I couldn’t make out what Satish Shah, while trying to play a funny South Indian, is doing in the film and why Khan indulges in hand-pumping and pelvis-pushing acts. The film could have reached a different level if some unnecessary scenes were done away with. SRK’s Ra.One may not be in the league of Tron: Legacy, but as India’s first gaming film, it scores. All those still young at heart will most certainly enjoy watching it.