What is the story about?
Prabhas’ The Raja Saab drew mixed reactions from the audience. A major section of fans was disappointed to find out about the omission of an important
scene. The final runtime of the horror-comedy is 189 minutes. Now, owing to public demand, the makers have included the deleted scene in the final theatrical prints. The new version of The Raja Saab was made available in theatres from Saturday evening. The decision was confirmed on social media by the production house. The producer revealed that the addition would not increase the runtime. Director Maruthi also gave a statement on the same.
The Raja Saab deleted scene
The scene that was deleted features Prabhas in an old man’s get-up. He is probably possessed by the spirit of his late grandfather, Kanakaraja (Sanjay Dutt). The sequence, which was highly-awaited by fans, did not make it to the original cut in theatres. However, fans shared their reactions on the internet and expressed displeasure.
Director Maruthi's statement
In a statement after the release of The Raja Saab, director Maruthi said that the new scene would be added to shows from 6 PM today (January 10). The filmmaker said at a press conference, “Prabhas fans aren’t disappointed with the film, but aren’t satisfied either. That's because we showed him in an old getup in the trailer with an attitude and swag. In the process of searching for that look, the fans' brains couldn’t process the story I was showing.”
He added, “Keeping that in mind, I sat last evening to make the second half of the film sharper and include the missing scenes from the 6 PM show today. I am sure that the 8-9 minute episode will be mind-blowing. No film has depicted a fight scene taking place on the roof so far. Prabhas worked very hard for it.”
Why was the scene deleted?
Producer TG Vishwa Prasad shared, “There’s a 4-minute content of Prabhas in his old avatar that’s missing in the movie. One week back, due to an unfortunate incident and the server being down, we had the output, but it needed cleanup and minor corrections. We have done it and sent it to theatres now.”
The Raja Saab review
Reviewing The Raja Saab, Times Now’s in-house critic wrote, “The Raja Saab is 3 hours and 3 minutes long, chaotic, campy horror-comedy. Neither the horror impresses nor the comedy. The film has been in production for three years, and the output is shoddy and unconvincing. Director Maruthi goes overboard with the execution, even when the script is wafer-thin. A grand heroic entry for Raja Saab does not justify the actions and the dialogue made by the character. Maruthi attempts to set the base for a horror-comedy right with a black cat, dilapidated bungalow, flickering lights, haunting background score and a sprawling bungalow that holds more secrets than rooms. The intention is correct, but the impact is zero.”
The Raja Saab also stars Zarina Wahab, Boman Irani, Malavika Mohanan, Nidhhi Agerwal and Riddhi Kumar. It has released in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam on January 9.
