Ra.One

Ra.One is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language superhero film directed by Anubhav Sinha. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in a dual role and Arjun Rampal as the titular antagonist, with Kareena Kapoor, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami, Tom Wu, Dalip Tahil and Satish Shah in supporting roles. The script, written by Sinha and Kanika Dhillon, originated as an idea that Sinha got when he saw a television commercial and which he subsequently expanded. The film follows Shekhar Subramanium (Khan), a game designer who creates a motion sensor-based game with an immensely powerful virtual character. Designed to be more powerful than the game's protagonist, G.One (also portrayed by Khan), Ra.One serves as the antagonist. The latter escapes from the game's virtual world and enters the real world; his aim is to kill Lucifer, the game ID of Shekhar's son and the only player to have challenged Ra.One's power. Relentlessly pursued, the family is forced to bring out G.One from the virtual world to defeat Ra.One and protect them. Principal photography began in March 2010 and took place in India and the United Kingdom and was overseen by an international crew. The post-production involved 3-D conversion and the application of visual effects, the latter being recognised as a technological breakthrough among Indian films. With a budget of , inclusive of publicity costs, Ra.One was the most expensive Indian film at the time of release, surpassing the budget of Enthiran (2010). The producers spent , including a marketing budget, which involved a nine-month publicity campaign, brand tie-ups, merchandise, video games and viral marketing. The film faced controversies involving plagiarism, content leaks, and copyright challenges. Ra.One was theatrically released on 24 October 2011, the beginning of the five-day Diwali weekend, in 2D, 3D and dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu languages, with three international premieres being held between 24 & 26 October 2011. The film witnessed the largest international theatrical release for an Indian film as of 2011 and was preceded by high audience and commercial expectations. Upon release, Ra.One earned praise for the visual effects, action sequences, direction, music, and the performances of Khan and Rampal, and criticism for the script and screenplay.