By
Sharada Iyer
After a seven-year hiatus, director Karan Johar delivers a potpourri of all his identified and anticipated substances in his newest providing Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani (RRKPK), which incorporates over-the-top feelings, melodrama, costly units, loud trend statements, foot-tapping tune & dance numbers, remixes of previous Hindi movie songs, romance, comedy and to not neglect a demise scene, and expectedly manages to garnish it with such an outstanding dose of PR gimmicks and FOMO issue that the weekend witnessed a rush with movie lovers heading to the cinema halls to catch this newest flick.
He could also be unabashed concerning the high quality of his work however he certain is aware of the heartbeat of the viewers and the way finest to draw them to cinema halls. Bollywood presently shouldn’t be doing very nicely going by the box-office collections of many latest releases. Starved of a typical Bollywood ‘masala’ movie the viewers lapped up RRKPK whole-heartedly with all the everyday household drama, glamorous outfits, ‘naach-gaana’ and a few ‘seeti-maar’ scenes. In spite of everything, our society stays the identical in its core values of their outlook in the direction of two individuals falling in love. From 1923 to 2023, has something modified actually? We’re nonetheless combating over caste, faith, language, class, and cultural variations…
RRKPK is mainly a love story between a boy and a lady belonging to fully totally different households with diametrically reverse ideologies. They quickly notice that if their love story wants a contented ending, they should change the mind-set of their households and discover acceptance. True there may be nothing novel about this storyline however half of Karan’s battle was received when he signed the present heart-throb of the nation- Alia Bhatt and the boisterous Ranveer Singh to play the protagonists. The added benefit was the supporting solid comprising of yesteryear actors Dharmendra and Jaya Bhaduri, together with Shabana Azmi which created fairly a buzz from the time the announcement was made.
What makes the movie totally different is that other than the primary love story Karan Johar had the brainwave to weave one other, extra delicate and heartwarming love-story within the narrative between older actors Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi to herald the distinction in romance between the 2 generations. He made them the grandparents from reverse households and this gave him the chance to provide us a glimpse of the Golden period of our movie music when lyrics had which means and conveyed much more feelings.
However this was additionally finished in overdose mode within the first half of the movie and there have been too many elderly songs and background tunes. The cult Rafi-Asha duet ‘Abhi na jao chod kar…’ within the new voices couldn’t recreate the magic however for Karan who has made this type of factor his trademark, it didn’t matter so long as the previous tune was included.
Someplace in attempting to be totally different, the director falls wanting giving us memorable characters in Alia and Ranveer. Their chemistry was not precisely palpable and their relationship was not developed sufficient for the viewers to really feel for them. With the end result the Dharmendra-Shabana love-story was extra fulfilling. Whereas the primary half was overly light-hearted with songs and comedian scenes, drama takes centerstage within the second half with the everyday clashes between the characters concerned.
What’s a household drama if there isn’t a villain or vamp to herald the required confrontation scenes? Jaya Bhaduri who had been the trade’s harmless girl-next-door ‘Guddi’ all these years, turns into a very hateful and despicable character. One should laud her for agreeing to do such a task realizing that everybody within the viewers goes to hate her. Although she acts nicely, she has her limitations. She is not any match for our good previous Lalitha Pawar who was easy in such roles. However hers was the one position which stood out for being totally different from her earlier on-screen picture.
Ranveer Singh didn’t should put an excessive amount of effort to behave. He was simply being the way in which he’s off-screen at award features and different social gatherings- brash, flamboyant, and humorous. There have been some emotional scenes the place he was fairly convincing. Surprisingly this time Alia Bhatt is being talked about extra for her seems to be, her sarees designed by Manish Malhotra and her earrings or ‘jhumkas’ fairly than her appearing. Her position of a powerful feminist has nothing difficult for her and she or he walks by means of her half effortlessly apart from just a few scenes when she comes throughout too loud virtually bordering on overacting.
Dharmendra at 87 years, was his identical lovable self now trying extra endearing with age and is the spotlight of the movie. He has not misplaced his appeal and has his moments and had the viewers rooting for him at any time when he got here on display screen. He performs Ranveer’s lovable grandfather and is hated by his spouse, Jaya Bhaduri. He has reminiscence issues however remembers his previous sweetheart Shabana Azmi who occurs to be Alia’s grandmother. Shabana Azmi shines in her small position and so does Tota Roy Choudhry, who performs Alia’s dad. Actors enjoying Alia’s mother, Ranveer’s mom, sister, and father hardly make an impression.
Whereas Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Kalank and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil had an amazing musical rating with some authentic music, right here he sadly resorts to songs which evoke a deja vu feeling. The tune ‘Tum Kya Mile…’ is sweet solely due to Arijit Singh’s vocals however the tune does remind us of ‘Gerua’ tune from Dilwale. In Karan Johar’s personal phrases, it has been added within the movie as a ‘homage’ to Yash Chopra. However in a bid to recreate the ‘Yash Chopra’ impact, he forgot that Yashji’s picturizations have been authentic and the results of his distinctive perspective plus chemistry of the lead pair, however right here the setting may be very synthetic and the sensation of affection by no means comes throughout.
The remix of the previous superhit Madan Mohan tune ‘Jhumka gira re…’, when launched on YouTube earlier than the movie’s launch, turned extremely popular and whipped up a frenzy on the web. Including the road ‘What Jhumka?’ to the remix model proved to be a masterstroke. The singer Jonita Gandhi and the one that got here up with the concept of this line deserve all credit score for making the tune really memorable. We had each particular person from each gender and age-group recreating the steps of Ranveer and Alia and making scores of reels on Instagram. This type of publicity solely elevated the push issue particularly among the many youthful viewers to observe the movie on the earliest within the cinema halls. However once more, why contact an authentic tune?
In conclusion, as soon as we all know what to anticipate from a Karan Johar movie, it may be mentioned that the movie has some good elements, some okay elements and a few really hackneyed elements and collectively can cross off as a one-time watch. However the hype created across the movie with everyone desirous to see what it’s all about is an incredible advertising technique of Karan Johar and therein lies the ability of this grasp strategist who presently enjoys the standing of being probably the most highly effective man in Bollywood.
With the box-office collections in India and overseas displaying good indicators plus the anticipated revenue from OTT streaming rights, the movie is bound to rake within the vital moola and can get well its funds very quickly.
[All images taken from Internet]
