![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI saw Rab Ne Bana De Jodi starring Shahrukh Khan and Annushka Sharma yesterday and loved it, loved it, loved it!
Two faces of marital love:
The plot is both goof-ball and simple, and yet with a certain romantic fairy-tale logic. Sukwinder Singh (Shahrukh Khan) is a middle-aged bachelor, sweet, shy to the point of silence, and opposite of assertive, glamorous or cool. Yet it is love at first sight for Sukwinder (known as Suri) when he sees the vivacious, outspoken, rather younger Taani (Anushka Sharma). Normally, Taani would not pay much attention to Suri but her family tragedy leaves Suri with Taani as wife. But it's not the Taani she was: this woman is beaten-down, locked in her grief, and someone who claims she has no love left to give to anyone, her husband included. And, by a crazy yet delicious Bollywood logic and a few coincidences, Suri comes up with a rather insane plan to bring smiles back into Taani's life: as a 'cool', dorky, fun, outspoken "Raj Kapoor", Taani's dance partner in a competition she enters into. And the movie goes from here.
Despite what some of the critics said - I loved it to bits! Sure, it's a flawed movie (most movies are), but this is the most fun I have had in a movie theater in months and months. It's old-fashioned but I love old-fashioned. Is it realistic? Not per se, no. But then if I am in the mood for realism, I will watch Italian neorealists or Lars Von Trier. The reason I watch Bollywood is for that unexplainable magic, the hyper-saturated world and emotions that drag me in. And the movie worked this way for me - it made me laugh and made me sniffle - emotionally it hit all the right notes. None of my favorite Bolly movies are realistic per se: is Fanaa or Veer-Zaara realistic? No, not really, but they hit a certain emotional truth. And so does RNBDJ for me (not that I am claiming it's as good as Fanaa or VZ but the principle is the same).
Also, I just loved SRK in this - the movie worksd because of him (though the leading lady was very good, especially for a newcomer). Suri is one of my favorite of his characters- hopelessly shy, a bit too reserved, old-fashioned and very unglamorous, but such a good kind soul. And Raj was a riot: not really a cool guy but a small-town idea of what a cool guy is like. My favorite scenes were all the ones where the Raj mask was on imperfectly and you could see Suri peeking out. Nobody can look as hopelessly in love as SRK! The inner vulnerability and the wistfulness were wonderful. (where does it leave Suri if Taani falls for Raj? How far will he go to make her happy?)
Also loved the scene after the sumo match and the scene where Taani asks Raj to go away with her. And the end had me holding my hand to my mouth.
Just wonderful. Really wonderful.
Two faces of marital love:
The plot is both goof-ball and simple, and yet with a certain romantic fairy-tale logic. Sukwinder Singh (Shahrukh Khan) is a middle-aged bachelor, sweet, shy to the point of silence, and opposite of assertive, glamorous or cool. Yet it is love at first sight for Sukwinder (known as Suri) when he sees the vivacious, outspoken, rather younger Taani (Anushka Sharma). Normally, Taani would not pay much attention to Suri but her family tragedy leaves Suri with Taani as wife. But it's not the Taani she was: this woman is beaten-down, locked in her grief, and someone who claims she has no love left to give to anyone, her husband included. And, by a crazy yet delicious Bollywood logic and a few coincidences, Suri comes up with a rather insane plan to bring smiles back into Taani's life: as a 'cool', dorky, fun, outspoken "Raj Kapoor", Taani's dance partner in a competition she enters into. And the movie goes from here.
Despite what some of the critics said - I loved it to bits! Sure, it's a flawed movie (most movies are), but this is the most fun I have had in a movie theater in months and months. It's old-fashioned but I love old-fashioned. Is it realistic? Not per se, no. But then if I am in the mood for realism, I will watch Italian neorealists or Lars Von Trier. The reason I watch Bollywood is for that unexplainable magic, the hyper-saturated world and emotions that drag me in. And the movie worked this way for me - it made me laugh and made me sniffle - emotionally it hit all the right notes. None of my favorite Bolly movies are realistic per se: is Fanaa or Veer-Zaara realistic? No, not really, but they hit a certain emotional truth. And so does RNBDJ for me (not that I am claiming it's as good as Fanaa or VZ but the principle is the same).
Also, I just loved SRK in this - the movie worksd because of him (though the leading lady was very good, especially for a newcomer). Suri is one of my favorite of his characters- hopelessly shy, a bit too reserved, old-fashioned and very unglamorous, but such a good kind soul. And Raj was a riot: not really a cool guy but a small-town idea of what a cool guy is like. My favorite scenes were all the ones where the Raj mask was on imperfectly and you could see Suri peeking out. Nobody can look as hopelessly in love as SRK! The inner vulnerability and the wistfulness were wonderful. (where does it leave Suri if Taani falls for Raj? How far will he go to make her happy?)
Also loved the scene after the sumo match and the scene where Taani asks Raj to go away with her. And the end had me holding my hand to my mouth.
Just wonderful. Really wonderful.
