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T-Series Films, Cape Of Good Films and Colour Yellow Productions’ Atrangi Re (UA) is the story of a girl who is in a dilemma because there are two men in her life. Rinku (Sara Ali Khan) loves a boy whose name she is unwilling to reveal to her family comprising her maternal grandmother (Seema Biswas) and her maternal uncles and aunts. Her parents had been killed by the family because the mother had married a Muslim boy.
Rinku has tried to elope with her boyfriend a number of times but the family has managed to bring her back home. In a fit of rage, the family gets her married off to an unsuspecting doctor, Vishu (Dhanush), hoping to get her off their back. The task of marrying her forcibly to a boy is easy because Vishu has come to Rinku’s town in Bihar where dulha-pakad weddings (kidnapping a prospective groom and forcing him to marry the girl) are quite the norm. Vishu is due to get engaged to Mandy (Dimple Hayathi) in Madras two days later. Since both, Rinku and Vishu, are against the forced marriage, they decide to go their separate ways soon after they are packed off to Delhi post-marriage.
Rinku accompanies Vishu to Madras for his engagement but on the day of the engagement, Mandy gets to know about Vishu and Rinku’s marriage, and, therefore, the engagement is called off by Mandy and her parents. However, that’s not the end of Rinku and Vishu’s relationship. Vishu gets to know a fact about Rinku, which disturbs him. What is that fact? And what happens to Rinku’s boyfriend? Does Vishu ensure that Rinku unites with her beloved or does he now yearn to be with Rinku?
Himanshu Sharma has penned an unusual story which appeals for its uniqueness but that’s about all. His screenplay has a lot of holes as a result of which a number of questions, which crop up in the viewer’s mind, remain unanswered. For instance, why does Vishu offer to take Rinku along with him for his engagement, after Rinku and he have decided to go their separate ways. Worse still, why does Vishu’s psychiatrist-friend, Madhusudan (Ashish Verma), tell Vishu to hide the fact about his forced marriage with Rinku from Mandy? It is not as if Vishu had married Rinku of his own free will. The psychiatrist-friend being so naive as to not understand that this could be as dangerous as playing with fire does not ring true. Aren’t psychiatrists supposed to more understanding of the psychology of people than ordinary humans? There’s another scene of a magic show of Rinku and her boyfriend, attended by people including Vishu and Madhusudan. The answer which Madhusudan gives to Vishu’s question, as to why the audience is applauding the magic show, leaves the audiences bewildered because Madhusudan would have them believe that all people suffering from mental diseases — whether OCD, mental derangement, depression, mental retardness, etc. — have the same symptoms, same behaviour patterns and same responses. It is then that the viewers feel, the one who needs psychiatric treatment more than anybody else is psychiatrist Madhusudan himself.
Again, the reason why Vishu wants to solve Rinku’s problem is not clear. Any sensible person in his place would want to wash his hands off unless, of course, he has fallen madly in love with the girl. Although the writer would have us believe that Vishu has crazily fallen in love with Rinku, there is no scene to substantiate that. Why and when and how he fell in love with Rinku are just not clear. Resultantly, the entire drama after the break-up of Vishu and Mandy’s engagement looks unconvincing.
The track of Rinku’s boyfriend would be understood AND appreciated by only a section of the audience. Others would either not be able to comprehend it or, if they are able to understand the same, they would definitely not be able to appreciate her state and, therefore, Vishu’s involvement. Psychiatrist Madhusudan’s involvement looks like a joke. The same thing can be said about the Taj Mahal episode — it is childish to the core. The unfortunate part is that even the comedy which arises out of the situations often does not evoke laughter. The few scenes that do evoke laughter, evoke it in a manner that often defeats the purpose of the scenes. For, the sensitivity one should feel for the characters is diluted in the laughter. The scenes of Rinku’s boyfriend are not at all convincing or entertaining.
The screenplay is unable to make the characters endearing. Rinku fails to make a place for herself in people’s hearts. Her boyfriend also does not endear himself to the audience. As for Vishu, if he does manage to get into people’s hearts, it is more because of his sincere acting than for the character he plays. The revelation of the ‘suspense’ in the climax does not have the desired impact. Yes, some women may feel connected with Rinku’s character in the climax but their number will not be substantial.
Himanshu Sharma’s dialogues are alright but they don’t stand out.
Sara Ali Khan does well as Rinku but her character does not make her endearing to the viewers. Dhanush is extremely natural and does full justice to his character of Vishu. He shines in a role which gives him a lot of scope. Akshay Kumar is okay as far as his performance is concerned; he looks old and tired in some scenes. Ashish Verma does an ordinary job as psychiatrist Madhusudan. His reactions, instead of being more subtle because of his understanding of the human brain, are often so over the top that one wonders who made him a psychiatrist. Seema Biswas is good as Rinku’s maternal grandmother. Dimple Hayathi is natural as Mandy. Pankaj Jha and Ashok Banthia lend decent support as Rinku’s maternal uncles. Bharti Gola has her moments as Rinku’s maternal aunt. Gopal Dutt makes his presence felt as the divorce lawyer. Vijay Kumar (as Matadin), Anil Grover (as Dablu), Anand Babu (as Vishu’s father), Nithyaa Ravindhar (as Vishu’s mother), G. Marimuthu (as Mandy’s father), Jaya Swaminathan (as Mandy’s mother), Mannat Mishra (as baby Rinku) and the rest provide ordinary support.
Aanand L. Rai’s direction is quite good but he has not been able to camouflage the defects in the script. A.R. Rahman’s music is appealing. The ‘Chaka chak’ song is already popular. The other numbers are also tuneful, but there is no song which will prove to be a super-hit with a long shelf life. Irshad Kamil’s lyrics are of a good standard. Song picturisations (Vijay Ganguly; ‘Garda’ song by Ganesh Acharya) are quite eye-filling. A.R. Rahman’s background music is very good. Pankaj Kumar’s cinematography (additional cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran) is good. Sham Kaushal’s action and stunt scenes are of a fine standard. Production designing (Nitin Zihani Choudhary) is appropriate. Hemal Kothari’s editing is fairly nice.
On the whole, Atrangi Re is a film with very limited appeal because although it has a novel story, its script is not convincing. Except for a thin section, it will not find favour with the audience.
Released on 24-12-’21 on Disney+ Hotstar.