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Viacom18 Studios and Dharma Productions’ Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (UA) is a love-story-cum-family-drama.
Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer Singh) is a typical Punjabi boy, boisterous and over-confident. Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt) is a Bengali beauty with brains who works as a television host. Rocky lives with his parents (Aamir Bashir and Kshitee Jog), grandparents (Dharmendra and Jaya Bachchan) and a sister, Gayatri (Anjali Anand). In Rani’s family are her parents (Tota Roy Choudhury and Churni Ganguly) and grandmother, Jamini Chatterjee (Shabana Azmi). Rocky and Rani fall in love with one another. However, looking to the cultural and other differences between the two families, most members of both the families are against the alliance. Yet, Rocky and Rani don’t want to give up. How they convince their families and what all happens along the way form the crux of the story.
Ishita Moitra, Shashank Khaitan and Sumit Roy have written an interesting story and although it may not boast of novelty, the situations and the overall drama are quite fresh. Besides, the story packs in a lot as there are various sub-plots around the main love story, a major one being the track of women empowerment. The trio’s screenplay relies quite heavily on old hit Bollywood songs in the first about 45-50 minutes, which gets a bit too much for the audience. Of course, viewers who are huge fans of old songs will not mind it, but many others might feel that it’s an overkill. What’s more, the jokes and light moments in this portion of the drama don’t evoke the kind of response they should’ve. The drama picks up about 25-30 minutes before interval, after which it abounds in entertainment right till interval and all through the second half. The comedy is rib-tickling while the drama, melodrama and dash of emotions succeed in touching the heart. In other words, the screenplay after the first 45-50 minutes moves at a superb pace and keeps the audience not just engaged but also thoroughly entertained. Yes, the elite audience might feel that the brouhaha is much ado about nothing because in today’s times, inter-caste marriages are not such a big issue. Ishita Moitra’s dialogues are extraordinary and enhance the drama beautifully.
Ranveer Singh is par excellence as Rocky Randhawa. He is truly outstanding as the Punjabi lad who may not be la di dah but who has a heart of gold. If he evokes laughter in the light scenes, he actually shakes you in the emotional, dramatic and melodramatic ones. Alia Bhatt does an extraordinary job as Rani Chatterjee. She is so natural that she actually redefines natural acting. Her scene of outburst while talking to Rocky’s dad is memorable. She looks beautiful and her sarees will be a point of discussion among girls and ladies. Dharmendra gets limited scope and has very few dialogues to mouth. He does fairly well. Jaya Bachchan does an excellent job as Dhanlaxmi Randhawa. Shabana Azmi lives the role of Jamini Chatterjee. Tota Roy Choudhury makes a fine mark as Rani’s father. Churni Ganguly is first-rate in the role of the prim and proper mother of Rani. Aamir Bashir makes his mark wonderfully in the role of Rocky’s father. Kshitee Jog has her moments as Rocky’s mother. Anjali Anand is quite nice as Rocky’s sister, Gayatri. Namit Das has his moments in the role of Somen Mitra. Abhinav Sharma is natural and entertaining as Rocky’s friend, Vicky. Naveet Nishan (as the prospective groom’s mother), Akashdeep Sabir (as minister Alok Pradhan) and Sheeba Sabir (as the Bengali lady) lend wonderful support. Raashul Tandon (as the prospective groom), Hitesh Arora, Jiten Mukhi, Seema Anand, Jayati Bhatia and Rohan Gurbaxani are adequate. Kashish Rizwan (as young Dhanlaxmi), Harman Singha (as young Kanwal) and Veebha Anand (as young Jamini) are alright. Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Panday add tremendous glamour value in cameo appearances in a song-dance.
Karan Johar’s direction is excellent. Not only has he extracted good work out of his artistes but he has also made a lavish and heartfelt film for all age groups. Pritam Chakraborty’s music is good but definitely not what one expects in a Karan Johar directorial venture. ‘Tum kya mile’ is the best song; the other songs are all well-tuned but the super-hit quality is missing. Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics are appealing. Song picturisations (choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant, Farah Khan, Ganesh Acharya and Remo D’Souza) are eye-filling and rich but still, they could’ve been better. Pritam Chakraborty’s background music is fantastic. Manushnandan’s cinematography is terrific. Amritpal Singh’s action and stunt scenes are of a fine standard. Amrita Mahal Nakai’s production designing is phenomenal. Nitin Baid’s editing is absolutely sharp.
On the whole, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is an out-and-out entertainer but the lack of superhit music will come in the way of realisation of its full potential at the box-office. Besides, its below-the-mark initial today is not just alarming but also an indicator that the business will not be bumper even if one can safely expect collections to pick up.
Released on 28-7-’23 at Inox (daily 13 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. Publicity: good but should’ve been better. Opening: below the mark. …….Also released all over. Opening was below expectations at many places.