If one needs a spicy grand Bollywood movie, then one is sure to look out for Karan Johar, the Kjo and ‘King of Controversies’ for the movie. His recently launched movie ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ shortened to ‘RARKPK’, after a seven-year-long sabbatical just speaks of that same ‘masala’ or spice that he has been putting in several of his movies to suit the genre of the family drama with perfection. The movie boasts of a stellar cast such as Ranveer Singh playing the role of a carefree and rich Punjabi brat ‘Rocky Randhawa’ from the Karol Bagh area of New Delhi, whereas Alia Bhatt essays the role of a disciplined and traditional Bengali girl, ‘Rani Chatterjee’, who gives much priority to her family and moral values. In this much-anticipated movie by Karan Johar (KJo), Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt team up with each other to deliver a power-packed performance in their second collaboration after their first collaboration in ‘Gully Boys’. The film also features other famous actors from yesteryear such as Dharmendra, Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan and Shabana Azmi with other famous faces such as Aamir Bashir, Renuka Sahane, Shraddha Arya and Dheeraj Dhoopar. The movie gets 3.5 stars out of 5 stars.

The Film Review

The movie is about the falling in love of a Punjabi carefree and rich brat called ‘Rocky Randhawa’ with a traditional Bengali girl upholding morality and human rights at every point in her life called ‘Rani Chatterjee’. The movie plays on the various clichés and stereotypes that one generally finds in a Bollywood movie that is based on an interfaith or inter-cast angle of love. The first half of the movie is a supposed lecture in an animated form on propriety, respect, family values and culture and morality that to a certain extent can be seen affecting those, who belong to the glitz and glamour of the tinsel town of the Hindi film industry. The first half of the film gets busy establishing the hero and heroine dimension of the movie to give it a romantic and love film smell. This was done with a grand opening and customized music in the background peppered with some cringe-worthy humor that is mostly famed on stereotypes.

The character of ‘Rocky Randhawa’ has been efficiently essayed by Ranveer Singh. His boisterous and energetic persona, at least that is how he presents himself before the public, possibly helped him to etch out in his mind as to how would he be portraying the character to make it look lively. It will not wrong to say that he has passed with flying colours in this respect. Alia Bhatt’s beautiful portrayal of the Bengali girl ‘Rani Chatterjee wins our hearts with her cute expressions, however, she sometimes gets confused with her language in some scenes, where she was seen being vocal about human rights and breaking stereotypes. Other actors too have been able to etch out their respective characters with superb craftsmanship. However, the performance of the actors, especially, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt have been able to garner most of the praise from the viewers.

Yesteryear actors Dharmendra’s and Shabana Azmi’s portrayals of ‘Rocky’s grandfather ‘Kanwal Lund’ and ‘Rani’s grandmother ‘Jamini Chatterjee’ respectively are fabulous. Dharmendra played the role of an amnesia-stricken grandfather, who would often mistake ‘Jamini Chatterjee’ for his wife and would even kiss her, ‘Jamini Chatterjee’, who is a widow, would try to find the love of her life through this accident. This duality and conflict of love have been beautifully painted by the two actors. However, one thing that looks very odd here is the director’s inability to get the character of Dharmendra out of the lover boy image that he started playing at the beginning of his film career. The loves between the oldies also show how carefree northern India easily finds solace and comfort in the comparatively traditional eastern India and vice versa.

Another talented actress from the past, Jaya Bachchan, needs no introduction about herself or her acting capability. She was given the task to portray the vamp, regressive and extremely conservative and orthodox Punjabi grandmother and she just executed it with her usual perfection. No wonder, she is still valid both as an actress as well as a politician in her life even after so many decades. Her cold stares and on-screen strict appearance gives her a formidable look that will draw a large part of attention towards her. It would possibly be an understatement to say that she was simply brilliant with her skills in acting. To some of the moviegoers, who managed to watch the movie, she seemed to revive the character of ‘Yash Raichand’ that was played by her real-life husband Amitabh Bachchan in another of Karan Johar’s (KJo) super hit movies ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ or ‘K3G’.

The Overall Layout and Screenplay

From the second half of the film, the tonality changes so drastically that the entire film seems to be like two different films played one after another. The story seems not to have been woven with much compactness and looks much separated in tonality from one part to another. The first thing that catches the attention of film critics is the natural transition from dialogues to songs, then the beautiful background score that adds some colour to the scenes of humour and most importantly the emotional space that the characters have got on-screen that had helped them execute their moments with much conviction and dexterity. However, certain scenes of comedy were too much dramatic for the audience to wrap their heads around it.

One thing that has been seriously lacking in the screen is the issue of stereotype that the movie first builds, then discards and then again attempts at building it. It is quite unknown to the audience from both ethnicities why would the female protagonist, who is presented as a sweet, traditional and moral girl next door, is always a Bengali, whereas the male protagonist, who is a flamboyant and funky brat will always be a north Indian. Is it true that all Bengali senior members wear kurta pyjamas even at home like the character played by the famous Bengali actor Tota Roy Chowdhury has been shown to wear? Is it true that just because the hero is a Punjabi by birth that is, why he does not have an idea about Tagore? These things, though introduced to enhance the comic mood of the movie, actually contributed to the creation of false stereotypes in the minds of the people, especially, now that people are becoming too much aggressive about their cultural and religious identity. It is also incomprehensible on the part of the moviegoers that, why should both the Bengalis and Punjabis have to be so loud mouth and, why would the Punjabis be so rough and uncouth while the Bengalis would be made to look like the keeper of all moral and ethical values?

Thus, overall the film turns out to be good but cannot be described as a better film by Karan Johar (KJo). Though, it comes packed with all the Hindi film industry types of ‘masala’, it does not get counted as one of Karan’s fabulous productions unlike ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ (K3G). Some of the background music serves to create nostalgia through the introduction of retro songs, Yash Chopra and the era of the 90s Hindi film industry. However, no one can deny the clichéd ‘Aaja Meri Gaddi Main Baith Jaa’ feeling out of their mind after watching it.