Movie review: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak
Director: Aditya Chopra

Love is a yellow tiffin stuffed with ‘garma garam khana’, balanced between the knees of that scooter rider going down a small-town road, on his way to his public sector office, and fellows called Sharma ji, Varma ji, and Sahni ji.

Or that’s what Aditya Chopra would have us believe. His new film has Shah Rukh Khan playing Surinder Sahni, a small cog in a big ‘sarkaari’ wheel, living an ordinary 9 to 5 existence. He has a best friend who revels in the name of Bobby aka Balwinder (Vinay). And he’s just acquired a new wife, Taani (Anushka), who’s mourning the untimely exit of an old love.

Tiny three-membered cast, instead of the standard full-scale Yashraj ‘baraat’. Middle-class homes and offices, instead of ornate palaces and Swiss chalets.

A hero who wears a thick moustache, black-framed spectacles, and pants which don’t fit. And a simple, unmade-up heroine, dressed, for the most part, in ‘salwaar kameez’ and ‘phulkari dupattas’. No, gulp, pastel chiffons. Could this really be Yashraj turning over a welcome new leaf ? Uh huh : the outlines of the characters are new, but the brush-strokes that fill in the whole, aren’t. In its telling, the few fresh touches in ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ are overpowered by those that are all too familiar.

It opens with one of the oldest tricks in the book – dying dad asking hero to wed heroine. You’re still getting over that when the film whisks you off to Amritsar, where Surinder and Taani’s love story is destined to unfold. It begins well—they sleep sweetly in separate rooms, and swap such winsome exchanges as her saying ‘aap lucky ho ji, ki aap ko kabhi pyaar nahin hua’, with him replying, a tad poetically, ‘isse zyada pyar ki na toh mujhe aadat hai na zaroorat’.

Whenever SRK plays an average joe, he scores. Surinder Sahni is all set to be one of his most loved parts—his Punjabi ‘leheja’ and his quiet bashfulnesss is pitch-perfect. But superstars can’t be made to appear ill-dressed wimps who don’t know how to keep their women in the kitchen, when, of course, they are not being meek and pliant in the bedroom.

SRK’s double role arrives in the guise of Raj, and this version is very up to the Amritsar minute—skintight tee, ripped jeans, spiked hair. And there you have it, another creaky nostrum—dull office-going Surinder, or boisterous, brash Raj, what’s a Taani to do?

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye brings you the ultimate media-savvy thief – the one who stole at nights, and wanted to be famous for it by day! And all of it in action-packed, fun-filled, two hours with a happy happy ending.
In Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye you’ll see Lucky, a gawky 15-year-old lower middle-class kid from the inner city ghetto of West Delhi rise to become one of the most wanted master thieves of India with crores of cash, a glamorous lifestyle, cars, women, a fan following, with fame and notoriety - and yet looking for something more. In this film, you'll take a ride with Lucky as he escapes his suffocating childhood and a bullying father to glide into crime – petty thieving in this case. Lucky meets Gogi Bhai - his surrogate father-to-be – who’s a wedding singer by profession and a stolen goods receiver by vocation. He befriends the thoroughly- respectable Dr. Handa, who could fund his business enterprise. Through Handa, Lucky enters the respectable, club-going, picnic-packing, English-speaking world of upmarket, urban India. Why all this trouble? Can’t he just steal and leave us alone? This is the story of the rise of Lucky – and his search.
This story was inspired by various real events and characters and through the memories of my childhood and adolescence where I met characters who've left a lasting impression on me. It's also inspired by crime reportage in the new shining India. Lucky wants everything that you and I want - name, fame, wealth, arm candy, and those everlasting fifteen minutes under the spotlights. But that’s where the resemblance ends. Most of us go to work at day, suck up to our bosses and make a respectful, decent life of it. Lucky steals from your or my home at night. And yet, he sees no difference between him and us – he wants to go the same parties, drink at the same five-star pubs, court the same networked people, and feature at the same page three do’s. I also made the film to find out why someone who had five crores in cash and goods, a few apartments, a dozen cars and a good TRP rating on TV would end up stealing a greeting card, a teddy bear and a framed photo of a family playing in the snow

Sorry Bhai

Starring: Sharman Joshi, Sanjay Suri, Chitrangada Singh, Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani; Director: Onir;

Rating 2out of 5

Date Seen: 01/12/2008

Geeky scientist Siddharth Mathur (Sharman) is given their mother’s ’swear’ by elder brother Harsh (Suri) to bring her along for his wedding to be held in Mauritius. Their mom, (Shabana) is least interested in attending the wedding because Harsh has planned to marry against her wishes. Siddharth succeeds in bring along mom and jovial dad (Boman) to Mauritius. Since Harsh is pre-occupied with lots of work he lives it to his fiancée Aaliyah (Chitrangada) to show them around make them feel comfortable. Herein starts the trouble as since their mom doesn’t really like Aaliyah, Siddharth ends up spending most of the time with Aaliyah. At the same time Aaliyah starts feeling neglected because of Harsh’s workaholic ways and starts getting drawn towards the very loveable yet shy, Siddharth. What happens after they both end up falling in love with each other forms the rest of the film.
Sanjay Suri is as easy going as usual but despite being the co-producer of the film, his character appears neglected in the second half. Sharman puts up a convincing act and perfectly fits the part. Shabana has a wonderful knack of doing some really difficult parts that look easy on paper. She succeeds yet again. Boman as the forever leg pulling father is back in form after some hamming acts in films like Yuvvraaj, Love Story 2050 and Dostana. Chitrangada Singh not only looks extremely sensuous throughout but also puts up a nice natural act.
Onir fails to hold your attention for two hours. The biggest blame for the same goes for the poor scripting. The film is predictable from the word go and the dull pace literally puts you off to sleep. The whole ‘Maa Kasam’ thing ends up being unintentionally hilarious. Imagine, Shabana giving a mother’s swear to younger son (Sharman) to let go of the forbidden love so that her elder’s son upcoming marriage is saved from trouble! Also, though Shabana and Boman appear almost like a real life couple, the whole attempt appears like the maker is keen to recreate the couple’s magic from their last film together, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. The music too isn’t something that has immediate recall value. Agreed there a few funny moments but barring them, the bold themed film with so many minuses going against the film, it appears little chance that it will appeal to its target – the multiplex audience.
Final Verdict The film would have been an okay one time watch had the writing been little more imaginative, but alas!

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