Apart from challenging cancel culture, gender roles and calling out body shaming, the film even questions that which Karan Johar’s enterprise rests — the desi obsession with marriage
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani(U/A)
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bachchan, Aamir Bashir, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Churni Ganguly, Ksh*tee Jog, Anjali Anand
Direction: Karan Johar
Rating: ***1/2
Showing in theaters.
I wasquite certain that I was going to hateRocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Apart from my irritation at the numerically-protected title, the film’s trailer looked like Karan Johar had decided to relocate his brand ofparivarikmelodrama aboutpapaji, mummyji, biji-baojito the sets of Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Everything looked grand but Malhotra. As if we were in the company of Punjabibaraatisattending a Mugaliya Saltanatnikaah.
And when the film began, all the expected tropes came trotting out. The bigbungalow, the stern and scowling patriarch, thecrorepatiwaarison one side, and on the other the quieter, cultured but pretentious Bengalis.
YetRocky Aur Raniscooped me up and carried me along with its funny jokes, melodrama and subversive gender politics.
Rocky Aur Raniis Karan Johar’s funniest and most joyful film. And afterMy Name Is Khan, his most political one.
True to Karan Johar’s style, everything inRocky Aur Raniis over-the-top — the decor, the costumes, the drama, the dance sequences, the confrontations and cars. The story isn’t original either, but the screenplay cleverly serves Hrishikesh Mukherjee’sKhubsoorat(1980) and Abhishek Verman’s2 Stateswith a twist and in designer bling.
The filmis about theprem kahaniof a Punjabi boy and a Bengali girl who are very different culturally, politically, financially, historically and temperamentally. But woven in their story is the story of everyone deserving love and respect despite differences of gender, sexuality, culture, body sizes andage.
The film challenges stifling stereotypes, gender expectations and prejudices. It questions patriarchalbade-buzurgwho control the lives of others not out of love, but because they love their power.And in a moment so dramatic and fabulous,Rocky Aur Ranishatters a taboo so brilliantly that even now my tears won’t stoprolling.
Big Bollywood and our dreams have a symbiotic relationship. This perfect, gorgeous, world ofpapajiandjhappiyan, of mummyji andshadiyan, ofpyaarandizzat,sanskarandahankaris born out of our own familial complexes and fantasies. But it’s also a world that embellishes our dreams and controls not just how we want to see ourselves, but also how we want to be seen, how we want to live and be loved.
Rocky Aur Ranihas all the childish silliness and delusions of that dream world. Yet the film is special because it does what the best of Bollywood does —toote hue dilon ko jodne ka kaam.
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is set in Delhi where, in a palatial white bungalow called Randhawa Paradise, lives a Punjabi family. Every morning they doaartito thank Mata Rani for their flourishing Boondi Laddoo business. The business and the house are controlled bydadiDhanalakshmi (Jaya Bachchan) and her son, Tijori (Aamir Bashir).
Dhanlakshmi’s husband, Kanwal Bauji (Dharmendra), was once a man more interested insher-o-shayarithan tallying accounting figures. But an accident left him paralyzed and now he is a silent relic in a wheelchair.
As per Randhava’sparampara, Dhanalakshmi runs herparivaarwith a disapproving scowl and diktats. But at a party one day, where Rocky (Ranveer Singh) is dancing with four nepo-kids, Bauji suddenly starts muttering “Jamini, Jamini”, and proceeds in his wheelchair to cause some social embarrassment.
Dadi frowns, Tijori frowns in solidarity but Rocky discovers aphooland a photo in Bauji’s poetryki kitabwhich leads him to Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt).
A saree-draped, sexy Bengali celebrity anchor, in the first scene itself Rani establishes her feminist credentials by delivering a woke lecture on air.
She lives with her Thakur ma (Shabana Azmi), an English professor mummyji who talks like Shashi Tharoor’sbadi behen, and akathakdancer dad. She also has a pesky tag-along Soumen (Namit Das) who has ingratiating plans.
When Rocky comes to meet Rani in his red Ferrari, sipping a post-workout protein shake and thinking West Bengal is in the West, it’s a merry clash of civilizations.
But a story about a life-altering holiday in Shimla in 1978 gives them both a project they need to collaborate on. Several rounds of double dates follow where Johar seduces us with romance conducted aroundbhule bisre geetand a very funny moment with “buddhon kaEmraan Hashmi.”
Things go as planned till they don’t. There is somejhagarna-bicharnaand then a swap.
The well-preserved, traditional prejudices of Punjabis and Bengalis that have been honed for generations are now all out in the open. All show them off and poke fun at the other, sometimes funnily, but sometimes in ways that hurt and make them all teary.
The Bengalis, with their Tagore portrait, Rabindra Sangeet and cultural get-togethers, sitcross-legged sipping wine. And in between sharingshotti kathas, talk airily about their Punjabi houseguest.
In the Randhawa mansion, Rani is shown heraukatagain and again, and then theaukatof women in general, except Dhanalakshmi, of course.
At thebhadralok’sclassybaari, Rocky learns to get comfortable around bras, teaches them the importance ofpappiyan-jhappiyanand generally tries to lower their pretentious quotient.
Rani, meanwhile, begins to engineer small kitchen revolutions.
But Dhanalakshmi, played by Jaya Bachchan, creates moments of epic kalesh with the meanness that makes it stand out.
But after tears, comes joy. And a lot of credit for that goes to Ish*ta Moitra’sdialogue which uses the peculiarities of Punjabis and Bengalisto superb effect.
Sometimes it’s Rocky’ssister whose vocabulary is like anashleelauto-correct that turns intercaste into intercourse, but mostly it’s Rocky’s “Meanske?” “Are youtakaoing?” and, of course, the Punjabi motto, “Familype mat ja.”
Rocky Aur Rani’s writers and director give the film so manytaaliyan-bajanaandtassue-bahanamoments that despite its ass-numbing length of 168 minutes, I was hooked.
RockyAur Ranihas a nice, talented cast, and I especially liked Churni Ganguly who plays Rani’s mother. But Dharampaajiand Ranveer Singh are the heart and soul of the film. They create moments of such heightened joy and emotions that I was smiling while cryingbilak-bilak ke.
Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt warm up to each other in the course of the film and develop chemistry that grows on you.They share some nice-nicekissiyan, including one in upside-down Spider-Man style.
Alia Bhatt is lovely, but her key job as Rani is to soften Rocky’s Punjabi onslaught.
Rocky’s wardrobe deserves a review of its own. It’s all Versace, Fendi, andthick gold chains dangling not just on his shaved, bronzed, gym-toned torso, but also on his colored suedes.
If I were to give his brand of haute couture a name, I’d call it Hadasa Couture. Each ensemble is like a mishap, a roadkill in bling.
This wardrobe isn’t justan extension of Rocky’s loud, Punjabi personality, butthe two seem to be contestants in a competition of garish.And Ranveer Singh repeatedly outdoes the crazy hysteria of his attire.
But Singh is an excellent actor. Andin between all this craziness, where his clothes seem to be dragging him to dance on stage at a Daler Mehndi concert, he is able to pause the film to create moments of such high emotions and intensity that even his lime green, mirror-wala achkanseemed to be looking for a hanky.
Rocky Aur Ranihas terriblesongs, but its politics is fab.
Apart from challenging cancel culture, gender roles and calling out body shaming, the film evenquestionsthatthing on which the entire Karan Johar enterprise rests —desiobsession withladki ki shaadi. And what I liked the most aboutRocky Aur Raniis that in the end, the film didn’t feel theneed for a happy family photo. It seemed to say that sometimes, when your loved ones don’t get you and won’t be with you, it’s okay to let go.
There’s respect for the other in that, and a lot of self-love.
