Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Lead Actors: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma
Genre: Romance, Drama
Rating: 4/5

The central idea of the movie is to highlight a common man’s take on love. Obviously, there are no Eureka moments in the story and has everything to do with feelings – big or small. The plot revolves around Suri who is immensely in love with his wife Taani who has a certain idea about love. While Taani’s idea is that her man be a jolly good fellow, our Suri is more of a serious (boring) kind. He knows what Taani wants, turns into such type of character to make her happy. But the realization is that Taani likes the new character opposed to the old Suri. Then the story is about Taani’s realization that it’s not OK to be selfish in a relationship and be able to compromise with others’ interests.

SRK has given a breezy performance in both roles of Suri and Raj. Newsprints carry it that that movie was shot in about 40 days. A genre that SRK is most renowned for, he takes the movie ahead with funny moments and some emotional situations which make you laugh and empathize with him. The story location being a small town in Punjab has distinct Punjabi flavour in its characters – lifestyle, eating habits and mainly language and diction. Vinay Pathak as a small town barber and SRK’s friend has done a good balancing act of being a comedian as well as saying emotional things subtly. He’s not over the top and comes across as a goofy character you relate with, in your own life.

Anushka Sharma as a newcomer maintains a lot of poise in her character. The plot involves both SRK and Anushka in similar capacities and she does a very fine role. Her projection of youthfulness, ambitions that of a young girl from Amritsar, innocence, commitment to a relationship and feelings of misery are very natural. She probably did not have to act and just be herself. The role required that she have an upper hand over SRK’s and she carried it off very well without seeming towered by him.

The screenplay is pretty good, where the challenge is to present a scenario without too many scenes or dialogues. Especially for a character like Suri who just expects things to happen and waits without asking for them. Raj is more reminiscent of some of characters that SRK has played in his previous movies who expresses his liking for the girl and her presence around him.

There is a question which some of our “logical, sensible audience” wants to have answered. One of them being how Anushka cannot distinguish between both characters that look just so similar, but for the moustache and hairstyle (and of course mannerisms). I guess I’d look at it as a parallel to what must be happening in married man’s life and how his wife is observant of it. If the guy started doing things the way the wife liked it, she notices so and likes him. Otherwise if he remains completely himself, it’s not much luck for the guy. So I guess that’s the idea presented in the movie albeit in a filmy fashion.

The development of Suri’s character in the story is slightly confusing as goes back and forth from a recluse to a social person and back to being recluse. The end of the story conveys his transformation to a more social personality. May be Adi Chopra wanted keep it implicit that you change somewhat when in a relationship.

The movie is philosophical to the extent that it urges you to be sincere in your pursuit of love. No one but SRK could have performed this role and with so much grace. He plays a character closer to his real age who is very sincere with his attempts and someone you genuinely want to be a winner in love. The movie does have some very nice music and the background score complements well – both during funny and sad moments. Like most Yashraj’s hits, RNBDJ too highlights an art form and this time it was dance. Shiamak Davar has done a good job of choreographing dance sequences.

Overall, the movie is a good entertainer and leaves some scenes embedded in your mind. Once again it’s a good attempt to make you feel that being in love is one of the best feelings in the world!