By Kavita A Chhibber
I saw “Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani” last night. On a Wednesday night, the auditorium was packed! Not one empty seat. Karan Johar, the film’s director and producer, received more whistles and claps last night than I’ve seen any Dharma Production film receive when just the name came on the screen.
The story is based on a simple, untraditional decision of Rocky and Rani staying in each other’s homes to see if they are compatible not, just with each other, but their families. After all it’s all about loving your family in every KJO film.
But this film touches on so many issues where tradition has to learn to embrace the changing times. And how clarity often emerges only when the heart overrules the head.
I can tell you that I loved every single frame in this almost three hours long film.
Ranveer Singh is just such a superlative actor. I could see actors in the film trying to control their own laughter at some of the lines he delivered with such mischievous, devilish precision, dialogue after dialogue, expression after expression.
It was like watching an athlete landing a perfect 10 on those narrow bars, somersault after somersault in the Olympics!
For those talking about his lack of chemistry with Alia Bhatt, you probably didn’t see “Gully Boy”.
I think Ranveer as a person is just pure love, and he can make anyone fall in love with him. Alia and he share such a warm relationship off screen, the chemistry is so natural, they don’t need to be loud about it. It’s there in every shot.
Alia Bhatt is his perfect muse. The yin and yang. And she looked stunningly beautiful.
What do I say about the legends who lent support to this film?
Dharmendra, who I met at age 19 in Kabul, was after my dad, the handsomest, kindest man I had the pleasure of meeting.
He was so charming that women were falling in his lap and their husbands were willingly taking photos.
It was so wonderful to see him in this film, restrained, playing a lost soul beautifully, such charm overload in some of the scenes and such poignance in others. He does on camera what he does best off camera..wear his heart on his sleeve.
Shabana Azmi, I love you.
She is legend because she can make any role look so easy, but if we pay attention, we see the perfection, in the refinement and elegance with which this incredible lady carries herself, and her performance.
An unshed tear, the eyes filled with love and longing, the perfect Bengali diction and the fact that she can say so much in so little.
And I still maintain what I said to her the first time I interviewed her, that she is one of the most beautiful women to grace the Indian screen.
Jaya Bachchan, my gosh, who could have thought that our innocent and naive Guddi, could be a villain and carry it off with such evil determination!
The mark of a great actor is that you only see the character and lose the famous name behind it.
You absolutely love to hate her, but in the end you miss her, at the wedding. Jaya ji brought out all those emotions in me.
I have seen other films of the Bengali actor Tota Roy Chowdhury, but his performance as the Kathak dancer father of Alia was mind-blowing.
His performance with Ranveer on “Dola Re” was among the highlights of the film for me.
There were so many master strokes by Karan Johar that I think it’s a film that will not only be big at the bank and the box office, it will also be appreciated across the board as a genuinely feel good film. Karan is bashed very often by people in a case of sour grapes. But I hope this one will be seen as a film that is all heart.
I had not bothered to watch the trailers or songs of the film. I never do. So I enjoyed all the songs.
But “Ro Lain De” was a different experience altogether.
“Ro Lain De” is my favorite song in the film. And I’m glad Pritam saved the best song for Sonu Nigam ji. Or maybe it’s Sonu Nigam who made it the best song of the film, ably supported by Shilpa Rao.
If I didn’t know that voice so well, I would have thought an entirely different singer was singing it.
In fact the guy sitting next to me sat up in disbelief when I said to Ajit, that is Sonu ji.
I have stopped counting the multiple number of singers and voices that reside in one body.🤗 But I love every voice.
I hope that in this lifetime someone manages to exploit this man’s everest like talent to it’s fullest potential. I think it may take more than one person and several lifetimes.
I would go back and watch this movie again in a heartbeat! You should too!
You must be logged in to post a comment.