Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Genre: Romance
Year: 2023
Running time: 2 hour 48 minutes
Director: Karan Johar
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Aamir Bashir
Kid rating: PG
Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt) is a Bengali news anchor on television and Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer Singh) is the scion of a wealthy Punjabi business family. She is into culture and he is into name-brands, and never the twain shall meet until . . . hidden family ties come up. Then they are co-conspirators in another love-story. All this meeting, mingling and co-conspirating has effects on the twosome too. And this being a Karen Johar production, it’s all done with color, cliche and comedy.
Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani milks the Punjabi-Bengali culture divide for all it’s worth! Rocky comes from a traditional Punjabi business family where the women (except for the matriarch) keep the house and their counsel. Rani comes from a cultured, well-read, egalitarian family, where the women speak their minds. Rocky is flamboyant, loud, and really out there. Rani is well-educated, sophisticated and ready for a fling. Because when the meet-cute happens and the attraction grows, it is, for her, “a fling, just a thing”. For him, it is much more.
Of course when they get over that hump, there are several more – the chief one being convincing the families to countenance each other and the proposed alliance. So they come up with a plan – Rocky will go live at Rani’s place for three months and she will go live at his – and they will each attempt to endear themselves and their philosophies to the family members. Now what could go wrong with that hare-brained scheme?
There is much opportunity for comedy when polar opposites attract. And Ranveer and Alia are just the couple to give that comedy wings. Ranveer is perfect as the hyper-flirtatious Punjabi hunk, and Alia is wonderful as the confident, truth-speaking firebrand Rani! He mistakes a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore for Rani’s grand-father, and she seethes watching his father ill-treat his mother. This cannot end well!
The films spews Karan Johar’s brand of feminism – pooh-poohing misogyny, and castigating illiberal Punjabi folk, while preaching the message of equality. It is a good message too, and we get behind it and the lovely couple when they attempt to act on it, despite opposition. There are fireworks galore, with head-on cultural collisions and plenty of emotional drama to keep the film engrossing.
I say Johar’s brand of feminism because he dabbles in it off-and-on, and when it makes money (cynical? who, me?). In the past, his films have spouted liberal tenets (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) but they have also had scenes poking fun at fat people, or gay people or just “different” people. His films have glorified pativrata naris and Karva-Chauth, suhaag and sindoor ad nauseum.
So, Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani will not dismantle patriarchy, but it will help move the needle on acceptable societal norms. The film has a vivacious smart heroine and a zany, fun-loving hero to carry it’s progressive message, and we are all here for it.
It is a trademark Johar-esque slick, colorful, family drama full of cliches and some hamminess – and about time too; it’s been a long 7 years since Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Yes, it does get a tad stretched towards the end – could have easily been shortened by 30 minutes. And yes, the resolutions are a tad simplistic and swift. But for a Bollywood movie, it is a great Friday night entertainer, well-worth your money and time.
Kidwise: Nothing too scarring beyond frequent lip-locks.
