Before starting the review of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, let’s talk about the story. Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer Singh), a flamboyant Punjabi boy falls in love with an Intellectual Bengali Girl Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt) despite having some high and low differences. Agreed by both families, they decide to live with each other’s families before getting married as many problems occur at that time with both of them, which affect their relationship. Will they both get married, or will they fall apart?
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Churni Ganguly, Aamir Bashir, Kshitee Jog, Anjali Anand, Abhinav Sharma and Namit Das.
Produced By: Hiroo Yash Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Karan Johar
Directed By: Karan Johar
Runtime: 2 Hours 50 Minutes
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (RRKPK) is a KJO film, when the trailer was released I literally had no expectations as I predicted it to be a typical Bollywood/KJO film with all the stereotypical elements KJO film has. Having no expectations for the film went to the theatre and came out in Interval, I unexpectedly found the movie Interesting! Appreciation to the makers for cutting the trailer so smartly that you won’t come to know half of the story through the trailer itself.
RRKPK is a stereotypical Bollywood and KJO film but, also has a great mixture of emotions, comedy, family values and drama making the film fun and entertaining to watch. With a great lead and good supporting cast, the movie is not only lifted by the 2 leads but also all the supporting cast. Everyone got great screen time except Dharam Ji as he did have an important role but it was sad to see his screen time that low. See, the problem is that what they have shown in the film is not the only problem that only Privileged and High-Class people face but also Middle-Class people too face this type of problem. Targeting topics like Misogynist, feminism, and old cultured values is where somewhere you would feel that they have made it clichéd and stereotypical.
As we have to accept the fact that whenever you see the last frame of “Directed By Karan Johar”, whether in the trailer or the movie, You will find 50 or 60 per cent of the cinema hall full as the 90s and 2000s audiences still trust him and his film making that much till now and that is the best thing I think Karan Johar has got over the years. The movie has some superb and colourful sets, locations and a delightful soundtrack still remains the best point from a viewer’s Point of View and it looks excellent too by watching it on the big screen. Also, they have used some old Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi and Anu Malik songs in a good way that they fit well in 1st as well as in the 2nd half.
There is one best and worst thing about this movie. The best thing is that it won’t bore you as the movie is fast-paced and also some good comic humour from Ranveer will make you enjoy the film. The worst thing about the film is that is fast-paced; it’s a 2 Hours 50 Minutes film as a typical Karan Johar film. Because in today’s time, the audience does get bored if 3 hours long movie is made. There were some unnecessary scenes that I think were not needed as they stretched the movie this long.
Having said that, there are some scenes of Randhawas that will make you look like a High-Budget Ekta Kapoor serial. Also, it is the tagline of the film, ‘A Complete Family Entertainer’. Family is the word you have to be alerted to. If you are going with the family, I would tell you that there are 5 intimate scenes which are kissing scenes as 1 kissing scene will leave you as well as your parents shocked/embarrassed as that can be a talking point ahead in the nearer future.
Let’s talk about the performances of the actors in the film.
- Ranveer Singh as Rocky acts so well and steals 1st half as he was superb and his comic timing works out well and sounds throughout the movie that he looks calm and his scenes with Rani’s Parents were so good in 2nd half and how they accept him is where you will feel good. He was overreacting sometimes in the 2nd half, and his quirky scenes with Namit Das are a delight to watch. Ranveer as a hero was an excellent fit for this role, and the humorous dialogue he was given was the one which I liked the most. Ranveer fans will surely like his role in this movie as he was superb throughout the film.
- Alia Bhatt as Rani, acted so well in every scene and looked beautiful and cute throughout the movie. The primary and great point was the accent she took as a Bengali. Her Bengali was right on point, and she was going with the flow throughout the movie. She stands out tall in the 2nd half more as it was fun to watch. Her role can be called Beauty with Brains as giving her Women Empowerment topic, felt it was only made it Women Oriented topic, but the character change after she meets Rocky was a significant change and some fantastic acting.
- It felt more like a Cameo, as Dharmendra didn’t have much screen presence. If they could have given him some dialogue and some more presence in the movie, he could have done more justice to the character as it felt like they told him to do anything, and it felt sad to see such a legendary star having this small role in the film. It felt like the 3 cameos had more screen time than Dharmendra.
- The only person who gave a tough fight to the leads was Jaya Bachchan. You can call her the Boss Lady of the movie as she was perfect in every scene she came. Her expressions, dialogues are on point and amazing to watch. Especially her scenes with Alia; they were great. Also, thumbs up to the makers for the backstory they showed it of Jaya Bachchan it indeed gave an excellent build-up to the movie.
- Shabana Azmi is a good actress, and she acted so naturally in the movie that if any 70s or 80s movie watchers went to see the movie, they would love to see her and Dharmendra in the movie after so long as they can go to watch the movie to get the nostalgia.
- Tota Roy Chowdhury and Churni Ganguly, as Alia’s Parents, had a significant role, and they were pretty good in the 2nd Especially their banters and arguments with Ranveer were fun to watch.
- Aamir Bashir and Kshitee Jog, as Ranveer’s Parents, had good roles, as his father’s role was cool and scary, especially with Jaya Bachchan.
- Anjali Anand and Abhinav Sharma were quite good, as Abhinav Sharma was a familiar face to me as I saw him in Campus Diaries. Mismatched was good to see him here, and he did well as Ranveer’s friend and Anjali Anand too did well as Ranveer’s Sister.
- Namit Das as, Alia’s Colleague was so good in the movie as his comic timing, when he gets rejected, his quirky dialogues in Bengali too were indeed good to watch.
In conclusion, I can say that Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (RRKPK) proves to be a fun and great family entertainer as somewhere you will get mixed vibes of K3G and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but it is fun to watch this movie. As Karan Johar completed 25 Years in the industry, and this movie is the 7th film of Karan Johar he proves his excellence yet again in Bollywood as well as Romantic Drama Genre. Now it’s up to you to watch it in cinemas or to wait to watch it in OTT as one thing is guaranteed you will get entertainment.
eChhapu
