Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
It’s the summer of blockbusters, movie theatres, and big emotions. Hindi, English, harr jagah.
Karan Johar ki BIG BOLLYWOOD movie 7 saal baad. Doston the way I was WAITING for this!!
“Bollywood” ek genre hai unto itself. Bollywood dance classes, Bollywood-themed parties hoti hain, koi Sridevi ki iconic look koi pehenega ya Shah Rukh ka COOL necklace. Par aap aur main jaante hain, yeh term Bollywood kitnaaaaaa all-encompassing aur frankly apni vastness ki wajah se vague hai. Hindi filmon kea alaava bhi set-pieces aur costumes waali filmein hoti hain, aur harr Hindi film mein naach-gaana hota bhi nahi.
Toh then, WHAT is Bollywood? Bright kapde? Tarah tarah ke culture? Bade bade set? Naach, gaana, melodrama, hospital scenes, wedding sequences, rebellion, professing love in the middle of a busy road?
Yes. In Manish Malhotra clothes.
With writers Sumit Roy, Ishita Moitra, and Shashank Khaitan, Karan Johar ne KOI bhi Hindi cinema ka trope nahi chhora hai, an endeavor which in the hands of a lesser team could easily have turned into Shandaar, a movie so concerned with its Bollywood-ness, it landed much closer to Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon than it would have liked.
Not here friends. Rocky Rani mein Karan is a perfectionist opera conductor — in control and in charge, of each scene, each beat, one step ahead of his viewers, luring us in with the promise of familiarity, bringing us teetering very close to the edge of predictability, but managing to lead us in a steady trot toward the points he’s trying to make, rising to a crescendo of Punjabi swag and Bengali grace, served with a heaping side of individualism.
Love to see it.
Rocky falls in love with Rani by way of an unfinished love affair between their respective grandparents. Rocky describes his own Daadi as Wonder Woman, Wakanda Forever, who runs a matriarchal household, her son has taken her last name. Yahaan par badi asaani se sirf super-villain category mein daali jaa sakti thi, par Chandni Chowk ki Komolika banaane ki jagah, Jaya Bachchan as Dhanalakshmi, perfect casting btw, is also afforded humanity. Without spelling it out in as many words, it makes you think ki Daadi ko joh karna pada to run a business empire and a family, uski wajah se andar se dil kuch zyada hi harden kar baithi shayad.
Jis patriarchy ki chhanv mein Dhanalakshmi finds her riches, at the cost of family, uss hi patriarchy ki varchasva ki wajah se masculinity kitni fragile ho gayi hai, the movie explores cleverly. Pichle hafte Barbie challenging gender norms, iss hafte Karan Johar saying everything his previous movies preached was probably nonsense and men and women don’t need to follow rules according to their genitalia, I’m having a proper blast. Also, like last week’s Barbie, idhar bhi dull hathode se the movie’s messaging tends to beat you over the head, but we’ve got to keep in mind who the movie is talking to, what is the intention here, and is it an honest attempt to address society as we now know it, asking for change, demanding accountability?
Ranveer Singh leans into his Ranveer-ness just as much as Jaya Bachchan does into her Jaya’-ness. Before his face, we see his well-toned butt, almost immediately cutting to a song sequence, abs on full display. He could have sleep-walked through this part, Punjabi twang aside, a lot of the Rocky-isms seemingly come to the actor naturally. But instead of just relying on his natural boisterousness Ranveer taps into a vulnerable side that makes you want to hug this confused little big man. He isn’t afraid to look like a primate learning how to use calculus, as circumstances teach him about equality and dignity. There is a certain Irrfan-ness to this Ranveer Singh performance. He is so undeniable Rocky, the one-liners quips as he exits frames, and repartees are more enjoyable than in any of his outings before. “Cardein max karke aayenge aaj toh” as he leaves for shopping with Rani’s mother, or when he sees her drink, incredulously saying out loud, “You are takaoing?” with more respect than malice, this could be Ranveer, could be Rocky, there are no lines very quickly into the movie. Even when he’s mad, he says “consexual”, the film is aware of when his demeanor is being played for laughs, and when not. Ranveer is not just in his element, but also in this movie, inhabiting his director’s world, in a way only a secure, well-polished artist can. The man embraced lehengas, skirts, make-up, unisex almost feminine fashion before everyone else in the entertainment industry, anyone else playing Rocky would have been a disservice to the legacy Ranveer is building.
Only in Karan Johar’s world is a country’s leading news anchor also a dhaasso dancer leading an entire group of men and women in complex Durga pooja choreography. Alia Bhatt as Rani again is playing a character that perhaps is a cinematic extension of her real-life beliefs and ideals, and again instead of relying solely on instinct, the actor is very dialed into the cast around her. Sizzling chemistry with Ranveer yes, but the scenes she shares with her grandmother Jamini, played by a lovely Shabana Azmi, or Rocky’s sister Gayatri played by Anjali Anand, Rocky’s mother played by Kshitee Jog (who btw, is only 2 years older than her “son”) Alia is a team player here, the fuse who lights the fire and stands back to watch it to its job. She’s observing not just the characters in the movie, but through her fierce love for her kathak dancing father, unabashed expression of her desire, and unafraid admissions of wrongdoing, she’s also making the movie’s viewers watch themselves, and asses why she makes those around her uncomfortable, and wonder if we need to live more like her. Oh and hello, a successful career woman whose biggest conflict isn’t how she’s going to manage a job and family after marriage but how her new family is going to manage her! Job coming in the way of being a wife isn’t raised once, not once!!
Iss movie mein Karan Johar ka directorial signature sabse pronounced hai, characters reference dialogues and catchphrases from his previous movies constantly, but what’s incredible to observe is HIM observing his previous work and admitting a lot of it set forth ideals he doesn’t believe in himself anymore. Maybe it’s not ALL about loving your family, maybe the basis of a romantic relationship just can’t be physical attraction, Chandni Chowk business owners aren’t all simpletons running through the streets cheering India jeet gaya India jeet gaya.
Judging by the first, rocky, pun not intended, 20-odd minutes of the movie, I wasn’t quite sure where it was heading, owing mostly to the English professor Bengali mother performing her profession at home, low-hanging fruit. Rani appeared a little too eager to explain feminism to a politician. Rocky found Rani’s Daadi’s connection with Rani’s Daada a little too easily, a blog that Rani seemingly writes in detail on, never to be mentioned again. But these speed bumps lay forgotten as the Pritam magic began. “Tum Kya Mile” is an instant classic, though it felt reminiscent of Niladri Kumar’s song Ahista also set in Kashmir. A little song medley in the middle felt like little more than a Saregama track, but the real win of the soundtrack is the constant underlays of Hindi hits. Many Dharmendra songs are heard in the background, reinforcing that the primary objective of this movie is to make sure every single person watching is having the time of their life, AND going home with at least some fresh thoughts in their minds, maybe a question or two.
Jaya Bachchan finally getting to say “keh diya na, bass keh diya”, is so wickedly clever. It’s Karan Johar opening his heart up, exposing every raw emotion he has, WHILE not giving in to sentimentality the way he’s prone to do. 3 ghante ki film hai yeh, and I watched it here in the US without an interval, despite which exhaustion didn’t set it, which is saying something considering Oppenheimer was the same length and THAT movie lost me at certain moments. Karan here has such a tight grip on the narrative, even when he gets worryingly close to formulaic, he immediately presents a little nifty trick hidden up his sleeve, not allowing your attention to waver.
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani is….2 full-blown Tota Roy Chowdhury dance performances, if nothing else, go watch for those.
