India, a land of varied cultures, traditions and lifestyles has been a great example of unity in diversity across the world. While one may say that progressive globalization over the years is largely instrumental in bringing us closer from practical perspective, the basic physics definition of ‘opposites attract’ has equally been a driving factor. Film makers and novel writers have time and again woven human emotions onto the above aspects to bring out interesting, entertaining, and realistic stories.
Rocky and Rani ki Prem Kahani begins with a similar premise. Rocky Randhawa(played by Ranveer Singh) hailing from a hardcore West Delhi ‘Sweets Baron’ family, bumps into Rani Chatterjee(Alia Bhatt), a TV news anchor from an Elite Bengali household in South Delhi. Though their initial meeting is related to a past family connection, the stark contrast between both personalities draws them towards each other. They reach up to a point where it becomes essential to involve their respective families before taking their relationship to the next level.
Hereon the film progresses seamlessly through ‘broader issues’ from an overall societal perspective, not restricting only to people from different backgrounds. The narrative does move steadily, but takes its time in establishing the connect effectively and transitions well towards the end.
Visually, the art design(Sharmishta Roy & team), costumes(Eka Lakhani) and cinematography(Manush Nandan), FX(FutureWorks, Media) are all top notch. There is a slight reminiscence of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s grandeur at a few places.
Pritam’s songs topped up by Amitabh Bhattarcharya’s lyrics are quite soulful. Of all, Jhumka and Dhindora Baaje stand out both as melodies and from a picturization point of view.
Screenplay and dialogues by Shashank Khaitan and Ishita Moitra are the crux of the film. While the story takes progressive yet small steps in addressing casual othering / shaming as part of surroundings, it doesn’t endorse cancel culture either. This is taken care of even in the situational comic scenes. Having said that the film isn’t completely devoid of pretentiousness & cliche at few instances. The use of pop culture references from Hindi cinema of 60s to 90s are quite endearing.
Performance wise, Ranveer Singh is his usual self – loud, entertaining & radiating exuberance thereby merging his reel & real self. Alia Bhatt brings in the required depth & mindfulness to the screen and excels in her part. Tota Roy Chowdhary, Churni Ganguli and Aamir Bashir do well in their respective roles. Kshiti Jog, Anjali Anand and Namit Das provide adequate support.
Veteran actors Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan have a strong screen presence but probably deserved better characterization. Even the legendary Dharam ji’s role probably doesn’t do enough justice to his persona & iconic stature. Ideally, director Karan Johar should have personally worked on this aspect.
On the whole, Rocky & Rani Ki Prem Kahaani is a brave attempt to convey the necessity of breaking barriers & being non-judgmental for an equanimous society to evolve amidst the chaos we live in.
Can easily be called one of the better & socially relevant films to be churned out from Karan Johar’s kitty, and worth a watch.