Raksha Bandhan Review: Movie celebrates the bond of brothers and sisters but unnecessary emotional drama fails to leave any impact
Raksha Bandhan Movie Rating: 2.5 Stars
Just watched Raksha Bandhan movie in Cinemas. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Sadia Khateeb, Sahejmeen Kaur, Smrithi Srikanth and Deepika Khanna
Director: Aanand L Rai
Release Date: 11th August 2022 in Cinemas
Story: Lala Kedarnath (Akshay Kumar) lives in a middle-class locality of Delhi with his four sisters. He has a chaat shop in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. He had promised his dying mother that he would not get married before marrying off all his sisters even though he has found his life partner in his childhood friend Sapna (Bhumi Pednekar).
Gayatri (Sadia Khateeb) is perfect and Lala favorite sister, Saraswati (Sahejmeen Kaur) lives like a tomboy, Laxmi (Smrithi Srikanth) has a dark complextion and Durga (Deepika Khanna) is obese and still happy with her figure.
Sapna’s father Hari Shankar (Neeraj Sood) gives him six months’ notice to get all his four sisters married and then tie the knot with Sapna. If he fails to do so, he’ll fix her marriage elsewhere. A desperate Kedarnath approaches Shanoo ji (Seema Pahwa) who is an expert marriage planner and assures to find suitable grooms for the four sisters with her commission.
In fact, she even finds a groom for the eldest sister Gayatri. But soon thereafter a calamity befalls the family. This changes Lala’s perspective. But the sad part is that after this calamity, Lala decides not to marry Sapna. What is the calamity? Do Lala and Sapna marry each other or does Sapna get married to another guy?
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Story
3. Screenplay
4. Music
Negatives
1. Length
2. Climax
3. 2nd half
4. Direction
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie in cinemas because it is based on bond of Brothers and sisters. Another reason is director Aanand L Rai and Akshay Kumar.
Responsibility for the four sisters’ marriage rests on the shoulders of Lala Kedarnath, the eldest and only brother. What follows are his relentless efforts to ensure his sisters settled down in marriage before marrying Sapna, his childhood sweetheart. Will he be able to keep his promises, or does fate have other plans for him?
Story and screenplay try to pack in too many things as a result of which justice is done to nothing. There’s an anti-dowry message, which seems to be half-baked, there’s also a message about girls becoming independent in life, which appears to be hurried, there’s a track of eve-teasing, which is abrupt, and there’s an adoption angle, which comes out of nowhere. In other words, neither is any of the tracks established enough to create an impact nor is a track so well-handled that it appears to the audience to have been done justice to. The writers have also exaggerated things so much that it robs the drama of authenticity or plausibility. Of course, there are, but they are few and far between. A couple of emotional scenes are heart-touching. Some light moments are entertaining. Also, the over-the-top comedy and melodrama would definitely find favor with the family audience.
The thing is that Raksha Bandhan says all the right things, but in a hugely contrived manner. Your tear ducts are forcefully targeted every five minutes. In particular, in the second half, the emotional ambience gets so heavy it threatens to drown you out. Maybe a non-linear approach would have helped. While the track between the sisters and Akshay Kumar has its moments, the romantic track between could have been better written. For example, they could’ve been married and fighting because his world revolves around his sisters. Or at least she could have been shown helping him find a solution to his problems, as she’s the only friend he’s had since childhood.
It reflects the stories of people from small-town India and in that effort it does entertain especially in the first half. However, the story about bandhan between siblings soon turns into a social commentary about dowry, which takes up a lot of screentime of this 110-minute movie. This highly emotional drama doesn’t fail to touch you, but it had the potential to be a far more entertaining watch. Overall, movie is a touching family saga with a comedy and emotions and should be watched with the family. My view on this movie Recommended
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