Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani Review: Lavish and heartfelt family entertainer for all age groups
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani Movie Rating: 3.5 Stars
Just watched Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani movie in Cinemas. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt
Director: Karan Johar
Release Date: 28th July 2023 in Cinemas
Story: Movie revolves around Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer Singh) who is a typical Punjabi boy, boisterous and over-confident. His grandmother Dhanalakshmi Randhawa (Jaya Bachchan) established a sweet shop under her own name and turned it into a million-dollar company. She rules her empire with an iron hand. Her son Tijori (Aamir Bashir), daughter-in-law (Kshitee Jog) and granddaughter Gayatri (Anjali Anand) all remain under her thumb.
On the other hand, Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt) is a Bengali beauty with brains who works as a television host and goes after the jugular when it comes to probing people on her show. Her mother (Churni Ganguly) is a professor of English at a prestigious Delhi college, grandmother (Shabana Azmi) is a cultural icon known for her intellectual gatherings, while her father (Tota Roy Chowdhury) is a Kathak teacher. It’s a family as liberal and woke as the Randhawa’s are rigid.
Rocky learns that his grandfather Kanwal (Dharmendra), who is bedridden most of the time because of a past accident and has lost the use of his legs and suffers from memory loss, may have known Rani’s grandmother in the past. Thinking that encountering her may trigger may help him regain his memory, he arranges for them to meet. That leads to Rocky and Rani falling for each other.
However, looking to the cultural and other differences between the two families, most members of both the families are against the alliance. Yet, Rocky and Rani don’t want to give up. In order to win them over, they arrange for a swap. Rocky goes to live with the Chatterjees and Rani comes and stays with the Randhawas. Whether they would be able to pass this litmus test or fail trying forms the crux of the film.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Climax
3. Direction
4. Story
5. Cinematography
6. Dialogues
Negatives
1. Length
2. Music
3. Screenplay in 1st half
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on release day in cinemas as loved the trailer as it looks complete family package which has something for every kind of audience.
Flamboyant Punjabi Rocky and intellectual Bengali journalist Rani fall in love despite their differences. After facing family opposition, they decide to live with each other’s families for three months before getting married.
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani has an interesting story and although it may not boast of novelty, the situations and the overall drama are quite fresh. Besides, the story packs in a lot as there are various sub-plots around the main love story, a major one being the track of women empowerment. It serves as a proper love story with families in the backdrop after a while. It’s a genre that resonates with director Karan Johar through the growing-up years and comes across as a breeze of fresh air in the midst of all the action-packed dramas. Unlike the last few Karan Johar directorial, which catered to a certain segment of the audience, the potential of the plot and conflict of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is a lot wider and relatable riding on scale, color, music, comedy, and drama. The drama in the second half works in bits and pieces, especially one act in the pre-climax around Dharmendra’s character. The climax also hits the right emotional note. The drama post the Dhindhora sequence also lands well to create an impact. Karan Johar’s direction is excellent. Not only has he extracted good work out of his artistes, but he has also made a lavish and heartfelt film for all age groups. The film stands tall on the shoulders of its performers. It’s a treat to watch veterans Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan spilling their magic again on the silver screen.
On the flipside, it relies quite heavily on old hit Bollywood songs in the first about 45-50 minutes, which gets a bit too much for the audience. Of course, viewers who are huge fans of old songs will not mind it, but many others might feel that it’s an overkill. What’s more, the jokes and light moments in this portion of the drama don’t evoke the kind of response they should’ve. Karan tries to say and wrap too many social things in the narrative, which results in him divulging from the core plot points of family drama. The humor tends to go a little too loud in the first half, and not all jokes land well. The film needed some more romantic sequences between Rocky and Rani for the proceedings in the second half to have a bigger impact. The film is more of a family drama than a love story and this can be the biggest plus or the biggest negative for the film depending on what section of the audience ends up consuming the film in the long run.
Overall RRKPK is a well-packaged entertainer that has ample merits to strike a chord with the youth as well as families. It is an out-and-out entertainer but the lack of superhit music will come in the way of realization of its full potential. It is a complete entertainer, having something for everybody. Watch it for its funny as hell storyline and some cracking performances from the entire ensemble cast. My view on this movie Recommended.
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